March 18, 2013 - March 22, 2013

Monday, March 18th:

Warm-ups!
Theatre Games:
Triads
Morf!
Palm Trees!
Pair up actors
Begin working on writing scenes
Improvs: Genre

Tuesday, March 19th:
Warm-ups!
Theatre Games:
Mirrors
Ninjas
Pass the sound
Pass the clap
Continue working on writing scenes
Improvs: Taxi

Wednesday, March 20th:
Warm-ups!
Theatre Games:
Triads!
Continue working on writing scenes

Thursday, March 21st:
Warm-ups!
Begin showing scenes

Friday, March 22nd:
Warm-ups!
Begin showing scenes
Improvs:
Cocktail

Beginning Acting March 11, 2013 - March 15, 2013

Monday, March 11th:
Warm-ups
Work with:
Arthur Essayan
Pamela Lara
Present: Yutzi Villares

Tuesday, March 12th:
Warm-ups:
Work with:
Jesus Alfaro-Haro
Jasmin Alvarez
Stephanie Barron
Present:
Arthur Essayan
Pamela Lara

Wednesday, March 13th:
Warm-ups:
Work with:
Asia Calhoun
Mary Rose Campos
Renatta Chavez
Present:
Jesus Alfaro-Haro
Jasmin Alvarez
Stephanie Barron

Thursday, March 14th:
Warm-ups:
Present:
Asia Calhoun
Mary Rose Campos
Renatta Chavez

Friday, March 15th:
Warm-ups
Theatre Games
Pair up to begin writing a new scene

March 4, 2013 - March 8, 2013 Acting Class Agenda

Monday, March 4th:
Warm-ups
Vocal Exercises
Acting Exercises:
Sense Memory: Anger
While playing music, the actors walk about the stage, finding the walk of their character.   They stop and say to the audience a line from their scene.  They begin walking again.
Rehearse
Today: Chelsy, Chris, Angie, Karla, Elizabeth will present their scenes today

Tuesday, March 5th:
Warm-ups
Vocal Exercises
Acting Exercises: Fear
While playing music, the actors walk about the stage, finding the walk of their character. They stop and say a line to the audience a line from their scene. They begin walking again.
Rehearse
Performances

Wednesday, March 6th:
Warm-ups
Vocal Exercises
Physical Movement with Music
Theatre Games: Guessing Game
One person leaves the room while three other actors decide secretly on an image.  One actor may think about an elephant; another one might think about a London bus and another actor may think about a white sneaker. The other actors do not tell each other her/his object.  The actor who comes back in begins to ask questions about the object, thinking it's one object.  As s/he asks questions, the object changes. For example, the person may ask one actor if it's bigger than a breadstick and if the  person imagining an elephant will answer yes, but the actor with the white sneaker will have to change her/his object.  The exercise ends when the actor comes close to or actually guesses the object - if s/he ever does.
Rehearse
Performance

Thursday, March 7th:
Warm-ups
Vocal Exercises
Rehearse
Performance

Friday, March 8th:
Warm-ups
Vocal Exercises
Rehearse
Performance

February 25, 2013 - March 1, 2013 Beginning Acting

February 25, 2013 - March 1, 2013
Agenda for Beginning Acting

Monday, February 25th:
Theatre Games
Rehearse Monologues

Tuesday, February 26th:
Theatre Games
Rehearse Monologues

Wednesday, February 27th:
Warm-ups: Vocal and Physical
Sense Memory Walk
Rehearse Monologues
Begin presenting monologues

Thursday, February 28th:
Warm-ups: Vocal and Physical
Sense Memory Walk
Rehearse Monologues
Begin presenting monologues

Friday, March 1st:
Warm-ups: Vocal and Physical
Rehearse Monologues
Begin presenting monologues

February 19, 2013 - February 22, 2013 Beginning Acting Agenda

February 19, 2013 - February 22, 2013
Beginning Acting

Tuesday, February 19th:
Warm-ups!
Monologue Rehearsals!

Wednesday, February 20th:
Warm-ups: vocal and physical
Theatre Games:
Two students begin a dialogue where each student must start her/his line with the last letter of the other actor's line.
Cocktail Party: One actor is throwing a party where guests arrive with an "issue"; for example, one of the guests thinks he is Lady Gaga or another is terrified of heights and thinks s/he is on a tight rope.  The host of the cocktail party and the audience must figure out what each character's issue is.
Monologue Rehearsals!

Thursday, February 21st:
Warm-ups!
Monologue Rehearsals!

Friday, February 22nd:
Warm-ups!
Begin performing the monologues!

