Starter warm-ups and exercises:
Circle up. Go in a circle. One person starts by turning to the next person and those two clap in unison. Then the second person turns to the next person and they clap in unison. This goes on, stop after one or two times around.
Now pass the clap without any set order.
Finally break the circle and pass the clap while milling around the space.
- it's good to be ready to receive the clap with hands at a ready position.
- Discuss observations and experiences after running the exercise the first time.
Disperse everyone around the space. In this exercise one and only one person should be walking at all times. When a new person begins walking the previous walker should stop. If the current walker stops walking, somebody else should take over for them.
After a bit of this non-dialog sounds can be added.
In the silent version it can be interesting to change the number of walkers, 1, 2, 3, 4... etc.
- discuss observations and experiences after each round
- if you notice people communicating with each other to hand off the focus, tell them to wait for the impulse rather than taking the safe way out
#Heat & Weight Exercise:
Heat refers to the intensity of the relationship between participants. Weight refers to the intensity of the situation for the participants. These concepts interrelate and have a strong effect on each other.
Two up. One will guess and the other will present.
The presenter makes these choices:
A specific relationship for the two participants. (Parent/Child, Teacher/Student, Best Friends, etc.)
An event that just occurred that they both care about.
How each person was affected by that event.
The guesser turns away and the presenter assumes a pose that takes all that information into account.
The guesser turns to face the presenter. After about 5-10 seconds tell the presenter to relax. Now the guesser guesses the choices the presenter made.
##notes:
- exact matches are not necessary, look to understand why some things look like other things.
- get a verbal confirmation from each presenter for each point
- get a verbal guess from the guesser for each point before entering into any discussion
- as always: discuss observations and experiences at the end of the exercise
#Dialog exercises:
Two at a time. Run everybody through a series of these and break for discussion before moving to the next dialog type. (Everybody does Yes, discuss, everybody does No, discuss, etc.)
Each round of these follows a specific rule:
Yes: Every line of dialog must begin "Yes..." No: Every line of dialog must begin "No..." Questions: Every line of dialog must begin "Why...?" and take the form of a question. Statements: Every line of dialog must begin "I ..." and take the form of a statement.
##notes:
- Do stop the scene if the dialog rule isn't followed.
- especially for questions, students will try to skirt the rule by saying "Why..." and then not actually asking a question.
- and as always: discuss observations and experiences after each round
#Crutch Dialog Exercise
again: two at a time
Do quick two person scenes that all use the following dialog:
A: It's a nice day today. B: It is for some of us. A: Stop. Just stop. B: I wish I could.
Get a fast rotation going. Once the last line is spoken, maybe have everybody clap and have the next do jump into the space to begin again.
###notes:
- after a couple rounds stop for discussion
- talk specifically about what made the scenes distinct
- you may have to lead here a little bit. Look for examples where there was some distinct action/character/physical work that make the scene distinct despite sharing the same dialog as the others.
- take note of any scenes that took their time with the dialog, if that didn't happen, suggest that the dialog is not the only thing happening in the scene.
- maybe try with 3 or more players, now anybody can have any line of dialog, scene still ends at the same point.
- Be tight on the endings, once the last line is said the scene is OVER. This one has the most impact when you have to create distinct scenes with the same dialog. THE DIALOG IS NOT THE SCENE.
#Bag of groceries exercise:
Two at a time. Stage an apartment with a table, a door, and a couch. Bonus if you have access to and can use a real bag and a door.
Both players choose a state of mind they will enter the scene with. One is outside the door, the other is on the couch, doing something.
One player enters and they must notice each other and be affected by each other. Having been affected, they may exchange two lines of dialog. Then end the scene.
##Notes:
- in a second or third round, let the scenes run out a little longer
- it's important to be effected by each other. Come in with a strong choice, but let your partners choice effect you.
- and as always, break to discuss observations and experiences
#Scene initiation exercise:
Get players to form a back line. Two at a time will step forward and initiate a scene. Between each round break for discussion. You may want to do each round more than once so everybody gets to go through it because you will need one participant to step out to keep time.
This goes in three rounds: 5 second scenes, 10 second scenes, and 20 second scenes. Start counting as soon as the last scene ended, time walking forward off the back line counts against your time.
Call start, and then every 5 seconds, call "Scene", no matter how little of the scene has been completed. Then repeat this process for 10, and 20 second scenes.
##notes:
- some scenes will not be good/incomplete, especially at 5 seconds