Quarter 1

Playing Together

BEG ASSIGNMENTS 2025 - 2026

Theatre or Theater?

This article by Grammarly.com gives a great explanation, but briefly author Catherine Traffis states

"Whether you use the spelling theatre or theater will depend on where you hail from. In American English, the spelling is theater; in Britain and the rest of the English-speaking world, theatre is used. The spelling you choose—theater vs. theatre—should align with your audience’s preference."

Stage Areas are from the performer's perspective looking out at the audience. Their right, their left.

If one is in the house describing what's onstage to their right, that's still stage left.

House Areas are from the audience's perspective looking at the performer. Their right, their left.

If one is onstage describing what's in the audience to their right, that's house left.

Stage Directions

Let's get oriented onstage: the diagram to the left outlines the ten different areas an actor can use on the stage. As your exploration of theatre continues, every space on the stage communicates something different to your audience (trust me). Some a more powerful places to be, others are weaker. Can you guess the most powerful place onstage? (I'll give you a hint: it isn't stage center).

Other Areas of a Theater

Backstage
Wings
Audience / House
Lobby
Stage Manager's booth
Box Office
Green room
Dressing rooms
Storage (costume room, vault, prop room, way back, way way back, USL furniture storage)

Circle of Life Personality Traits

Griffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw? Sagittarius, Pisces, Ares or Taurus?

There are many taxonomy tools that help us understand who we are, how we prefer to work, and what other personality traits we enjoy from others.

Red, Green, Blue or Yellow?

Questions:

Was this activity accurate to your personality?
If you were teammates, what would you need from each other?
Which color do you find it most easy to work with? Why?
Which color needs your kind of support?

Above is Adam Scott from Sam Jones' Off Camera Show. Scott is an Upright Citizens' Brigade graduate (that's an improv school) who uses his Who Cares superpower on camera. I appreciate his timing, his acceptance of his partner, and this wonderful quote: "If something's not working, who cares? Let's do things that suck." He's an expert at the kind of playing we all did when we were little!

Creative Colleagueship. In theatre, we're not friends, we're colleagues. Friends get personal, friends are allowed a deeper connection that may help the work, but also hinder it. As a colleague you and your ensemble have respect, support, safety, but there's a personal boundary that keeps everyone out of everyone else's business.

An Ensemble is...

A group of artists aimed at a common goal
A group of artists that trust each other
A group of artists that works in collaboration to achieve their goal

"Whatever the other actor gives, I'll use." Viola Davis performs with play/pretend in mind, buying 100% into the game that she and her partner create.

Being Seen and Heard.

After doing this for 25 years, I'm still nervous when I think about being in front of an audience. But I think that's me: despite all the experience in front of an audience, my nerves aren't going anywhere. I've just learned to manage my nerves in order to get back onstage.

Cheating: Staying open and SEEN by the audience.

Projecting: Being HEARD by the entire audience (even when mic'd)

In order for the audience to understand my work, I have to get used to being seen and heard by them. Additionally, I need to practice being theatrical by Cheating Out and Projecting my Voice to the back of the house.

Projecting

Sustained by breathing into the belly, an actor's ability to be heard all the way to the back of the house, anywhere from 150 ft. to 500 ft. away, even on microphone.

Norms for Group Scenes.

Norms, or Rules of Play, are established by the ensemble to even out the playing field, keep our discussions civil and respectable, and maximize our potential so we can accomplish our goal. Norms are the Rules of Collaboration.

Common Norms for ensembles include:

Respecting each other's time (get here early, end at time)
Respect our Titles. (Actors act, directors direct, designers design)
Listen to each other's ideas, support whenever you can

What kinds of Norms are important to you? Meet, discuss, share and we'll make a pile for the whole class to practice when we create Group Scenes (starting next week!)

Cheating Out

When an actor angles their head/body away from the reality onstage towards the audience

Group scenes are a fundamental tool we use throughout beginning drama to practice performance fundamentals. Throughout the year - as we unlock more expertise - we'll perform onstage in groups made by YOU and made by ME and show each other how these fundamentals work.

Group Scene Procedures

Tablework (or "Forming and storming"). The group will assemble, intro if necessary, then discuss ideas inspired by the assignment prompt.
Rehearsal (or "Norming"). Edit ideas and stage how you'd like your performance to be seen/heard.
Performance. Your group will perform what you've prepared from beginning to end. The audience will clap. You may bow.
1. If someone is absent day of performance, make it work. If YOU don't perform - that's being seen and heard onstage- YOU won't receive credit. Make up performances are seldom.
Reflection (or "Adjourning"). I will point out how a particular performance satisfied the assignment prompt. We will discuss how awesome all the performances were; then we will clean the theater.

Performance analysis: Psycho and an example of Tension

The horror genre always gets me to feel something: feeling tension and terror, getting a jump scare, and hiding my eyes during the scarier parts are all ways I react to horror movies.

Why do I feel so much during a horror film? Is it the movie? Is it the acting? Is it the camera work? This week we'll watch and discuss Psycho directed by Alfred Hitchcock. What makes a good horror film?

Please click this link to complete the MSForm by Friday, September 20.

Colleagueship

Colleagueship defines the interactions you share with another while working in a professional setting. While creating together - either because you love it or are getting compensated in some way - we hold ourselves to a higher standard than, say, when alone or with friends, or family. Timeliness, Responsibility, Respect and Appropriateness are embedded in a working colleagueship. Awareness of these characteristics also make you a Good Badger!

Practicing Empathy: Share Objects

Choose a personal object from your life and bring it in for show and tell.
This exercise is you, talking about something that matters to you, while the ensemble listens.

We'll begin to show these on September 26, 2025.

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