February 11, 2013 - February 15, 2013 Agenda

February 11, 2013 - February 15, 2013 Beginning Acting Class Agenda

Monday, February 11th:
Warm-ups: Vocal and Physical
Physical: Warm-up to music

Make Up a Story: The acting tribe stands in a circle.  The first actor starts by saying, "Once"; the second actor says, "Upon"; the third actor says, "A "; and the fourth actor says, "Time"; the fifth and subsequent actors then say one word to contribute to the fairy tale. The story goes around the circle with each actor contributing one word to the story.

Just Questions: Two actors face off, with one of the actors beginning.  The actors can only ask questions of each other; no statements. The first actor who forgets and replies without a question is out of the game.

Five Words: An actor is secretly given five random nouns: race car, church, red scooter, guitar, etc.  The actor has to make up a story using the five random words in under one minute.  The other actors have to guess which words were the given words.

The actors are to work quietly on writing their monologues. 

Tuesday, February 12th:
Warm-ups: Vocal
Physical: Warm-up to music

Students work quietly on their monologues.
Some students will show their monologues to me.

Wednesday, February 13th:
Warm-ups: Vocal
Physical:"Morph!" " Palm Trees-Charlie's Angels-Elephant Ears-Clint Eastwood"; Ninja-Rock-Paper-Scissors";
Students work on their monologues
Students will show their monologues to me.

Thursday, February 14th:
Warm-ups: Vocal
Improv Games: "The Dating Game"
Students work on their monologues
Students will show their monologues to me.

Friday, February 15th:
Warm-ups: Vocal
Students will work on their monologues
Students will show their monologues to me.

Next week: Students will begin presenting their monologues.

February 4, 2012 - February 8, 2012

 Monday, February 4th:
Warm-ups:
Students create their own vocal exercises and present to class.
"Ninja-Rock-Scissors-Paper"
Theatre Games: Taxi, Genre, Four and One

Tuesday, February 5th:
Warm-ups;
Vocal Warm-ups
Sense Memory
"A Night at the Museum"

Students will choose a picture of someone they don't know.  They will create a backstory about that person and from that backstory, the student will create a monologue, which they will perform as that person.
Choose a picture.

Wednesday, February 6th:
Warm-ups:
Standing in a circle, one person begins a simple movement which everyone in the circle copies; then the next person in the circle changes it and everyone follows.  This is repeated around the circle until we get back to the first person. 
Vocal Warm-ups
Sense Memory

Creating a Character:
Each student will hold the picture of the person s/he has chosen and discuss the person: the age, the occupation, the city or country the person lives in, the neighborhood the person lives in, her or his family and friends.  What the person wants; what the person needs; what the person hopes for, what the person fears.

Thursday, February 7th:
Warm-ups:
Theatre Games:
"Just Questions Please!"
"Finish the Thought!"
Vocal 
Continue the"Creating a Character"

Friday, February 8th:
Warm-ups:
Vocal
Theatre Games:
Walk Along the Grid. When the group "decides", everyone stops.  When the  group "decides" to move, then everyone moves.  An emotion is given and everyone in the group walks until told to stop (One-Two-Three-Stop!) Everyone gathers in a group, expressing that emotion.

An emotion is assigned.  The students line up in two lines. A student steps forward, pauses, then moves to the front of the stage, expressing that emotion.  The student then crosses the stage to the other line, pauses, looks back at the audience with the same emotion before stepping back into line.

Quiet time: Students work on creating their monologues. 

Questions and Answers: Acting Exercise

Questions and Answers: Acting Exercise

This is courtesy of the great Tony Torissi: Two actors are paired. One begins the conversation with a statement, which the other actor responds to.  The conversation continues but the actors cannot ask questions.  Each thing the actor says is a simple statement of fact.  Continue until one actor slips and asks a question.

Purpose of this is to force the actors to think, speak and listen to each other.

The reverse is the "No Statements, Please!" One actor begins the conversation with a question, which the other actor responds to with another question.  The point is to listen to the other actor and respond with a question.  The first person who answers the question with a statement, without a question, sits down and another actor takes her/his place.

Theatre Games: A Night at the Museum

A Night at the Museum

Choose a category, prehistoric cave people; a type of dinosaur, and strike that pose as if you were a mannequin in a natural history museum.  It's night now. The museum visitors have gone home. It's just the night guard walking around the museum preventing you from frolicking in the museum - running up and down the aisles, the rooms of the museum, riding the back of the apatosaurus, flying on the back of the pterodactyl, being chased by the Tyrannosaurus-Rex. Your job is to change poses behind the back of the night guard without being caught by her or him.  The person who gets caught becomes the new night guard. Have fun!

January 28, 2013 - February 1, 2013 Beginning Acting

Monday, January 28th:
Vocal Warm-ups!
Theatre Games:The Night at the Museum
Animal Studies: break into groups to create scenes as people based on animals. 

