Devised Theatre by Megan Powell

Objective: Students will demonstrate their ability to understand devised theatre and its process by creating a devised theatre piece to tour to elementary schools.

Class Level: Advanced

Main Concepts: Improvisation, creating characters, directing, devising, acting, designing.

1994 National Standards: CONTENT STANDARD 1: script writing by improvising, writing, and refining scripts based on personal experience and heritage, imagination, literature, and historyCONTENT STANDARD 2: Acting by developing, communicating, and sustaining characters in improvisations and informal or formal productionsCONTENT STANDARD 3: designing and producing conceptualizing and realizing artistic interpretations for informal or formal productionsCONTENT STANDARD 4: Directing by interpreting dramatic texts and organizing and conducting rehearsals for informal or formal productions

Lesson Plans

Lesson 1: Introduction to Devised Theatre/Get to know you dayStudents will demonstrate their ability to understand community and the ability to work together by participating in various activities and creating a definition of community.

Lesson 2: Community in Devised TheatreStudents will demonstrate their ability to further understand community by participating in active discussions throughout the lesson.

Lesson 3: Trust/StorytellingStudents will demonstrate their ability to tell stories by creating a soundless storyline and by coming up with a possible theme for the devised theatre piece.

Lesson 4: Choosing and Exploring a ThemeStudents will demonstrate their ability to explore the chosen theme by creating a story that has to do with that theme.

Lesson 5: A day in the life of Elementary schoolStudents will demonstrate their understanding of their audience and storyline by writing down a story idea.

Lesson 6: Creation of Devised Theatre PieceStudents will demonstrate their understanding of the theme by creating a monologue for a specific character in the devised theatre piece.

Lesson 7: Creation of Devised theatre continuedStudents will demonstrate their ability to tell stories by devising the middle section of their piece.

Lesson 8: Solidifying devised theatre storyStudents will demonstrate their ability to solidify their ideas by creating the last section of their piece.

1: Introduction to Devised Theatre/Get to know you day

ObjectiveStudents will demonstrate their ability to understand community and the ability to work together by participating in various activities and creating a definition of community.

Materials NeededA large space

Lesson DirectionsGather everyone in a circle to play Samurai. This game will help them get warmed up.  Everyone stands in a circle. One person is chosen as a sensei. Everyone bows while making a ninja sound. The sensei points with both hands to another person while making a ninja sound. That person, on the second beat, makes a ninja sound while clasping their hands together in the air above their heads. On the third beat, the two people on either side of the second beat person karate chop inwards toward the person in the middle—with a ninja sound of course! This middle person now points to a new person in the circle and the game continues. If you get off beat or miss a beat, you are OUT.    

STEP 1:Discussion- Tell the students that we will be starting a unit where we will be creating theatre. What is devised theatre? If they do not know explain that it is a form of theatre where the script originates not from a writer or writers, but from collaborative, usually improvisatory, work by a group of people. We will be creating theatre together. We will get the opportunity to share our devised piece with elementary school students. Keep in mind our audience as we make theatre. We will have to learn to work together, encourage one another and their ideas, problem solve keep an open mind, trust one another with our ideas etc. Before we do that we need to get to know each other better. Get to know everyone in the class, not just those you sit by. That is what we will be exploring today. STEP 2:Group Instruction- Gather the students in a circle and conduct the next activity. This activity will help the group begin to focus and get used to being close to one another. To get them comfortable with one another and level the playing field. Switching Places- In a group, depending on how large the group is it can be split into two, have an individual stand in the middle. The people on the outside make eye contact, and through non-verbal communication, they are to switch places. The individual in the center has the job of moving into one of the spots of the person switching. This process continues for about 10 min and then in the last minute, asks them to make as many switches as possible. STEP 3:Group Practice- These next set of activities are for the students to get to know each other and break the ice a bit more. Group walk the space- try to keep the whole group in your sight, don’t turn your back to anyone. At any point someone can stop and the whole group must try to stop with them. This game continues while another starts: Affinity Groups: place yourself in groups without talking based on what you’re wearing on top.  Combine two or three of those groups. Make sure you know each other’s names.  Place yourself in

