Lesson Planet
Search educational resources
  • Sign In Try It Free
  • AI Teacher Tools
    • Discover Resources Search reviewed educational resources by keyword, subject, grade, type, and more
    • Curriculum Manager (My Content) Manage saved and uploaded resources and folders To Access the Curriculum Manager Sign In or Join Now
    • Browse Resource Directory Browse educational resources by subject and topic
    • Curriculum Calendar Explore curriculum resources by date
    • Lesson Planning Articles Timely and inspiring teaching ideas that you can apply in your classroom
    • Our Story
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Testimonials
    • Contact Us
  • Pricing
  • School Access
    • Your school or district can sign up for Lesson Planet — with no cost to teachers
      Learn More
  • Sign In
  • Try It Free

Hi, what do you want to do?

Create a lesson plan
Create a lesson plan
Generate resources with 80+ AI teacher tools
Generate resources with 80+ AI teacher tools
Search 200,000 instructional videos
Search 200,000 instructional videos
Find a teaching resource
Find a teaching resource
Teaching Guide: Set Design Professional DocTeaching Guide: Set Design Professional Doc
Publisher
AQA
Resource Details
Curator Rating
Educator Rating
Not yet Rated
Grade
9th - 12th
Subjects
Visual & Performing Arts
1 more...
Resource Type
Professional Documents
Audience
For Teacher Use
Instructional Strategies
Direct Instruction
1 more...
Technology
Video
Projection
Internet Access
Usage Permissions
Fine Print: Educational Use
Professional Doc

Teaching Guide: Set Design

Curated and Reviewed by Lesson Planet
This Teaching Guide: Set Design professional doc also includes:
  • Lesson Plan
  • Activity
  • Teacher Reference
  • Join to access all included materials

The task of creating a set for a theater production may leave theater arts students asking where to begin. Set their minds at ease with a packet that not only provides information about the elements of design, but also guides them through the process with illustrations and models.

60 Views 40 Downloads

Concepts

design, elements of design, stage directions, dramatizations

Additional Tags

visual and performing arts

Instructional Ideas

  • Begin by showing videos (such as the videos found here and here) that show designers discussing their rationale for the sets they designed for productions of Hamlet
  • Have groups select a play, research three to five different sets used in productions, and prepare a presentation that points out what the sets reveal about the designers' vision

Classroom Considerations

  • The 20-page packet is intended to introduce first year theater arts classes to the different elements of set design
  • Familiarity with Ibsen's Hedda Gabler and Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie would be helpful but not required
  • The link to Sting and Honey's set is broken: however, images are available on the Internet

Pros

  • Links are provided to photographs of a variety of sets that illustrates the concepts being discussed
  • After reading Ibsen's detailed outline of the set in the introduction to Act 1 of Hedda Gabler, class members compare images of four different sets 

Cons

  • None

See similar resources:

Activity

Set and Prop Design

Oxford Cambridge
What's the difference between set dressing and a prop? Between a costume accessory and a personal prop? As part of their study of set and prop design, class members engage in a series of activities that prepare them to design a prop for...
9th - 12th Visual & Performing Arts
CCSS: Adaptable
Lesson Plan

Mehndi Art Gloves

Dick Blick Art Materials
Class members get a chance to practice the art of Mehndi as they use markets to apply patterns to a latex glove.
K - 12th Visual & Performing Arts
Activity

Lesson 2- Costume Design

Curated OER
Clothes might not make the man but they certainly do help an actor create a character. How costume designers employ the same elements of design found in sets (line, color, texture, shape) to realize a character is the focus of a lesson...
6th - 12th Visual & Performing Arts
CCSS: Adaptable
Lesson Plan

Understanding Design, Composition, and Color

Brigham Young University
The set for a play combines design elements (style, line, shape, mass, measure, position, color, and texture) and principles of composition (unity, harmony, contrast, variation, balance, proportion, and emphasis) to create a particular...
6th - 12th Visual & Performing Arts
CCSS: Adaptable
Lesson Plan

Creating a Design Concept

Brigham Young University
Putting together information gained from their script analysis, their readings, and their research, groups create a conceptual design statement for their assigned scene. The statement explains how their scenic design creates the mood and...
6th - 12th Visual & Performing Arts
CCSS: Adaptable
Lesson Plan

Looking and Learning in the Art Museum — Lesson 2

J. Paul Getty Trust
Is there a difference between examining an original work of art and viewing a reproduction? Class members are asked to reflect on this question after researching a piece, study a reproduction of it, and the examining the original in an...
6th - 12th Visual & Performing Arts
CCSS: Designed
Lesson Plan

Lesson: Younger Than Jesus: Understanding, Looking at, Making Abstract Art

Curated OER
Before the class makes abstract art, they see contemporary examples and analyze them. They look at art made by abstract artists under the age of 33 then use similar techniques to create an interesting collection of their own. The lesson...
9th - 12th Visual & Performing Arts
Lesson Plan

Art: Graffiti

Google
Your principal won't mind graffiti, as long as it's on a virtual wall. Scholars use the Scratch block-based computer language to write a program on graffiti. The program lets users place certain designs on a wall. 
5th - 9th Visual & Performing Arts
Lesson Plan

Art: Introduction and Discovery

Google
Art isn't the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about computer science. The first installment of an eight-part Google CS Art unit introduces the series and highlights class procedures. Pupils view videos that show how to use...
5th - 9th Visual & Performing Arts
Lesson Plan

Art: Interactive Art

Google
What would the Mona Lisa say if she could talk? Scholars create a digital story within the Scratch block-based coding program. They make famous paintings talk and move when viewers click on them to complete the third of eight parts in...
5th - 9th Visual & Performing Arts
Try It Free
© 1999-2026 Learning Explorer, Inc.
Teacher Lesson Plans, Worksheets and Resources

Sign up for the Lesson Planet Monthly Newsletter

Open Educational Resources (OER)

  • Health
  • Language Arts
  • Languages
  • Math
  • Physical Education
  • Science
  • Social Studies
  • Special Education
  • Visual and Performing Arts
View All Lesson Plans

Discover Resources

  • Our Review Process
  • How it Works
  • How to Search
  • Create a Collection

Manage Curriculum

  • Edit a Collection
  • Assign to Students
  • Manage My Content
Contact Us Site Map Privacy Policy Terms of Use