Tuesday, January 29th:
Vocal Warm-ups!
Theatre Games: "No Questions, please!"
Continue with Animal Studies: Present scenes

Wednesday, January 30th:
Vocal Warm-ups!
Theatre Games:
Sanford Meisner Studies: Create a scene with business.  The conflict arises when another
person enters the scene with an interruption.

Thursday, January 31st:
Vocal Warm-ups!
Theatre Games!
Continue with Sanford Meisner studies: Present Scenes

Friday, February 1st:
Theatre Games:
Four and One; Taxi; Genre, Freeze!

January 22, 2013 - January 25, 2013 Acting Agenda

January 22, 2013 - January 25, 2013
Agenda for Acting Class

Monday, January 21st:
No school today.

Tuesday, January 22nd:
Vocal Exercises
Emotion Memory Exercises
Pass It On!
Finish Three Scenes and a Phrase
Finish The Entrance Game

Wednesday, January 23rd:
Vocal Exercises
Theatre Games
Sanford Meisner Exercise:
Break into pairs
Create a scene in which one is engaged in some kind of physical activity and the other actor tries to distract the other.

Thursday, January 24th:
Vocal Exercises
Theatre Games
Sanford Meisner Exercise

Friday, January 25th:
Theatre Games
Improvs: Olympic Events, Genre, Subtitles, Four and One, Taxi

The Entrance Game

The Entrance Game

A group of three create a scene in which the characters enter a room in which they bring what ever they have experienced or gone through in the last twenty minutes.  It could be walking ten blocks in the snow, or learning they have just been fired, or coming back from their wedding ceremony.  It could be anything.  The important thing is that they create the circumstances and they come in with the emotional, physical history of the last ten or twenty minutes.

Emotional Events:

Boy/Girlfriend just broke up with you

Just got fired from your job

Got your first professional acting job

Saw a horrible traffic accident on your way home

Saw your best friend's boy/girlfriend making out with another person

The person you have a crush on asked you out on a date

You walked twenty blocks in scorching hot weather

You walked twenty blocks in a rainstorm

You are a jewel thief who just made off with a large diamond from a store

You are a spy who thinks secret agents are following you home.

You failed a class today and you have to tell your mom

You made straight "A's" but your mom's not home to tell her

Theatre Warm-ups/Warm-ups: Elephant Ears

ELEPHANT EARS, CHARLIE'S ANGELS, PALM TREES, CLINT EASTWOOD

1. Students stand in a circle.
2. Person in the center points to a person and calls out one of the following:
3. Elephant Ears: The person who is pointed at, makes an elephant trunk with her arm.
The persons standing on either side of her makes the elephant's ears with their outside arm.
Charlie's Angels: The person who is pointed at, strikes a pose like the middle Charlie's Angel in the movie poster.  The two people on either side strike a pose like the other two Charlie's Angels.
Palm Trees: The person who is pointed waves her/his arms up like a palm tree in a fierce wind.  The two people on either side also wave their arms like palm trees in a fierce wind.
Clint Eastwood: The person who is pointed at, stands and glowers like Clint Eastwood without cracking a smile - or talking to an empty chair.

Penalty: All three people - the person pointed at and the person on either side of her/him - must work as one in becoming palm trees, Charlie's Angels, or elephant ears.  If some one zones out, is confused, late, does palm tree when s/he should have "elephant eared" or just doesn't do it at all, then the entire three people are out of the game.

January 14, 2013 - January 18, 2013

January 14, 2013 - January 18, 2013 Weekly Agenda for Acting

Monday, January 14th: 

Warm-ups: Physical and Vocal 

The Entrance Game 

Tuesday, January 15th: 

Warm-ups: Physical and Vocal

The Entrance Game 

Wednesday, January 16th: 

Warm-ups: Physical and Vocal 

Theatre Games

Thursday, January 17th: 

Warm-ups: Physical and Vocal 

Theatre Games

The Exit Game

Friday, January 18th: 

Warm-ups: Physical and Vocal

Theatre Games

Given Circumstances Improv

Second Semester Acting Class Syllabus

Second Semester Acting Class Syllabus

January 8, 2013

Dear Acting Student:
Welcome to our beginning acting class.  I hope you will enjoy this class and will grow and develop as an actor, a student and a human being.

Each day the acting class will start with vocal exercises, stretches, physical warm-ups and acting exercises - some of them fun, some of them weird. But everyone is expected to participate and the grade will be based in part on participation and cooperation.

We will do theatre games which are for the most part fun, and do require everyone to get up on her or his feet and participate. The games do serve a purpose and are designed to help the young actor grow.
You will pair up or work in small groups of three or four and create scenes and/or pantomimes according to a set guide line which you will perform for a grade.