groups based on what you’re wearing on bottom. Repeat by splitting into groups based on shoes. Repeat by splitting based on eye color. Where I’m From- Whole group stands in a circle. Person in center finishes prompt, “Where I’m From”. Everyone who that prompt applies to must find a new spot in the circle. Whoever doesn’t find a new spot stands in center. STEP 4:Transition- Discuss with the class what was that experience like for them? Did they learn new things about each other? What did they learn? What did they observe about people? What can be gained from this activity? Did you learn something about yourself? What? STEP 5:Group Practice- Gather the students back together and have them come up with a definition for community. You will use this definition throughout the next weeks as you create theatre together. First write the word community on a piece of paper and have them just shout out words that they think of when they see the word community. Then have them discuss what it means to them. A possible definition could be, “A group of people working toward a common goal.” STEP 6:Group practice- Once the students have an established definition of community ask the students why community in this class is important. Ask them what is valuable about having community? Basically the students need to know if they don’t have community and they aren’t willing to work together they won’t be able to create theatre together.

AssessmentThey can be assessed by their definition of community. At the end of the lesson you want to the students to feel more comfortable around each other. They can also be assessed by their participation in the activities and the discussions.

2: Community in Devised Theatre

ObjectiveStudents will demonstrate their ability to further understand community by participating in active discussions throughout the lesson.

Materials NeededLarge blocks (2-3),2-3 blankets

Lesson Directions (non competitive games that help them work together)Count to 10 game/ count to 20: To get them warmed up and focused. Each person will have to say two numbers. Heads up Heads down- Everyone begins with heads down in a circle. When caller says “Heads Up,” look for someone else’s eye contact in the circle. If you catch someone’s glance, remove yourself from the circle.

STEP 1:Group Discussion- Get out your definition of community and read through it before you begin the next activities.  Ask if their definition has changed or they still agree with it. Post it on the wall, so it can be seen throughout classes.  Next have a discussion about why the students think it might be important to create a devised piece and take it to an elementary school?  Have a real discussion about this for a few minutes. STEP 2:Group Practice- These next set of activities are for the students to get to know each other and break the ice a bit more. These next activities will help build trust in each other and again build relationships.

Finger Follow-Get the class into two vertical lines. Line 1 closes their eyes. Tell the students “We’re not going to play any tricks on you while your eyes are closed. Now stick your finger out like you’re ringing a doorbell.”Line 2 chooses a partner from Line 1 with eyes closed. Line 2 touches fingers with Line 1 and begins to lead their blind partner through space. This should be more like a dance than a simple lead/ follow. Give and take. Blind partner should stop when their partner stops, turn when their partner turns, play with levels and space.  Hold. Blind person now opens eyes, while leader closes. Game continues with reversed leader/ follower.

This activity will help them build trust. Sometimes we couldn’t decide who was the follower and who the leader- element of unity. Safety. Focus on partner was very intimate, but still low pressure.

STEP 3:Transition/Discussion- Ask the class what was that like? What was it like being the leader or the follower? What was hard about it, easy? Was it hard to not know who was guiding you? If you knew who was leading you, how did you figure it out? What was this game about to you and why? Possible answers: this game was about…“ trust, space, connection, movement, intuition, choice, cooperation, community, responsibility, choice.

STEP 4:

Group practice- Once again these games will help develop community, something that we will continue with through the next few weeks.

The Block Game-Divide the class into teams. Each team needs a block or some other large, heavy object. Each team first chooses one of their members to race from one point of the room to the other, carrying the block. Whichever team member arrives first wins. On the way back, that team member, or another team member if desired, must race back with the block, but carrying it without using their hands. These two races are then repeated with the entire team carrying the block (first with hands, then without). Which was easier, carrying the block by yourself or with a team? How did you decide together how to get the block across? What made this easier or harder?Folding the Table Cloth-Each family must stand on a tablecloth or large blanket. They then must fold that blanket in half, with all of them still on it. No one can step off the blanket in this entire activity. They then fold it in half again and then again until it is quite small, but with the entire family still finding a way to all be on it. Whichever family can fold their blanket/tablecloth the most times and still be on it wins!

