THEATER EXERCISES
TWIZZLE
Purpose: Fun and Focus.
What you need: A group of students and a Twizzle leader.
Instructions: Have all students stand in a circle. The Twizzle leader stands in the middle. The students walk in a circle around the leader. The leader gives all the commands. The first command is "stop". At this command the students must freeze. The next command is "go". The students must then start walking. The next command is "turn". The students must turn 180 degrees keeping both feet on the floor and then freeze. Again the command "go" starts them walking, in the direction they are now facing. The next command is "jump". The student jump into the air and rotate 180 degrees with both feet off the group. They land and freeze. The command "go" starts them walking in the direction they are facing. The final command is "twizzle". The students jump up into the air rotate 360 with both feet off the ground. They land and freeze. The command "go" starts them walking.
The commands, "stop", "turn", "jump", and "twizzle" can be used in any sequence at any time. Students are out when they do the wrong command, or do not stay frozen after they do the command. Once a student is out, he/she joins the leader in the middle and helps call other students out. The winner is the last person still in.
MIRROR IMAGE
Purpose: To increase body, space, and partner awareness.
What you need: A group of students.
Instructions: Have all students pair up. Each pair should choose who is "A" and who is "B". Have "A" and "B" face each other. "A" is the leader, "B" is the follower. "A" slowly moves a body part and "B" must mirror image that movement. "A" and "B" never touch. Do this for a while and then switch who is leader and who is follower. Then have the pairs stand back to back and do the same exercise. Can you feel another person’s movement without seeing or touching them? Use the force, Luke!
GROUP NUMBER
Purpose: To help groups work well together.
What you need: A group of students.
Instructions: This game is done in complete silence. The instructor calls out a number (for example #25). The group must then create the shape of the number on the floor using everyone in the group, and doing so without talking. Once this is done successfully, the leader calls out another number.
ANIMAL TRANSFORMATIONS
Purpose: To help develop acting characters.
What you need: A group of students.
Instructions: Have the students stand in a circle around you. Tell them that they are going to change from their human form into an animal. You may choose any animal, for example a tiger. Have the students walk in a circle around you. Tell them that they are completely themselves. Then they are 10% tiger. How does that change their walk and posture? What does it feel like to have a tail? Who do they see in daily life that seems part tiger? They are 25% tiger, then 50%, then 75% then 90% then 100% tiger. Then reverse this process and build them back into humans.
This exercise is great for working on developing characters and noticing that they can use animals as a way to generate character.
BODY LEADS
Purpose: To help develop character.
What you need: A group of students.
Instructions: Have students line up in two lines, shoulder to shoulder. Pick a part of the body, for example the knees. Have the first group walk across the room leading with their knees. Their knees must be in front of the rest of their body as they walk. Once they make it across the room, have them watch as the other group moves across the room leading with their knees. Repeat with other body parts. Ask them who they see in daily life that leads with their chin, or knees, or feet, etc. The exercise is extremely fun and funny. It’s great in helping to develop character, and in noticing how other people move.
THEATER TERMS
Theater has many different jobs that people do. It also has specific terms or words that help people work in a theater more effectively and consistently. The jobs that people fill are:
The Producer: This person runs the business, hires the staff, creates the promotional material, and manages the money.
The Directors: This person hires the performers for the show, creates the material for the performers and runs the rehearsals.
The Actors: They are the performers that you see on stage.
The Choreographer: This person creates all the dances and movement that the actors perform on stage.
The Musical Director: This person is responsible for all the music in the show.
The Stage Manager: This person manages the technical aspects of the show. He schedules rehearsals, checks lighting and sound, and helps the actors and director with whatever they may need.
The Designers: They take care of costumes, build the stage props, and create scenery, lighting, sound.
The Crew: They are a group of people that work offstage to help the final show run smoothly. They operate the sound and the lights, and they help move props on and off stage.
The Lazer Vaudevillians use these roles in a very special way. They do not have separate producers, actors, or directors. They fill all these roles by themselves. They are Actor-Creators. This means that they produce, direct, act, choreograph, and design their own show.
When the Lazer Vaudevillians arrive at a theater for a show, they have several people that help them set up for the show. To be consistent in theater there are special terms for the stage and the curtains and the lights that all theater crews use. These terms are used to help LAZER VAUDEVILLE set up quickly and consistently:
Blocking: This is how actors move on stage and where they move.
Stage Directions: These directions tell the actor where to move onstage. All stage directions are from the perspective of an actor standing on stage and facing the audience.
Down stage: The part of the stage closest to the audience.
Upstage: The part of the stage farthest from the audience. In old theaters, the stage used to slant down toward the audience so that the audience could see the actors better. This is called a raked stage.
Stage left: The part of the stage to the actor’s left.
Stage right: The part of the stage to the actor’s right.
Center stage: The center of the stage.
Wings. The sides of the stage that the audience cannot see.
Legs: The short curtains that hang on the sides of the stage that the actors enter and exit from.
Main Drape. The curtain that closes in front of the stage.
Exercises: Upstage/Downstage
Purpose: To familiarize students with stage directions.
What you need: A group of students, a large space or a stage, Paper, Pen, Hat.
What to do: Write the following directions on nine separate pieces of paper. Downstage left, downstage center, downstage right, centerstage left, center stage, center stage right, upstage left, upstage center, upstage right. Put the pieces of paper in the hat. Choose one person to be the director. If you are in a large space choose one side to be the audience. The director should stand or sit in the audience. Everyone else plays the actors. The director picks a piece of paper out of the hat and reads the direction out loud. All the actors must move to that part of the stage. Then the director pulls out another piece of paper and reads that direction. All the actors move to that part of the stage. Continue until all directions have been read. Then switch directors.
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