Objectives: (In addition to the objectives
in Class #1)
1) Pacing and timing.
2) Blocking and stage use.
3) Working cooperatively with a director/group
leader.
Each group will now create a five minute
piece. Give them 30 minutes for creation time.
Divide the class into groups of 8, 9, or 10. Assign or
have the groups elect a group leader or director. The
director will be responsible for monitoring the time and
settling disputes. The theme is a haunted
forest. There are two real people. They enter a
forest and become lost. As they make their way through
the forest they come across an old house or cottage.
They enter the house and move through it. The piece
begins with them entering the forest and ends as they see
fit. Every other person is a graphic image. The
groups should spend just as much time on the forest as in
the house in order to create a dramatic build. The
piece should build up to a climax and then resolve
itself. Again the sound effects become very important
in creating the atmosphere. As in the first class they
will present the work and then critique each
other.
Notes:
1) It is up
to the individual teacher to allow dialogue or not.
You can tell the real people to speak only in gibberish if
you like.
2) As always the transitions must
be smooth.
3) The students must become aware of the
illusionary objects they create. When
you create a graphic door you also create an illusionary
wall. You may have
noticed in the sketches from the first class that some
people walk through the wall instead of the space created by
the person playing the door. Doors have two knobs.
Some students open the door using the graphic person's
closed hand but then close the door still hanging on to the
same hand. They have in effect closed the door on their
arm. When you create a graphic shower you also create
an illusionary tub. You must step over the side of the
tub to get into the shower. These are small
but important details.
4) As in Class
#1, encourage each performer to become more than one object
in order to reinforce the technique of transitioning within
the sketch.
5) Encourage
them to be innovative in their stage use. They do not
have to have the forest and house visible together.
The whole stage can be forest at the beginning and then
'dissolve' into the house or gradually become forest and
house then interior.
Graphics