STEP 5:Group Discussion- What was difficult about this activity? What made it easier? How did you come up with ideas to accomplish the task before you? What does this have to do with community? Does your definition change? Is it strengthened?

AssessmentAt the end of the lesson you want to the students to feel more comfortable around each other. They can be assessed by their participation in the activities and the discussions. 

3: Trust/Storytelling

ObjectiveStudents will demonstrate their ability to tell stories by creating a soundless storyline and by coming up with a possible theme for the devised theatre piece.

Materials NeededColored butcher paper,tape,permanent marker

Lesson DirectionsHeads up Heads down- Everyone begins with heads down in a circle. When caller says “Heads Up,” look for someone else’s eye contact in the circle. If you catch someone’s glance, remove yourself from the circle.

STEP 1:Group Practice- Have the students get into partners and conduct the activity Yes and Game Divide into pairs. One person begins by making an “offer” (putting forward an idea) and the partner replies with a sentence that begins "Yes, and…" Try not to block your partner’s ideas, which can so often happen in improvisation. Instead, build on each other's suggestions. As soon as confidence develops, you can add in actions. Use the space as much as possible.A: It's rainingB: Yes, and I've got a large umbrellaA: Let’s shelter under itB: Yes, and the wind is blowing us into the airA: We are flying over the seaB: Yes, and we have landed on an island…And so on. It can be a very liberating game, especially as we don’t often get the chance to say “yes” to everything! A key concept is that participants should avoid trying to push their own idea at the expense of their partner's. You can also try the game with both of you saying “Yes, and…” The literal “Yes” can be dropped completely as soon as acceptance of each others’ ideas begins to become more automatic.

STEP 2:Transition- Ask the students what happened during the activity? What was their experience? Give some examples of things you saw that had to do with saying yes to anything! Tell the students that in devised theatre everyone will have lots of ideas. We need to learn to say yes to them and see if they work. We can’t shut out ideas right away. Everyone needs to feel like they can share an idea.

STEP 3:Group Practice-Have the students get into new partners, someone that they haven’t been with yet. Have them each take turns telling a story about family. They each have 1min to tell their story to their partner.

STEP 4:Discussion- After each person has had a chance to go ask them - what is a story? How can we tell stories? How can we communicate with a story? Have partners share each other’s stories. What happened when they were telling the story? Was this easy or hard for you to think of ideas? We are all a walking story and we tell it every day. How are people reading it? Help the students know that there are many ways to tell a story besides talking; dancing, sounds, movement, poems, monologues, etc.

STEP 5Group Practice- Conduct the activity Random Sound Story. Once the class has become familiar with improvisation techniques, they can begin devising short scenes. Random Sound Story enables the group to come up with some starting points and a simple structure for a devised story. Work in small groups of 4 - 6. The groups are asked to invent a selection of random sounds - with each group member making one vocalized sound. Next, the group decides on a sequence in which these sounds are made and practices it. Each group performs its sound sequence in turn to the whole class. Now the groups are asked to make up and rehearse a story in which these sounds occur - in the sequence already decided upon. The story could be narrated or acted, or a combination of both.

STEP 6:Group Practice- Have each group perform their random sound story for the class. See - a story can be told from the foundation of sound effects!

STEP 7:Modeling/Group Discussion- Gather the students together where you have posted up the butcher paper on the wall. Remind the students once again about the target audience of elementary school children. Write the word “School” on the top of the paper. Have them say whatever comes to their mind when they hear the word school. Write down as many ideas as you can. Try to hear words that they may be really passionate about or have interesting stories about and star them for next class time.

AssessmentStudents can be assessed by their random sound story and their participation in activities.

4: Choosing and Exploring a Theme

ObjectiveStudents will demonstrate their ability to explore the chosen theme by creating a story that has to do with that theme.

