Developing A Character Lesson Plans
Grade Level: 11-12
Subject: Acting II
Lesson Week 1, Day 1:
Massachusetts Department of Education Content Standards: Theatre
· 1.5 - Learn lines, observe, listen, and respond in character to other actors
· 1.17- Demonstrate an increased ability to work effectively alone and collaboratively with a partner or in an ensemble
Enduring Understanding: Students will understand that…
Observation is an essential skill in developing a character for performance.
Students will know that:
It is possible to relate life experiences to character choices and development.
Observation is essential to developing honest, realistic characters.
Students will be able to:
Pay attention to details in images presented and interpret their observations in a physical way.
Warm-Up
Three Things: Students will partner off and decide who will be A and who will be B. Person A will have two minutes to look at person B and form a mental image of how they look. After the two minutes A will turn around and B will be given two minutes to change 3 things about their appearance to see if A will be able to notice the differences. After the two minutes A will turn around and try to guess the three things that have been changed. After A has figured out the differences the partners should switch so that B observes A. Have them do a second round with the most subtle changes they can do and see if their partners can figure it out, and a final round with the most obnoxious, drastic changes they can think of.
Lesson Body
Bring them back in a circle to break down the warm up. What did you notice? What was difficult about the game? How is this useful to performance?
After the quick break down, everybody up, mill and seethe. Have them begin by walking normally at neutral, observer each other, walk like someone else in the class, shake that off, walk like a man, walk like a woman (not a caricature or a man or woman but as if you are a man or woman), walk like a villain, like a hero, like a coward, like a child, like a teenager, the back to neutral. What did you observe? Why did you make the choices you did? What did you notice in other students in the room? How is observation useful to developing a character?
Break the class up in to four groups of four giving each group a different image. Allow the groups 2 minutes to look at the images and commit as much of them to memory as possible. At the end of the two minutes have them flip the pictures over and tell the other members in their group everything they are able to remember about the image. Once everyone has shared their recollections have them flip the picture over again. They have another two minutes to look at the picture and commit as much of it to memory as possible. At the end of the two minutes they have to flip the picture over again. Each group now has 2 ½ minutes to create a tableau recreating their picture (collect the images as they do this). At the end of the 2 ½ minutes have each group present their images. Have the other groups attempt to assign the picture that inspired the tableau to the group performing.
After the discussion hand out and explain the assignment for the next class. Students must observe someone without them knowing they are being watching. Look at body posture, gestures, vocal quality, interactions with others, etc. If possible take a picture of them to bring into class tomorrow. This cannot be someone you know personally, so no teachers, classmates, administrators, family members etc. Bring in your findings for class tomorrow.
Assessment Assignment
After the discussion hand out and explain the assignment for the next class. Students must observe someone without them knowing they are being watching. Look at body posture, gestures, vocal quality, interactions with others, etc. If possible take a picture of them to bring into class tomorrow. This cannot be someone you know personally, so no teachers, classmates, administrators, family members etc. Bring in your findings for class tomorrow.
Emily Temple
Shakespeare A block
Merchant of Venice lesson plan
Grade Level: 12
Subject: Shakespeare
Key Topics: Merchant of Venice, characterization, Shakespeare
Massachusetts Department of Education Content Standards: Theatre
· 1.17- Demonstrate an increased ability to work effectively alone and collaboratively with a partner or in an ensemble
· 1.9 - Use physical acting skills such as body alignment, control of isolated body parts, and rhythms to develop characterizations that suggest artistic choices
Enduring Understanding: Students will understand that…
We read Shakespeare’s plays because they include issues that are universal and still relevant to our daily lives.
Students will know that:
It is possible to relate life experiences to character relationships and plot points in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice.
Students will be able to:
Pay attention to details in images presented and interpret their observations in a physical way.
Make physical choices that inform and provide access to meaning in Shakespearean text.
Respond to the text creatively, critically, and from personal experience.
Warm Up:
Mill and Seethe
Whole group make:
A wealthy merchant
A Jewish moneylender
A faithful servant
An African Prince
A beautiful heiress
A woman pretending to be a man
What kind of story would all of these characters be in?
Lesson Body:
Ten second images
A trial
A secret romance
Revenge
An agreement
A double wedding
Have the class tour around to each image group, what do you notice? What do you think is going on? Add the scraps of text that go with each image group and have them alter to original tableau image to incorporate the scrap of text with someone speaking the lines.
