Week 1: July 17- July 21

Activities and Strategies

Ice Breakers

Learning Objectives: creating classroom community

Exercise #1: Back-tag

• You can only touch another person’s back for 1 point, however every time your back is hit, you lose a point.

• Keep a running tally

Exercise #2: Handshake

• You shake someone's hand, saying your name and they in turn say their name

• You can’t let go of their hand until you shake another person’s hand and say your name. 

• Once you have done that for a while, then play it again only saying the other person’s name and then having to say your name.

Exercise #3: Names in Circle

• Individually step forward into the circle, “Hi I'm Maggie, I like reading. (then louder) Hi! I’m Maggie!" and everyone claps with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. 

  • It is important to keep the enthusiasm high during the applause for all.

Exercise #4: Big,Small, Twisted 

• Walking around the space until the facilitator says stop, with limited contact with one other person make yourself as big as you can, As small as you can and as twisted as you can before your are free to roam around the circle to do it again.

Exercise #5: Floor is Lava

• Keeping it off the ground, trying to keep it off the ground with everyone counting at the same time. 

• To start the game, the person with the ball says WuHa and the rest of the group repeats it. 

Exercise #6: Popcorn

• Once you hit the ball you have to move to the side of the room, the last person with the ball yells popcorn and everyone has to come in to the center again and repeat the process. 

Exercise #7:  The Sun Shines on Me 

• Just Like me game where students say something and if others in the room have the same thing they get up and move chairs, have to move more than one chair away. 

  • Can adapt to review Shakespeare: Favorite parts of shows, favorite lines, motivations, IQ2, etc.

Exercise #8: Finger Jousting

• Left hand on the small of your back, palm facing out. Right hand raised for combat. 

• Each tap of your opponent's hand is a point. First to three wins!

Movement

Learning Objective: spacial awareness, moving with purpose, dynamic moving, and status work

Exercise #1: Bop Around

• Walking in the space, getting a feeling for your surroundings, don’t look at the floor, look around you, understand the space. No talking

• Within this space creepily make eye contact at other people as your pass them in the creepiest way possible

• Within this space wink at people as you pass them

• Within this space roll your shoulder, wink and point at other people as you pass them

Exercise #2: dynamic moving

• Walking in the space, getting a feeling for your surroundings, don’t look at the floor, look around you, understand the space. No talking

• When the facilitator says stop, stop, switch, switch the way you're moving, go, go. Clap, clap, (but it must be done as one group, Jump (But it must be done as one group.) Have group do it again until they get it correct. 

• Once they have an understanding of what is happening slowly start to change things. Make stop the word for starting and go the word for stop and then add in jump means clap and clap means jump.

Exercise #3: No Contact, No Speaking

• Discuss Status and give definition. Discuss cliches and stereotypes so they can be avoided.

• Walking in the space, getting a feeling for your surroundings, don’t look at the floor, look around you, understand the space. No talking

• 1-Low, 10-High. Assign status to the group as a whole, split class, ask them to pick, etc.

Acting and Reciting

Learning Objective: character work, speech practice, understanding visuals

Exercise: #1: 1-2-3

• Groups of 2 each person take turns saying 1-2-3 and repeating until a mistake is made. When you get it wrong turn to an invisible audience and bow.

  • changes 

    •  1 to a clap 

    • 2 to a raspberry

    • 3 to a shimmy

• Class wide competition, sit when you mess up.

Exercise #2:  Tableaus

• Taking lines and story from parts of R & J create one tableau that tells the story and say the line, as each group finishes, give them another section of the plot and do the same thing. 

• Start with the beginning feud, dividing the class in half, giving them Capulets and Montagues, explaining that they hate each other, having students get into that feeling. Then have people step forward to play the characters. Giving them the lines to say.

  • Talk about the feelings and emotions of the characters within the scene and what is being seen.

• Then each group in number order acts out their tableau and their line.

  • Discussing what is happening after each group, talking about the feelings and emotions of each character as well as performer and audience. Don’t get to the end, leave them hanging and wanting more.

Exercise #3:  Yes/No

• Only word being said, using different inflection and emotions

• Yes/No: No words being said only physical action

• Yes/No: Because…

Exercise #4: Paper Tapping

• Have students read a dialogue with a partner

• Have students pick a word or two from each line and underline/highlight that word

• When the reread with their partner, they should be hitting or flicking the paper to emphasize the selected words while also hitting them with an emphasis on their voice

• Have students perform the dialogue with no hitting, just emphasis.

Exercise #5:  Power Grab

• Red light, green light

• "Flag" to be captured

• Someone in power is the guard

  • Example: This is your grandma, she has a jar of cookies, your goal is to steal a cookie. If she turns around, you have to look sweet and innocent or she can send you back.

• Winner gets prize and power

  • how does this power dynamic change or enhance your understanding of power dynamics in the text?

Reviewing the Text

Learning Objective: understanding the text, understanding plot, characterization

Exercise #1: Zip, Zap Boink

• Passing a clap with energy and focus, to change the direction of the clap jump shimmy and put arms up. Adding rules. To send clap across the circle R & J style, Point and say villain, send clap saying draw, do you bite your thumb at me, and rat-catcher

Exercise #2: Prologue Work

• Prologue of R & J: reading it as a group, then facing a partner and saying it really fast, ,then looking at a highlighted version and really stress the highlighted words.

• Then doodle while listening to the prologue, what came up share

• Then take two lines and translate those lines into modern language, use a dictionary if needed. 

• Create a tableau and say both the Shakespearean version and the modern version.

Lectures and Information

The Comedy of Errors --Dr. Will Tosh 

• The story of "The Memorable Arrest"

  • runaway man, imposter takes his place, discovered to be a lie

  • wife accepted the imposter because it allowed her to reestablish herself in her society

  • understanding status, role, etc. other people's reactions to you are what establish status

• Mistaken identity as a central driving force

  • thinking about intentional identity stealing as well as accidental adoption of another's identity

  • if identity is switched and the society accepts and assigns you the alternate identity, you then are able to become that person

    • Mad person vs. mad world

• First performance

  • clear early performance history

  • 28th December 1594- Shakespeare is a poet (newly known to society as a writer, post-pandemic fame), theatre is coming alive again after the plague shut theatre down

  • Shakespeare's company is hired for after dinner entertainment for a Christmas event

  • A Comedy of Errors is performed

    • student fight breaks out during performance, chaos ensues

  • night is referred to going forward as "the night of errors"

  • young elite men are often allowed chaos with the understanding that they will one day be the ones to enforce order as those in power

• theme of redemption and restoration

  • can you be redeemed? can order be restored?

• benefits to teaching adaptations before