Materials NeededNote cards (1 for each student)

Lesson DirectionsConduct the warm up game Samuari. This will get their body and voices moving.

STEP 1:Group practice- Gather everyone in a circle and conduct the activity Find your mother like a little penguin. Everyone stands in a circle. Count off pairs 1, 2, 1, 2, etc. The 2’s form a circle inside the circle and face their 1. The 2’s are then asked to make a noise that they can repeat without laughing. Then everyone is asked to close their eyes and move around the room silently. Then the 2’s are instructed to make their noises and the 1’s are instructed to find them. Hold hands when you think that you found your mother. Next repeat this exercise except have all the students stand in a circle with their eyes closed and while making their noise listen to the person on their right. Have them repeat that with the left side. Then have themwalk around silently with eyes closed. Then have them try to move around and find their mother again and get back into the order of circle they were in.

STEP 2:Check for Understanding- What were some of the things you gathered from the last two exercises? (Trust, unity, ensemble, energy, etc.) What was challenging? These were to help you get acquainted with one another and develop a better sense of community and that everyone has to do their part. 

STEP 3:Instruction- Have the students gather back to the poster. Decide on a theme or possible ideas that we would like to share and explore. Find out what the students have a lot to say about. See what words really prompt their talking and imaginations. Decide on 2-3 topics that they want to explore in their devised theatre piece.Get into partners and tell a story about that theme. Come up with a question to ask the students and see what their response is in a 1 min story to each other?

STEP 4:Discussion/Check for Understanding- Tell the students that we want to start thinking about how we are going to tell this story. The activities we do today will hopefully help with those decisions. How are we going to tell this story? Is it a narration, with characters acting things out? Do we have dramatic sound effects, dancing, movement, music?

STEP 5: A series of activities that will help simulate possible ideas for creation.Group Practice- Gather the students in a circle and conduct I am a tree exercise. Everyone stands in a circle and someone goes in and says “I am a tree” another person goes in and says, “I am the grass,” or anything that has to do with the environment, etc. This continues until everyone from the circle is now in the picture. The person who first went in says “I am a tree and the grass stays”. (or whatever they thought was really interesting) And then this builds onto another scene and another scene. Continue this for a little bit.

STEP 6:Group practice- Conduct the activity of Tag Shape. All the students stand in a circle as you explain the game. One person steps into the circle and makes an image/shape with their body. Another person runs into the circle and completes the image whether it is literal or abstract. (Define terms.)Literal   means if one person makes the shape of a fist going out, another person runs in and makes the shape of they are falling backwards. It’s what is really going on. Abstract would be any way they interpret the shape and add to it. There can be any possibilities, and there are no wrong answers. Once the image is complete the first person leaves the circle and the 2nd person is in the middle. Then another person runs forward to complete that new image and then the 2nd person leaves, etc. Continue until desired. To end ask them to make as many images as possible in 30 sec. Try to get them to move quickly and have everyone participate

STEP 7:Transition- We are going to build on this, but explore it in a new way. I need everyone to line up against the wall. I need two volunteers. STEP 8:Partner practice- Conduct the activity Complete the image. Tell students to go to one side of the room as you face them. Ask for two volunteers. Ask the volunteers to walk toward each other and shake hands and then freeze.- Ask the students: What do you see in this picture? What are they doing with their bodies? What are the facial expressions you see?-What does their body language tell you? What is a possible relationship between the two? Help the students, give them prompts or scenarios. For example, one person could be a teacher and the other person could be the principle or a boss and the employee.-Tell one person to sit down and the other to freeze in the handshake position. Ask for another volunteer. Have them complete the image, doing anything besides a handshake and freeze. Ask again what is this picture telling us? What is their relationship?-Repeat.-Ask one of the students to sit down. Explain to your left over volunteer that you will now be creating a continuous image. Start with the handshake once again. But then you step back and think about the next shape you want to create and make that shape in connection to them. The volunteer will then step back, look at the shape that you’ve created, and complete your image in a different way than previous. This continues until desired.-Ask participants to all get into pairs and tell them they will be doing what was just demonstrated. They will make a continuous image with their partner and start with the handshake. Once they get to the handshake, ask them to freeze. To gear their images and thinking, give them a specific theme, the theme they chose for their devised theatre “bullying/teasing”. Their images should form around that particular theme in any way that they desire, abstract or literal. Have them go until desired. STEP 9:Discussion- Ask the students what images they saw, relationships that were developed. Give examples of things you saw and ask for the students to make those shapes and then comment on them with the class. STEP 10:Individual practice- Hand the students a note card and tell them to write down a short story where you encountered this theme in elementary school. Collect the note cards, have the students get into partners

