How do actors so inhabit a role that viewers see that character and not the actor? Class members engage in a series of activities that ask them to observe the ways people move and speak and to consider how these external factors can be...

Class members take center stage as groups perform scenes from Ian Doescher's William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope. Actors are encouraged to add stage directions to the script, as well as create costumes and props to...

Plays are meant to be performed! After reading the entire play, invite your learners to choose a scene from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead that relates to earlier class discussion about characters, motifs, and themes to interpret...

Introduce middle schoolers to playwriting and the elements of drama with a six-session storytelling unit that encourages kids to expand their acting and writing skills. The 12-page packet includes overviews of the lessons, assessment...

Introduce young actors to the key elements of performance with this handout that defines key staging terms and activities.

Circle games, energetic games, calming games, exit games. Whether used as ice breakers, warm ups, or exit strategies, or used in drama classes or content areas, the 28 games detailed in this packet deserve a spot in your curriculum library.

Here's an eight-page packet that describes 70 different improv activities to use as warm ups for drama classes. 

Improv for EFL/ESL? Indeed! The six improvisation exercises detailed in this resource are intended to provide fluency practice and boost the confidence of all levels of language learners but can be used in drama classes as well.

When a hiker gets trapped under a one-and-a-half ton piece of sandstone, he is shockingly able to throw off the slab. Because we normally use only one-third of our muscle fibers at a time, the potential for more is available in...

It's the classic scene: Tom Sawyer is whitewashing a fence. Expose your learners to Mark Twain's humor while reinforcing reading comprehension. Eighth graders are encouraged to read and reread, achieving as much exposure to the text as...

There's no doubt that dramatic play and creative movement are both essential for a healthy early childhood education. Here is a lesson that promotes both. Youngsters think of activities and emotions. The words are written on pieces of...

Young scholars engage in a lesson that is about the meaning of a verb or adverb. They perform sketches with the subject matter of the words. The goal is for the actors to show the meaning of the verb or adverb with an action.

Second graders use acting to help them in a prewriting activity to develop a story. In this prewriting lesson plan, 2nd graders form a character map and brainstorm ideas for their story.

Students engage in a lesson that is about searching the attributes of characterization. They practice some of the basic moves involved in acting out a certain character while focusing upon basic skits like "the freeze". The exercise...

Read and act out folktales, fairy tales, or myths from various Asian American cultures with your class. Each group reads a story aloud and then works together to create a short play or skit about the story. Suggestions for stories are...

Shakespeare too confusing? Rewrite it! Small groups each take on one act of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, repurposing it into more modern language. They summarize the act as a group and then act out the basic play using created...

Marketing, lighting, setting the stage, and a script. It sounds like we're going to be putting on a show! Your enthusiastic young actors research pop culture in all its facets, then set to work to write a polished script and perform an...

Reading is reading, whether it's for drama or English class. Boost reading fluency, accuracy, intonation, and comprehension while fostering creative acting skills. Kids read the provided tale of "The Lion and the Mouse" several times in...

Reader's Theater is a great way to build fluency, intonation, and dramatic flare. The class reads the theater piece, "The New Friends" paying attention to how they express emotion and feeling as they read. They discuss the use of plot,...

Have your learners investigate playwrights. In order to prepare for the final PowerPoint, scholars do online research on a playwright and read a play written by this playwright, focusing in particular on one character in the play. When...

Learners of any age can participate in this imagination and improve development activity. With the use of a small box, they work through a series of questions or situations posed by the teacher. Each group uses the box to create short...

Learners hone their acting and imagination by playing tug-o-war with an imaginary rope. Each group works together and pretends to pull the other group over the imaginary line with an imaginary rope. This could be a good improve warm up...

Kids get up and act! To promote inventiveness, timing, and clowning, they pair up and act as though they are looking in a mirror. Child A does a move while child B attempts to mimic it as closely as possible. This is a fun activity that...

Learners of any age can learn to communicate using gestures and their bodies. They create a pantomime of a specific activity without using any words. This resource includes a link to an Off-Broadway Workshop for kids.