Why bring Theatre
to my classroom?
In addition to being fun and
exciting, putting on a play can make your students better readers!
Research shows that theatre education in school:
- Improves students’
verbal skills;
- Boosts achievement
in reading and comprehension;
- Helps students identify
basic elements like character, setting and conflict;
- Builds listening
skills;
- Fosters social ability
and cooperation.
Theater Courses are priced
according to the chart below, unless noted otherwise in the listing.
|
|
6 sessions |
8 sessions |
10 sessions |
12 sessions |
|
1 classroom |
$650.00 |
$800.00 |
$950.00 |
$1,100.00 |
| 2
classrooms |
$1,100.00 |
$1,400.00 |
$1,700.00 |
$1,900.00 |
| 3
classrooms |
$1,600.00 |
$2,000.00 |
$2,400.00 |
$2,850.00 |
| 4
classrooms |
$2,000.00 |
$2,500.00 |
$3,100.00 |
$3,750.00 |
| 5
classrooms |
$2,400.00 |
$3,100.00 |
$3,800.00 |
$4,600.00 |
| |
|
|
|
|
Animated Puppetry
Mentor Artist: Liebe
Weitzel and Lunatique Fantastique puppeteers
Grades: 3-12
Duration: 6 or more
sessions
Students arrive in class wearing
a coat and hat that is transformed into a stagestruck star performer
through the magic of object puppetry. In subsequent sessions, students
learn basic object animation techniques with found objects and pieces
of foam. Using techniques adapted from Japanese bunraku puppetry,
students work in pairs or groups of 3 to create and move one character,
developing character traits through improvisation and audience response.
Students also draw storyboards for their character and develop a final
performance.
Arts Learning
Links:Youth in Arts Feature Performance: Wrapping Paper Caper
by Lunatique Fantastique, December 9, 2008
Teacher Workshop: Puppetry,
Theatre and Language Arts
Class List
Circus Arts
Mentor Artist: Karen
Quest
Grades: 3-12
Duration: 6 or more
sessions
Students explore the language
of movement and discover techniques to make their bodies speak clearly.
They also learn classic clown routines and circus skills like juggling,
trick roping and acrobatics to create their own routines. Easy to integrate
into a physical education unit emphasizing motor skills and balance.
Class List
Commedia dell'Arte
Mentor Artist:
Alma Raddha
Grades: 3-12
Duration: 6 or more
sessions
Through the colourful characters
of Commedia dell'Arte—Pantalone, Capitano, Columbina, Dottore, Isabella,
Pedrolino, Pulcinella, Zanni—students will learn the history of Commedia,
the use of masks and costumes, and physical and acrobatic skills. The
course culminates in a short lazzi (comic routine) grounded in
improvisation.
Class List
Improvisation
Mentor
Artist: Alma Raddha
Grades: K-12
Duration: 6 or more
sessions
Through a series of theatre
games, students learn to use their bodies and voices to enter a world
they create, complete with original characters, settings and stories.
Music, art, costumes and props help students explore ideas, feelings,
characters and stories while they develop physical and vocal skills.
Group projects enhance cooperation and collaboration skills.
Class List
Mask Theater
Mentor Artist:
Eliot Fintushel or Alma Raddha
Grades: K-12
Duration: 6 or more
sessions
Students experience first-hand
the transformative power of masks. The importance of movement, posture
and gesture on stage and in life is fostered. Self-image and self-expression
are enhanced. Sessions involve theatre and movement exercises, character
development, improvisations with masks and the creation of short sketches.
Arts Learning
Links: Youth in Arts Presents: Michael Cooper, Masked Marvel,
October 14, 2008; Assembly with Eliot Fintushel
Class List
Mime
Mentor Artist:
Eliot Fintushel
Grades: 3-12
Duration: 6 or more
sessions
Students will explore the marvelous
silent world of mime, learning styles including black box, graphics,
and tableaux. Through improvisation techniques and movement exercises,
students will create their own silent stories. Students may be divided
into mime troupes to create several different group mime pieces that
can be showcased in class!
Arts Learning Link:
Assembly with Eliot Fintushel
Class List
Music Theater
Mentor Artist:
Hannah Dworkin
Grades: 3-12
Duration: 8 or more
sessions
Explore the wonderful world
of musical theater! Students will learn songs and scenes from great,
kid-friendly Broadway shows. Course will incorporate music, movement,
and related games and culminate in a performance of the work developed.
Class List
Playwrighting
Mentor Artist:
Alma Raddha or Awele Makeba
Grades: 3-12
Duration: 6 or more
sessions
Using improvisation, theater
games and creative writing exercises, students learn the elements of
playwriting. Students will be on their feet taking risks, making
dramatic choices, and inventing, analyzing and reworking stories and
scenes. Mentor Artist will cover concepts such as conflict, objectives,
action, character development, tension, climax, and basic composition.
This course will be particularly useful students with low reading and
writing levels as it approaching literacy through movement, emotions
and action.
Class List
Production
Mentor Artist:
Alma Raddha
Grades: 3-12
Duration: 8 or more
sessions
Production involves students
in the creative process of play development from initial concept to
final production. Students learn basic theater concepts, terms, and
skills. Actors explore the use of their bodies and voices as they create
characters and explore storytelling. Students utilize their own creative
talents to transform raw material onto a finished piece. The course
culminates in a performance of the work created.
Class List
Puppet Theater
Mentor Artist:
Alma Raddha
Grades: 3-12
Duration: 6 or more
sessions
Easy-to-make puppets “dramatize”
stories and poems, including material from the reading curriculum. As
children develop skills, they may produce more elaborate puppet plays
and mask theater using more complex stories. “Hiding” behind the
puppet makes students feel more comfortable. Students will be able to
work as focused, disciplined members of an ensemble. The course culminates
in a performance of the work created.
Arts Learning Link:
Teacher Workshop: Puppetry, Theatre and Language Arts
Class List
Reader’s Theater
Mentor Artist:
Alma Raddha
Grades: 3-12
Duration: 6 or more
sessions
Learn the basic techniques
of Reader's Theater, which taps students' desire to perform to motivate
oral reading practice. Reader's Theater offers an entertaining and engaging
means of improving fluency and enhancing comprehension. Students
will explore how delivering text conveys intent and meaning. They will
then adapt text being studied in class into script formats for discussion
and presentation.
Class List
Storytelling
Mentor Artist:
David Ponkey or Alma Raddha
Grades: PreK-12
Duration: 6 or more
sessions
Students will learn the basics
of storytelling including the use of body and voice. Students
will learn the importance of eye contact and how body language can create
character, mood and emotion. Students will learn how the voice
can be flexible enough to create character’s special effects, and
help set the environment and tone of a story. Stories can be created
from the imagination, classroom assignments and the world around them
(newspaper headlines, family stories, etc.) This is a great way
to transform classroom conflicts into a positive experience for students.
Arts Learning Link:
Assembly with Alma Raddha & Paso de Tortuga
Class List
Teatro en Español
Mentor Artist: Alma
Raddha
Duration: 8 or more
sessions
Students develop skills in
both theater and the Spanish language through improvisation techniques
and basic theater exercises. Teatro en Español offers an entertaining
and engaging means of language acquisition and enhancing comprehension.
Students explore each aspect of creating a performance while learning
vocabulary and expressing themselves in Spanish. The ultimate goal is
to encourage students to feel confident about their ideas, learn how
to express them, modify them and work with others in a respectful and
safe environment. A culminating performance is offered to a school and
family audience.
Arts Learning Link:
Assembly with Alma Raddha & Paso de Tortuga
Class List
