Relax Physically and Mentally

Have the students do some physical warm-up stretching like that of a physical education class. Then, have them lie on the floor or keep them standing and have them close their eyes. Mentally, have them answer these questions: Who’s beside you? Who’s in front? Who’s in back? What process did you go through this morning before you came to school?

Did you take a shower? Did you eat breakfast? Go through each step before you came to school. Now think of a sad moment. What did the surroundings look like during that moment? Now think of a happy moment. What was going on during that time? On the count of three, shout out one word to describe that happy moment.

Trust
In order to act to the best of your ability, you must learn to trust other actors. In pairs, have one student close their eyes while the other leads them around the theater/room. Have them lead the other around for three minutes, and then change positions. (They will do this for another three minutes.)

Gather up the class and have them pair up according to size and weight. After the paring have the students catch one another. The person falling into the other’s arms needs to make their body stiff, like that of a 2x4. After this is done for about one minute, have the students change positions.

Criticism
Good and bad. The instructor needs to give some examples of good and bad criticism. Have students go up on stage and do the following: sing off key or deliver a dramatic line in a horrible way. Give good and bad criticism examples. Note: Don’t take criticism personally.

Criticism is responding to the acting, not the student as a person. Also, students need to accept the criticism and learn from it in order to enhance their performance.

Freedom
Actors must be able to be anything on stage. Have students go up on stage and act like animals, old people, men women, etc. for one minute.