and redistribute them out to groups. Have each group improv the situation that is on the card, give them time to rehearse.   STEP 11:Discussion- Perform the note card scenarios for the class. After they all perform ask if anything we created today something we can use for our piece. What ideas do you have now that we have explored topics and images and possible stories?

AssessmentStudents can be assessed by participation in the activities and their performance of the note card improvisation.

5: A day in the life of Elementary school

ObjectiveStudents will demonstrate their understanding of their audience and storyline by writing down a story idea.

Materials NeededA large space,2 children’s books (one more complicated to read with less pictures than the other one)

Lesson DirectionsHave the students lie down on their backs and tell them you are going back in time. Tell the students that to better understand your audience we are going to take you back to elementary school. We are going to take you back to a time when your biggest worry may have been how will I wear my hair today and your hardest assignment was addition and subtraction. Take yourself back to your childhood- what was your role? Who were you? Go back to elementary school, visualize what you looked like.

STEP 1:Group Practice- Tell the students that you want them to imagine they are now at the school playground and its recess. They need to visualize themselves in that space as their elementary selves. Ask the students to now get up and explore the space. What did they do on the playground? Who did they associate with? What were their hobbies or talents at the playground? Have them play around for a bit

STEP 2:Transition- Make a ringing bell sound with your mouth and call the students to line up for your class. Tell the students that recess is over and it’s time to go to class!

STEP 3:Group Practice- Gather the students around you like in story time. Read the first book to them, that has lots of pictures and is really easy to read. Then read the other story to them. This story will be more complicated and not as interesting to them. They may start losing focus and this is good! Stop after you read a few pages and ask the students to now transfer to their high school selves.

STEP 4:Discussion- Ask the students what they thought about the two stories. Answers could include that they liked the first one because it was easy to understand and was short with lots of pictures. The other story may be too long, no pictures and harder to understand with lots of big words. Tell the students that we want to create a story that will appeal to our younger audience. They will like a story that is easy to understand.

STEP 5:Individual practice- Ask the students if they have seen anything that we have done today they like and think could be part of our devised piece. Ask the students what kind of stories they like or want to tell that could involve our theme but telling it in a new way. Have the students write down ideas that they might have on a piece of paper.

STEP 6:

Group discussion- After they have had time writing down ideas have the students share with the class. Have each student go one at a time and remind the class to listen to each other. Write down any ideas that you think could work as they are sharing.After they have all shared ask the class if there are any ideas that really stand out to them or ones that they may want to combine? For example, the students could all be animals telling a story about bullying. The will start out as children at grandpa’s house and they are getting along so grandpa realizes he needs to tell them a story to get them to work together. (This will be the example that I continue to use for the rest of the unit)

STEP 7:Individual practice- With time left in class have the students pick an animal and start to explore the space as that animal.

AssessmentStudents can be assessed on their storyline written on paper and their participation in activities.

6: Creation of Devised Theatre Piece

ObjectiveStudents will demonstrate their understanding of the theme by creating a monologue for a specific character in the devised theatre piece.