Merchant Whoosh!
Once there was a wealthy Jewish man named Shylock who lived in Venice with his daughter Jessica. Shylock had amassed his immense fortune by lending money to Christian merchants and charging them interest on the loans; because of this Shylock was hated by many people in Venice, especially by a wealthy young merchant named Antonio. Shylock also hated Antonio because he frequently gave interest free loans to the Christian merchants so that they could pay Shylock off before he could begin collecting interest, thus robbing Shylock of his only means of making money. Whenever the two of them met at the exchange Antonio berated Shylock for his hard dealings and mocked Shylock’s Jewish faith. Shylock suffered this silently and patiently all while secretly waiting for an opportunity to seek his revenge.
Whoosh
Antonio, unlike Shylock, was dearly loved by many people in Venice, but there was one man who he loved more than any other, Bassanio, a noble Venetian, who had nearly exhausted his entire fortune by living in too expensive a manner for his slender means, as young men of high rank with small fortunes are too apt to do. Whenever Bassanio wanted money Antonio assisted him; and it seemed as if they had but one heart and one purse between them.
Whoosh
One day Bassanio came to Antonio with a plan to reestablish his fortune and be able to pay back all of the money he owed him. In the nearby town of Belmont there was a beautiful woman by the name of Portia whose father had recently died and left her the sole heir of a large estate and a vast fortune. Bassanio had visited the estate many times while Portia’s father was alive and he had fallen in love with her and he believed she loved him too. However, he did not have the means to travel to Belmont to try and win Portia’s hand so he needed one last loan from Antonio to pay for the voyage. Unfortunately all of Antonio’s money was currently tied up in investments, but he expected a return soon, so he suggested they go to Shylock, the wealthy moneylender to take out a loan.
Whoosh
What do you think happens next? Etc.
Mill and Seethe-Stop and Go
At the end of the exercise have them circle up-name one feeling you had at any point during that. Have everyone in the circle go around and answer. Hand out the sheets with Shylock’s “many a time and oft” monologue. First have them read it aloud with each person reading to the next punctuation point, then assign the lines and go into the Cecily Berryexercise with the chairs. So what’s going on in this monologue? How does doing it this way change it? How is Antonio going to reply to this? Let’s see…back into story Whoosh.
Whoosh
Antonio and Bassanio go to Shylock to request a loan of 3,000 ducats to furnish Bassanio to Belmont in pursuit of Portia. Shylock knows Antonio is good for the money, but he thinks if by chance he should default on the loan this could be the opportunity he has been so patiently waiting for to exact revenge. As a measure of good faith Shylock offers to give the two men the loan free of interest upon the condition that if Antonio defaults on the loan he must give Shylock a pound of his flesh to be cut off from wherever Shylock specifies. Antonio agrees to this bond. Bassanio, now furnished with the means necessary to win Portia sets off for Belmont with a flock of attendants, including his good friend Gratiano.
Whoosh
While the three men have been arranging this deal Jessica, Shylock’s daughter, has been secretly planning to run away with her boyfriend Lorenzo, a Christian, and get married. With the help of Launcelot, Shylock’s servant, Jessica and Lorenzo arrange a time for her to sneak out of her home. When the time comes, Jessica, disguised as a boy, steals a chest full of money and jewels from her father, escapes from her house, and runs away with Lorenzo to Belmont. Shylock is stricken with grief over the loss of his daughter and his money when he discovers her betrayal.
Whoosh
Meanwhile in Belmont Portia and her lady’s maid Nerissa have been have been entertaining suitors who have come seeking Portia’s hand in marriage. The suitors include a drunken German, a “fancy” Frenchman, a horse-obsessed prince, and a confused Englishmen, but they all decide to give up their pursuit of Portia when they learn her father placed a stipulation in his will that Portia’s hand may only be won through a lottery involving three caskets or boxes, one gold, one silver, and one lead. Anyone who wishes to marry Portia must pick a box and if Portia’s picture is inside the box they will be married, but if they choose incorrectly they must leave Belmont immediately and never marry for as long as they live. The only suitors brave enough to risk the lottery are the Prince of Morocco and the Prince of Aragon. Each prince carefully surveys the caskets, reading the inscriptions on the outside before making their selection, Morocco chooses the gold and Aragon the silver, but they both choose incorrectly and are sent away empty handed.