As the semester progresses, you will select, rehearse and perform two short scenes with an acting partner.  By working on these short scenes with different acting partners, you will learn how to create and develop a character.  The process which you will use to create a living, believable character will include improvs and exercises you will perform in front of the class, and written work on the character which will include creating a background for the character, a day in the life of the character, objectives of the character, and a “Who-What-Where-When” journal on the scene. These will be turned in for a grade. The scenes will be committed to memory,  performed in front of the class with blocking and props, and will be videotaped.

You will rehearse with me twice. You will present to me what you have created on your own; I will direct and block your scene which you will then rehearse. A few days later you will rehearse the scene for me but this time fully memorized, with props and blocking. You will then be scheduled to perform the scene  in front of the class. The class will learn to critique the scenes in a respectful and supportive way. Due to the nature of the class, cooperation and participation are  integral parts if the grade.  One cannot work in theatre without getting up on one's feet and participating; nor can one do theatre without cooperation with one's fellow actors or with one's director/teacher.

As a member of the Performing Arts Magnet, you will be expected to usher and work tech on at least one show per semester and to see all of the plays and dance and vocal productions put on by the magnet.

This should be a fun but also very demanding class. Because of the nature of the class it is important that we treat each other with respect at all times so that we feel safe to create.

The grades will be determined by the following:

Participation/Cooperation: 60%
Scene: 20%
Written Work: 10%
Outside participation in magnet productions: 10%

The week’s agenda will be posted at hollywoodhighschool.net under teachers’ blogs, under jbridges and under Beginning Acting. You are expected to check it at least once a week to keep abreast of the class’s agenda. If you have a question please feel free to contact me at jkatbridge@aol.com.

Sincerely,
KATE BRIDGES

January 7, 2012 - January 11, 2012

Monday, January 7th:
Break into groups of four to create a scene about an event that occurred during the winter break.

Tuesday, January 8th:
Continue working on winter scenes.

Wednesday, January 9th:
Warm-ups
Vocal Exercises
Theatre Games
Improvs

Thursday, January 10th:
Warm-ups
Vocal Exercises
Emotion Memory
Sense Memory
The Entrance Game

Friday, January 11th:
Warm-ups
Vocal Exercises
Emotion Memory
Sense Memory
The Entrance Game

November 16, 2012 - November 30, 2012 Weekly Agenda for Beginning Acting

November 16, 2012 - November 30, 2012
Weekly Agenda for Beginning Acting

Monday, November 26th:
Physical and vocal warm-ups
Theatre Games
Improvs
Human Observations

Tuesday, November 27th:
Shortened Day
Class Syllabus
Human Observations

Wednesday, November 28th:
Physical and Vocal Warm-ups
Theatre Games
Improvs
Human Observations

Thursday, November 29th:
Physical and Vocal Warm-ups
Theatre Games
Improvs
Animal Observations

Friday, November 30th:
Physical and Vocal Warm-ups
Theatre Games
Improvs
Animal Observations

November 13, 2012 - November 15, 2012
Weekly Schedule for Beginning Acting

Tuesday, November 13th:
Warm-up:
Theatre Games


Three Scenes: One Phrase
Pair up in groups of three and create three short scenes using the same phrase but used differently.

Wednesday, November 14th:
Warm-ups!
Theatre Games
Present scenes

Thursday, November 15th:
Warm-ups!
Theatre Games
Human Observations: Choose one person you have observed.  Become that person for two minutes interacting with others while doing some sort of activity you have observed that person doing.

Friday, November 16th:
Warm-ups!
Theatre Games
Continue presenting human observations

November 5, 2012 - November 9, 2012
Weekly Agenda for Beginning Acting Round Robin

Monday, November 5th:
Vocal and Physical Warm-ups
Human Observation Studies
Animal Observations Studies


Tuesday, November 6th:
Human Observations
Animal Observations

Wednesday, November 7th:
New Group!
Theatre Games:
"Zip, Zap, Zoom"
"1, 2, 3, 4, 5" Improv Walks

Thursday, November 8th:
Theatre Games:
"Morph!"
"Eastwood, Palm Tree, Elephant Ears"

Friday, November 9th:
Vocal Warm-ups!
"Morph!"
"Eastwood, Palm Trees, Elephant Ears"
"Follow the Leader"
"One Phrase/Three Different Ways"
"One Minute Argument"

October 22, 2012 - October 26, 2012
Weekly Agenda for 9th Grade Round Robin Acting Class

Monday, October 22nd:
Warm-ups
Theatre Games
Three Phrases and a Situation

Tuesday, October 23rd:
Warm-ups
Theatre Games
Three Phrases and a Situation

Wednesday, October 24th:
Warm-ups
Theatre Games
Three Phrases and a Situation

Thursday, October 25th:
Warm-ups
Theatre Games
The Observation Game

Friday, October 26th:
Warm-ups
Theatre Games
The Observation Game