Grade 12 Dramatic Arts
Course Outline: ADA4M
http/sts.smcdsb.on.ca/teachers/gfetterley
Course Description
This
course requires students to experiment with forms and conventions in
dramatic literature, and to create/adapt and present dramatic works.
Students will do research on dramatic forms, conventions, themes and
theories of acting and directing from different historical periods, and
apply their knowledge of these in analyzing and interpreting dramatic
literature, including Canadian works and works from various cultures in
the late twentieth century. Students will also examine the significance
of dramatic arts in various cultures.
This course also engages students in active learning. They apply their
theory and knowledge in genuine theatrical contexts by working as
actors, playwrights, and discerning audience members. The intent of the
course is to make leaning experimental to the greatest extent possible,
while meeting the academic demands and expectations of the
university/college destinations of students taking the course.
Grade 12
Unit Description:
1. Actor’s Workshop: Purpose of Scene, Character Revelation, Uta Hagen: Respect for Acting.
2. Theatre History: Exploring 2000 years of tradition.
3. Theatre Styles: Exploring Modern Conventions and Writing Styles: Tragedy, Comedy, Satire, and Romance.
4. School Production: Exploring the One Act Play, Theatre Company.
5. Advanced Scene Study ( CCT): Final Scene Study Based on Selected Play Script.
6. ISU: Based on Character Monologue work from theatre history period, final essay on selected script, and headshot/ portfolio.
7. Final Examination: Administered during final examination period.
Unit overview
Unit 1: Stretching yourself as an actor using text.
Students use text to extend their personal skills in voice and
movement. Through examination of various dramatic theories, students
develop skills and an understanding of the acting process. Students will
read various texts from different time frames and present a short
dialogue or monologue from both classical and contemporary piece. Each
student applies acting techniques to both their dramatic pieces. During
the rehearsal stage, performance techniques and staging will be
discussed that support interpretation and develop methods for creating
transitions in between moments. Students will use these methods to
refine their presentations. During presentations, students analyze their
work ad that of their peers through written reflections that focus on a
deeper understanding of how and actor prepares a role and how drama
through the ages has related to social issues such as justice, racism,
intolerance, sexism, and respect for individual beliefs. Their grade
will be based on their class process, final presentation, and written
reflections.
Unit 2: Moving Beyond Realism
Students work in mixed groupings to complete research. Each
group will submit a report on a chosen style and present a short
workshop demonstration of a piece that represents their style.
From the following list of theatre styles, choose on style of
research: Greek Tragedy(Sophocles, Aeschylus, Euripides), Greek Comedy
(Aristophanes, Meanader), Roman Comedy (Seneca), Medieval Drama ( 9th
to 15th century), Elizabethan Comedy or Tragedy (Shakespeare, Marlow),
Italian Renaissance ( Commedia Dell’Arte), Neo-Classical Tragedy
(Corneille Racine), Melodrama, Later Comedy of Manners ( Wilde, Noel
Coward), Realistic Drama (Ibsenm Chekhov), Restoration Drama (Congreve,
Sheridan), and Expressionism (Pirandello, Strindberg).
Each group will select and sign up for one topic
Consult at least 3 resources and make note examples of conventions of style
Prepare an annotated bibliography for all sources using the accepted format
Organized notes and submit a short paper
Find play in that style
Use your research findings to prepare a short introduction to the
style (creative) and choose an excerpt from the play to prepare a
demonstration scene.
Unit 3: Beyond Realism Workshops
The teacher presents workshops on three or four theatrical
styles, and as a class, develop a chart as a visual aid to help students
understand the connections between styles, conventions, and theatrical
devices and how they connect with our lives. The workshop focus topics
will be the following: Children’s Theatre, Commedia Dell’Arte, Epic
(Brechtian) Theatre, and/or Theatre of the Absurd. Each workshop
includes origins and conventions of the style, sample scenes, and
opportunities for students to apply their knowledge by creatively using
texts and improvisations techniques, A the end of the teacher’s
workshop, small groups of students will perform in their particular
style being used and get back feedback from their peers. Each group’s
workshop will have the following components: a warm up activity, a focus
activity, a final reflection on the style, and a short scene indicating
the ways in which the play is indicative of its genre, period, and
social and political milieu
Unit 4: Characters in New Settings
In this culminating unit, students focus on Canadian plays and
then write and perform an original One-Act play in small groups for
their final evaluation. They choose a monologue or two-person scene from
a Canadian play to prepare, rehearse, and present. They are responsible
for their own costume and properties as well as written production
plans (TBA). In addition, students help each other to review, drill, and
rehearse in pairs or small groups to consolidate their understanding
and enhance skills. Students present rehearsed scenes, applying acting
skills developed throughout the course, for peer feedback. Upon
completion of the monologue/dialogue presentations, students form small
groups of four. In these groups, each student maintains his/her Canadian
character and lines of dialogue from the original Canadian script but
works with group members to write a new, original script using a single,
common setting in which the four characters interact. These scripts are
rehearsed and presented to a live audience. In finding methods to
develop an original production, students may also choose to use a
theatrical style studied in Units 2 and 3.