Whoosh
Just when Portia has lost all hope of anyone ever choosing the correct casket, a servant enters to inform Portia and Nerissa that another suitor has arrived who wishes to try for Portia’s hand. Bassanio enters with his attendants, including his friend Gratiano who is immediately drawn to Nerissa as soon as he enters the room. Gratiano, never one to miss an opportunity, asks Nerissa is she is willing to place a little side wager on his friend Bassanio’s fortune with the caskets. Gratiano suggests that if Bassanio chooses correctly and obtains Portia as his wife, that he shall win Nerissa’s hand in marriage; Nerissa agrees.
Whoosh
Bassanio approaches the caskets and reads each inscription carefully, weighing his options. Portia, Nerissa, and Gratiano look on nervously for what seems like hours as Bassanio decides which casket to choose. Finally Bassanio calls for the key; he has chosen the lead casket! He lifts the lid and is overjoyed to discover a portrait of Portia resting inside the casket. Portia is overcome with happiness to be marrying the man she loves; she goes to him and gives him a ring that she charges him to never part from, loose, or give away. Gratiano and Nerissa congratulate them on their upcoming wedding and inform their two friends that they shall be getting married as well. Portia and Bassanio congratulate their friends and suggest they have a double wedding to celebrate the occasion.
Whoosh
Just as the couples are leaving for the church to be married a messenger arrives with a letter for Bassanio from Antonio. He says that his merchandise has been lost and he has been forced to forfeit his loan to Shylock and the he is being held in prison waiting for Shylock to exact his penalty and remove the pound of flesh called for in the bond. Bassanio is distraught over the plight of his friend, but he doesn’t know what to do. Portia suggests that first, he go with her to the church so that they can be married and then afterwards to take three times the amount of the bond to Venice to pay off Shylock and set his friend free, whatever it takes to help the friend who gave Bassanio the means to travel to Belmont and win her hand in marriage. After the men have left Portia and Nerissa decide that they must disguise themselves as men and travel to Venice to help their husbands free their friend Antonio from the predicament he is in. They take on the roles of a lawyer and his clerk so that they can assist in Antonio’s defense at the trial.
Wrap up/discussion:
What do you think happens next? What is going to happen at the trial? Is Antonio going to die? Will Shylock exact his revenge? Will Portia and Nerissa be caught in disguise or will they be able to save Antonio?
Discovering a sense of place
Break the class into four groups, two for the Ghetto and two for Venice proper. Distribute the images of Venice to the groups. Have the groups explore the images together—where would you go? What would/do you see? What do you see, smell, hear, feel? How would you describe this place to someone who couldn’t see?
Jigsaw the groups, one person from the Ghetto pairs with one person from Venice proper. Take turns giving each other a blind ‘guided tour’ of your space, describe it to them in as much detail as possible.
Individually walk back to the spot where the “tour” was the clearest for you, when you could really see, hear, or smell something. When you get there stop, and when I place my hand on your shoulder tell the group what you see or hear.
Discuss the images brought up by the students and the role setting plays in the play specifically focusing on how that affects the characters.
Text pieces for 10 second images
A trial:
Most heartily I do beseech the court
To give the judgment.
A secret romance:
If thou keep promise, I shall end this strife,
Become a Christian and thy loving wife.
Revenge:
Why revenge! The villany you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.
An agreement:
Content i’faith: I’ll seal to such a bond.
A double wedding:
Our feast shall be much honour’d in your marriage.
Shylock:
Signior Antonio, many a time and oft
In the Rialto you berated me
About my moneys and my usances:
Still have I borne it with a patient shrug,
For sufferance is the badge of all our tribe.
You call me misbeliever, cut-throat dog,
And spit upon my Jewish gaberdine,
And all for use of that which is mine own.
Well then, it now appears you need my help:
Go to, then; you come to me, and you say
'Shylock, we would have moneys:' you say so;
You, that did void your rheum upon my beard
And foot me as you spurn a stranger cur
Over your threshold: moneys is your suit
What should I say to you? Should I not say
'Hath a dog money? is it possible
A cur can lend three thousand ducats?' Or
Shall I bend low and in whispering humbleness, say this;
'Fair sir, you spit on me on Wednesday last;
You spurn'd me such a day; another time
You call'd me dog; and for these courtesies
I'll lend you thus much moneys'?