Lesson DirectionsConduct the Boal game There is only one Liar. There should be no talking until the exercise is over. The group sits or stands in a circle and closes their eyes. Tell the students that one person will be selected by a tap on the shoulder. The leader walks around the whole circle, then asks the group to open their eyes. The group members must look around and try to guess who was chosen. They are asked to remember who they decided upon but not to reveal it at this point.The game is repeated. When everybody has finished looking round, the leader asks them, on the count of three, without talking, to point at the person they thought was chosen the first time. Everybody points. Now, they do the same again for the second time.Afterwards, members are asked what it was that led them to choose a particular person, for example, the facial expression that person had. Then, on a signal, they are asked to put up their hands if they were touched the first time. They discover that no one was touched the first time. They are asked to do the same for the second time. The group discover that they were all touched the second time. There is only one liar – the teacher!

STEP 1:Transition- Talk to the students about facial expressions which was one of the main reasons that they all guessed each other. Tell the students that facial expressions are going to be a huge part of telling a story and that they need to be aware of what they are doing with their face. Their face will tell a story and they need to know what it is doing.

STEP 2:Group practice- Tell the students that we want to get back into our animals for a bit and really explore who they are as a character. Have them think about their animal and who they are and begin to explain the Bear and Hunter game. Have one student be the Hunter and the rest of the students are the hunted animals. They walk around as their animals until the teacher says “Hunter in the forest” all the students have to freeze on the ground and not move as the hunter comes around. If the hunter makes the animal move then they are now a hunter. Then the hunter goes away and the animals are free to move around again until the teacher yells “Hunter in the forest”. The game repeats until all the animals have moved and are hunters.

STEP 3:Check for understanding- As a class review the ideas about the play that were discussed before. Talk about animals and narrator and those specific decisions.

STEP 4:Individual Practice- Now, as their animal, tell the students that you all have come together at the nearest watering hole. How do you associate with other animals? Are you aware of what they all are? How do you respond to other animals?

STEP 5:Individual Practice- Create a monologue for your animal explaining who you are. Time is about 30 sec to a minute. What do you like, dislikes? Characteristics? Hobbies? What do you take pride in? Are you a

beat boxing orangutan? Who are you? Really create your character as an animal. Write down your monologue. Once everyone has had time to write one down, have each student share individually with the class.

STEP 6:Group Practice- Now, as your new developed animal characters, grab a partner and interact with one another. What would happen if the two characters meet? How can you show us who you are with your facial expressions your physical body? Really begin to develop these characters.

STEP 7:Transition- Tell the students that we are going to begin to compile our piece. Remind them that at the beginning of our story we are at “grandpa’s house”. Organize the students into families and have them decide the ages and names of them all. Have them say who they are one by one. We want their animals traits to come out in the “children” characters as well.

STEP 8:Group practice- Improvise the beginning of the play. In this devised piece we have a narrator. Have the narrator begin the theatre piece. Introduce the play, go from there. Have them start to improv the play out and see what happens!

STEP 9:Modeling- You may need to step in a few times and direct their thoughts and be there to keep them focused. They may need help staying within the storyline, but also let them explore different ways of telling part 1 of the story. Have them go over the beginning part a few times.Remind the students that the devised process is fun and all ideas are welcomed. We will come to a final piece later, we are just exploring the possibilities. Encourage them to share their ideas and be there to keep them focused as well.

AssessmentStudents can be assessed on their animal monologues and their participation in the activities. 

7: Creation of Devised theatre continued

ObjectiveStudents will demonstrate their ability to tell stories by devising the middle section of their piece.

Lesson DirectionsPlay the game Quickest game of freeze tag ever. Just like the game of normal freeze tag except everyone is “it” and you can’t unfreeze anybody. Play this a few times.

