Curated OER
Lesson 1- Set Design
Line, shape, color, texture, space. The first in a three-part series of lessons intended for advanced theatre arts classes introduces the elements of set design. Class members examine maquettes and analyze how designers have put together...
Oxford Cambridge
Set and Prop Design
What's the difference between set dressing and a prop? Between a costume accessory and a personal prop? As part of their study of set and prop design, class members engage in a series of activities that prepare them to design a prop for...
Brigham Young University
Understanding Design, Composition, and Color
The set for a play combines design elements (style, line, shape, mass, measure, position, color, and texture) and principles of composition (unity, harmony, contrast, variation, balance, proportion, and emphasis) to create a particular...
National Arts Centre
Scavenger Hunt
Young theatre artists engage in a scavenger hunt to acquaint themselves with set design. The challenge is to search the site and match a separate maquette with each of the 24 clues.
Curated OER
Lesson 2- Costume Design
Clothes might not make the man but they certainly do help an actor create a character. How costume designers employ the same elements of design found in sets (line, color, texture, shape) to realize a character is the focus of a lesson...
Brigham Young University
Putting Ideas Together
As part of their study of set design, theater arts students put together what they have learned so far and create a thumbnail sketch of a set that they feel captures the style and mood they want to project.
Brigham Young University
Creating a Design Concept
Putting together information gained from their script analysis, their readings, and their research, groups create a conceptual design statement for their assigned scene. The statement explains how their scenic design creates the mood and...
Curated OER
Semiotics and Set: Year 9
Drama enthusiasts explore the importance of set and action in conveying dramatic tension. They act out a polished dramatic piece using the set as a key component of their story. This should be connected to setting as it is also used in...
Brigham Young University
Problems? Working it Out
Working in pairs, set designers take turns sharing their sketches, explaining how their renderings articulate their concept, and receiving feedback on concerns and questions.
Brigham Young University
The Presentation
As their final act in a 10-lesson theater arts unit, set designers present their models to the class and explain how their choices of line, color, and texture support the theme they wish to convey.
National Endowment for the Humanities
The Glass Menagerie as Expressionist Theatre
The first lesson in a three-part unit has high schoolers examine The Glass Menagerie as an example of expressionist theatre. After reading a short article about expressionism, scholars list expressionist techniques in Tennessee Williams'...
Brigham Young University
Computer Age
Theater arts class members get a chance to see how professionals employ tech tools. As they sketch, render, build models, and prepare presentations of the set design for a current show, learners either visit a professional theater or by...
Curated OER
Lesson 3 - Lighting Design
The final lesson in a series on theatre design spotlights how lighting is incorporated into a production. After watching videos that focus on lighting fixtures and their positioning, individuals create a basic design plan for a scene,...
Honors College at Scholar Commons
From Start to Strike: A Lesson Plan for the Whole Theatre Experience
Introduce young thespians to all aspects of the theater. A syllabus for a one-semester drama course provides lessons that take learners from the history of drama to the many facets of play production.
Brigham Young University
Introducing the Text and Learning the Process of Script Analysis
Where do directors and set designers get their ideas so that the set they build creates the mood and atmosphere the director wants for a production? From the script! Introduce theater high schoolers to the script analysis techniques used...
Brigham Young University
To-Scale Models
Guided by their analysis of a scene, their initial sketches, and renderings, set designers begin to craft a scaled, 3-D model of the set of the play they have chosen.
Curated OER
Costume Exploration
What a great lesson, upper graders are sure to love. They explore costume design and the relationships between theatre, culture, and history. They research three time periods, write a response about two of them, then create a composit...
Brigham Young University
Understanding the Research Process
The second lesson in a unit on set design focuses on the importance of historical and stylistic research. Working in teams created in the previous session, groups consider what resources they will use as they consider design concepts for...
Brigham Young University
It's All in the Details
Designers communicate their vision for a set through a progression from thumbnail sketches, to drawings, to renderings. After examining a series of renderings, class members begin work on their own rendering paying particular attention...
Curated OER
Understanding Stage Design: Using Visual Elements to Provide Information to an Audience
Learners study about theatrical design by developing environments for improvised and scripted scenes. They develop focused ideas for an environment using visual elements.
Orange Public Schools
Stagecraft
The house lights dim, the curtain parts, lights slowly come up, revealing the stage. Before the actors appear, before a word is spoken, the audience is drawn in by the lighting, by the colors, by lines of the set, by the props, and...
Connecticut Gilbert & Sullivan Society
Jobs in the Musical Theater
Much like an iceberg, the actors you see on stage are only a fraction of the number of people involved in a theatrical production. Introduce theatre arts students to the roles played by the behind-the-scenes- personnel with an worksheet...
Curated OER
Our Day Out- Program Design
In this program design worksheet, students create a short leaflet for a play. Students create a front cover, list of characters, outline of the play, drawings of two characters, and brief description of the author. Students work in...
Johnson County Community College
Treasured Stories by Eric Carle
Explore the works of Eric Carle with a set of four lessons focused around the stories, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, Papa, Please Get the Moon For Me, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Young readers develop a storyboard,...