Asian Art Museum
Telling Tales with Kamishibai
Kamishibai (paper drama), is a Japanese form of storytelling that uses emakimono (paper picture scrolls), to relay a moral lesson. As part of a series of resources that examine Japanese art and artists, learners watch a video retelling...
BBC
Julius Caesar Teacher Pack
A great actor has the ability to make or break a play. A series of lesson plans related to William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar looks closely at the choices actors make during a production of the play to help provide insight into the...
Curated OER
Ballet and Classical Music
Fourth graders explore ballet. In this dance and music humanities instructional activity, 4th graders practice ballet positions and play a card game using French ballet vocabulary. Students count beats in rhythm patterns and listen to...
Curated OER
Garbage Bag Costume Creation
Students create plastic bag costumes for a short scene developed in the classroom. Performances and assessment occur at the end of this quick instructional activity. A very creative mini-project for theatre arts classes.
Curated OER
Theatre Prop Design and Construction
Fourth graders construct individual props. In this theatrical arts lesson, 4th graders use the elements of art to create various props using paper mache. Students construct objects such as logs, fruit, and a picture frame.
Curated OER
Water Water Water - Costume Designing
Young scholars create costumes using recycled materials determined beforehand by the teacher in this High School Drama/Art lesson on costume designing. The example lesson is based around the title of "Water, Water, Water" but can be...
Curated OER
Walking the Line
Learners participate in activities that engage all learning styles (such as picture walks, tracing lines, movement/theatre technique) as an introduction to the art element of line and its importance to art.
Curated OER
Lesson 1: Theatre Arts
Learners create and perform based on cuttings from various plays and literature to demonstrate the learning of the process of improvisation. Students connect improvisation with theatre and real life. Learners participate in a class...
Curated OER
Theatre
Learners, in groups, explore how to devise theatre and produce a polished piece to perform in front of an audience.
Curated OER
Sophocles' Antigone: Ancient Greek Theatre, Live from Antiquity
Students analyze Antigone and its universal issues as well as explore ancient Greece. In this Antigone and Ancient Greece lesson, students read and complete activities for Sophocles' Antigone. Students reconstruct the experience of a...
Curated OER
Using Visual Art to Create Scenes
High schoolers review scene structure and the elements beginning, middle and end. They view a piece of art to stimulate an idea for a improvised scene. Students work in small groups, create and then perform their scenes for the rest of...
Curated OER
Good Book, Bad Book: Lesson 2
An interesting way to incorporate pop culture and the elements that make a book good. Kids watch a clip from MTV Cribs, they discuss how good or bad books are similar to good or bad homes. They are all different and not everybody will...
John F. Kennedy Center
Acting Up, A Melodrama: Performing Like Jo March and Her Sisters in Little Women
Lights, Camera, Action! Pupils read Little Women and create, act, and direct a melodrama that Jo March and her sisters would enjoy. The lesson plan comes complete with resources for the educator on melodrama as well as examples for drama...
Curated OER
Sondheim: Voice of Cultural Change
Young scholars explore Stephen Sondheim's contributions to musical theatre in the context of the dramatic cultural shift that occurred in American life in the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.
Curated OER
All the World's a Stage
Is the circus a form of theater? Read "A City of Clowns? What Else Is New?" to sway your class that a circus, is indeed, a theatrical performance. Critical thinkers compare/contrast various forms of theater and identify what makes the...
Curated OER
Graphs of the Heart
Students study Greek literature. In this Greek tragedies lesson, students explore the dance-dramas of Martha Graham. Students study the choreography that brings ancient Greek literature to life.
Curated OER
Make a Book Into a Movie
Turn your high schoolers into casting directors with this lesson, which focuses on turning a class novel into a movie. Choosing the cast for a movie based on a class reading, as well as designing a poster for the movie, helps young...
Curated OER
Expressions - Activity 1
Young scholars create wax sculptures of a full body using mathematical calculations and information gathered from a video in this excellent art project. The instructional activity can be used along or within the unit provided.
Curated OER
Israel
The class creates and performs a movement performance of the creation story found in the Jewish tradition. This instructional activity begins with the research of Israeli culture and culminates in a performance of the narrated creation...
Curated OER
Alexander And The Wind-Up Mouse
Use drama techniques to recreate the story, Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse by Leo Lionni. They engage in problem-solving as they identify the roles they will fufill in their groups for the performance. This is a motivating way to...
Brigham Young University
The Presentation
As their final act in a 10-lesson theater arts unit, set designers present their models to the class and explain how their choices of line, color, and texture support the theme they wish to convey.
Brigham Young University
Introducing the Text and Learning the Process of Script Analysis
Where do directors and set designers get their ideas so that the set they build creates the mood and atmosphere the director wants for a production? From the script! Introduce theater high schoolers to the script analysis techniques used...
Brigham Young University
Understanding the Research Process
The second lesson in a unit on set design focuses on the importance of historical and stylistic research. Working in teams created in the previous session, groups consider what resources they will use as they consider design concepts for...
Teacher Created Materials
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar
Bring Julius Caesar to life with a reader's theatre approach that engages the entire class. The opening exercises model the importance of reading with expression while choral reading exercises permit class members to practice their...