Portfolio Questions
1. What are some of the key characteristics of the Theatrical
Forms we have studied? How many forms would you use in a variety show?
2. What elements in play scripts have stayed the same for centuries?
How have plays changed in form and content? What is the value in
traditional/ historic plays?
3. Which approach to acting is most psychological? Why do you perfer one of these approaches over the others?
4. How do the steps of the writing process relate to the rehearsal
process? How will you use research and rehearsal techniques to inform
your choices?
5. What lessons have you learned as a writer that will make you a better director?
6. How can we achieve unity of design in our work?
7. How are you engaging your audience to affect the constructed meaning of the theatrical event?
8. How important is consistent acting in the genre? What is the
relationship between acting style of the period and approaches to
character development?
9. What measures will we agree to use in assessing theatrical
success? Where might our process be improved when we do this kind of
work again?
10. What evidence supports your aesthetic judgment? How could you
convince someone from another era of value of technology in this work?
11. How can theatre have political impact? How can theatre affect a change in social values or behavior within a community?
12. How can we stage the same scene in several theatrical traditions? What will be different?
13. What are the aspects of this work that appeal to this audience?
What elements of this work are particular to its period or culture?
14, What are some innovative ways to use theatre in their school?
15. Explore themes such as hunger, loneliness, motherhood, oppression, disease within a cultural context.
16. How might Laban’s theory improve your performance?
17. Explain how setting and performance space along with stagecraft,
staging, blocking, audience formations and theatrical venue can enhance
or limit the success of their work.
18. How did major world events influence philosophies, and therefore, theatrical expression?
19. Describe realism as a response to melodrama, theatre of the oppressed, existentialism.
20. How might the elements of various theatre traditions be influences by immigration?
21. How is a motif transferred from one medium to another? Was your motif consistently depicted in both media?
22. How do we ensure that everyone supporting our production sustains its thematic messages?
23. How would you rate the audience etiquette demonstrated in
theatre today? What are the characteristics professionals in the theatre
must exhibit?
The Learning Log
During and following each unit of study, each student
makes a learning log entry. Entries are made up of the following
headings: a significant achievement, application of acting technique,
interpretive insight gained today, dilemmas or problematic situations,
any situation or attitude that has held up process, any suggested
solutions and projection of the next day’s work. The teacher will
randomly collect learning logs at different times throughout the course
of the semester for evaluation.
Evaluation and Student Achievement
Assessment and Evaluation in the dramatic arts is ongoing. Assessment
is the process of gathering information from a variety of sources
(including assignments, demonstrations, projects, performances, and
tests) that accurately reflect how well the student is achieving the
curriculum expectations.
Evaluation refers to the process of judging the quality of
student work on the basis of established criteria, and assigning a value
to represent that quality. In Ontario schools, the value assigned will
be in the form of an achievement level and an associated percentage
grade.
Assessment and evaluation of student achievement is based their
ability to Respond, Reflect, and Analyse given expectations. The FOUR overall strands are listed below:
Crictical Analysis, Function of Art in Society, Identity/Community, Artistic Connections
Percent Grade Range |
Achievement Level |
Summary Description |
80 – 100% |
Level 4 |
Very high to outstanding level of achievement
Above the provincial standard
|
70 – 79% |
Level 3 |
High level of achievement
Achievement at the provincial standard
|
60 – 69% |
Level 2 |
Moderation level of achievement
Below the provincial standard
|
50 – 59% |
Level 1 |
Passable level of achievement
Below the provincial standard
|
Below 50% |
Level 0 |
Insufficient achievement of curriculum experience
A credit will not be granted |
During each term, ongoing assessment and evaluation is worth 70% of the final mark. The final 30% of the grade will be based on a final Course Culminating Task to be administered towards the end of the course and a final written exam.
Instructional Strategies and Assessments
Dramatic Technique (presentation/performance
Formal Written overviews/Article Talk
Reflection/Journal sharing/Learning Log
Group Dynamics/Class rehearsal protocol
Quizzes
Personal Communication (peer conferencing, roving conferences)
Teacher observations
Cell phones/iPods:
STS has an acceptable use policy for all electronic devices. Cell
phones are not to be brought to class at anytime – no exceptions. If
parents need to contact a student in an emergency, please communicate
with the school through the main office. Also, music devices must be
removed during class time unless special permission is granted by your teacher.
Class Assessment tools include:
Daily checklists
Marking schemes
Rubrics
Anecdotal comments with suggestions for improvements
In the final Four weeks of the semester, each student will complete their CCT (Course Culminating Task). The Course Culminating Task will
provide students with the opportunity to perform at all levels and
demonstrate key knowledge and skills in all four categories of the
curriculum expectations. A non-submission of the CCT does not
automatically mean the student will not attain the credit. It does,
however, have an impact on the student’s final grade, unless there is
extenuating circumstances.