STEP 1:Group Practice- Conduct the activity Big bigger biggest. This will help them get their voices and bodies moving. Everyone stands in a circle. Someone starts with a simple motion and noise. The person starting wants to do the action as small as possible because as it goes around the room to each person they need to make the noise and action bigger and bigger until it reaches the person who started who makes it the biggest yet. The next person starts with a different action and noise. Continue until everyone has gone or you have had a chance to warm up. Tell them more you let loose and the bigger you get the more you will get out of this activity STEP 2:Group Practice- Gather everyone into a circle and let the creating begin! We need to nail down more of our piece today. Really get down our general idea. Next we will be tackling the middle section or the animal section. Give the narrator a general starting point and see what happens. You really want creation to be in their hands. Begin with “once upon a time in the land of Africa”. STEP 3:Discussion- After they have done this through once ask them what worked and didn’t work? What things did they like about it? What can we clarify? Is there anything we want to change or add? Tell the students that anything is possible to add into the story. We want to create an atmosphere where the elementary school students are learning something after the play is over. Make sure you bring them back to the theme of bullying and ask them if they are portraying this in the most effective way possible. STEP 4:Group Practice- Have them go through the middle section again seeing what things change or what they want to add.

AssessmentStudents can be assessed by their participation in the creation of the animal section of their piece.

Author's NotesHere is an example of a basic devised theatre script: (it changes as ideas get more solidified)1.      Adam talks to the audience to set the scene2.      Families enter in one by one into grandpa’s housea.       Solidify entrances and names3.      They aren’t getting along, grandpa rounds them up to tell them a story4.      Hands out the stuffed animals5.      Begins to tell a story about the jungle6.      Children go off one by one as their animal is called.7.      Tell the story of how the animals need to learn to live together in the watering hole and include everyone in the group. Make sure people feel like they are included

8.      Children settle down and understand what they need to do next.9.      Wow that was a great story grandpa! Wow great idea, we should act it out! Yes that’s great, I’ve got the best costumes upstairs, grandpa has a huge box upstairs.

8: Solidifying devised theatre story

ObjectiveStudents will demonstrate their ability to solidify their ideas by creating the last section of their piece.

Materials NeededA hat

Lesson DirectionsPlay the game Celebrity with them. This will help them get loosened up and a break from working so hard on their piece. Have each student tear up a piece of paper into four small sections (or however many names you want them to contribute).  Have them write one famous person’s name on each small section.  The famous person should be someone that every person in the class will know; they can be fictional or real, literary figures, movie stars, television stars, political figures, sport icons, musicians, cartoon characters, etc.; but they need to be so obvious that anyone in the room will be able to recognize the name.  Fold the sections of paper in half and put them all in a container.  Divide the class into two teams.  Call one member of each side up at a time and give them a pre-determined amount of time (one minute) to get their class members to guess the name on the piece of paper without saying any part of the name.  You are the scorekeeper that will keep track of how many correct celebrities are guessed each round. The game can be played in three rounds (the papers are put back into the container between each round):Round 1: The team member who is “playing” can use any physical or verbal communication to give clues to the celebrity they are trying to get their team to guess.Round 2: The “player” can only say three words and any physical communication to give clues.Round 3: The “player” cannot speak or make any verbal sounds to give clues – use those pantomime skills!

STEP 1:Transition- Now that you are warmed up lets devise our last section of the piece.

STEP 2:Group Practice- Once again this is an improvisation time for the students to explore what they want to do with their theatre piece. They need to come to some conclusion and end the piece.

STEP 3:Check for Understanding- Once the students have had time to rehearse the last section, have them piece all three sections together. If things change or they have new ideas this late in the process see if it is something that they all agree would enhance the story and not complicate it. Remind the students that this needs to be clear to an eight year old to an eleven year old.

STEP 4:Group Practice- Try to go through the piece at least twice without changing anything! This will help them solidify for their performance for the elementary schools.  **The devised theatre process can take you anywhere and can be anything. It really depends on the students in your class. With this class we also included music, and small set pieces. Costumes can be discussed and be a part of the piece as well. You can also include set pieces. The process will be different with every group of students but make sure they understand who their audience is and why they are creating this piece and don’t get lost in the creation of the piece.

**Any additional lessons would be rehearsing the piece for when they tour it. Whenever they are going to perform it would be helpful to go through the piece at least 1-2 times a week so they don’t forget what they have done.

AssessmentStudents can be assessed on their participation in the final cuts and solidifying of their piece.