Classroom Activities
Activity 1: Defining Needs and Wants
The goal of this activity is to start conversation about what students believe is a want or a need in their lives. Many of the items listed will become part of the vocabulary used to help define what students expect of their freedom. While some will cite intangible ideas such as "freedom to self-expression" as a need, others will use more tangible examples, like the "freedom to play my guitar" and classify this as a want, or vice versa. While these two have similar objectives, students may or may not identify the symbolic connection between tangible and intangible items. I suggest pushing students to understand the connection between the two. When you move on to more intangible concepts, students can see that period examples in these musicals are representations of ideas that are connected to their own generation.
Put students into pairs, to encourage debate in the small group setting. In these groups, hand them a pile of cards with a list of topics they will divide into wants and needs. By providing this division in the instructions, the teacher suggests that there is a difference between want and need, but very importantly does not prescribe what is the difference. Part of the idea of this activity is for students to develop their own means of discerning the difference. Suggested items to include on cards: electricity, food, shelter, protection, self-expression, money, transportation, friends, family, teachers, jobs, hospitals, schools, doctors, air, plants, water, air-conditioning, the internet, cell-phones, pets, sports, music, movies, theater, wheels, ovens, garbage collection, books, your own space, clothing, government, equality, war, peace, birth, voting, police, fire fighters.
As is the case with a typical activity that explores students' background knowledge, this activity has no right answers, simply a sense of inquiry that will help students create a vocabulary that will continually evolve as the unit progresses. Once students have come to some conclusions, give them blank cards and allow them to write anything they feel is missing from the list. While they are doing this, write "Needs" and "Wants" as column headings on the board. Eventually, have the pairs write down one of their items under the appropriate heading on the board. Allow for items to be listed more than once in order to see which topics students are in general agreement and which will bring debate. It would be worthwhile discussing why students think that certain items are clearly a need or a want, and others are debatable. Finally, after all items are listed and debated, students will group them in accordance to a type of freedom they think the items express. Perhaps "police," "fire-fighters," "shelter" and "protection" are all deemed needs: these ideas could be grouped more generally as the freedom from harm or the freedom to feel protected. Write these down on poster board and display them in your room so students have them to reference when analyzing the types of freedom explored in certain musicals. This will equip them with an analytic vocabulary with which to evaluate musicals, songs, and scenes throughout this unit. In the suggested culminating activity where students write their own mini-musical, students can use these needs to evaluate what types of freedom they believe should be represented in their work.
Activity 2
Activities 2 to 4 constitute a more general a lesson structure. I aim to use the following format everyday in class so students gain a familiar structure through which to analyze and engage with musicals. I suggest starting the unit by posting essential questions, to make students aware of what they will be able to answer by the end of the unit or lesson. Examples: What type of freedom is needed in America according to this musical? What historical events affected this musical? How might this musical have affected its audiences' perspectives of freedom?
This activity can be used as an activating strategy that will help students recall information from the previous lessons and introduce new ideas. I utilize two activities to accomplish this activation: first, a mental warm-up, and then a physical warm-up. Physical warm-ups can be simply an acting game that gets their bodies engaged in the lesson, because majority of the teaching strategies involve the performance of a scene. If they are to use their bodies in class, the teacher must provide a catalyst that will make them unafraid of expression using more than just their mouths or words. Viola Spolin is one of the most frequently used authors when it comes to classroom games. Her books Theater Games for the Classroom: A Teacher's Handbook and Improvisation for the Theater are very useful and organized so you can choose specific objectives for a warm-up, such as trust in the classroom, developing character, developing setting, etc. I would also recommend Gavin Levy's 112 Acting Games for the same reason. Concerning the mental warm-up, often I have students write a response to a question I post on the board. In this case, the questions will remain the same each day (see Appendix Figure 2). These questions will apply to one or two audio selections from musicals to which students will listen. Selections can vary from musicals we have studied or are about to study, selections from other musicals that cover similar themes, or possibly two contrasting perspectives of a particular freedom. The content of each lesson will depend on what the teacher wants from each lesson. For a list of suggested pairings and a brief summary of the use of this pair, see Appendix Figure 3. It is important that students are only provided the audio and written lyrics at first. Part of their excitement will derive from guessing to what musical the song belongs and when the musical was produced. The larger goal is to develop a language of analysis that students can apply to subsequent scene selections and their own work. Guessing the time period forces them to draw on historical background knowledge and apply it to the themes they believe are present in a song, and then legitimize why this song might be appropriate for that time period.
Activity 3
Once students are reminded of the vocabulary of analysis they will employ, they can then move on to specific musicals. Give students scene selections chosen specifically to explore the freedoms that make each musical unique. Read through the scene, either in performance or at their desks, and have them evaluate the scene based on character needs, setting, and conflict. From this information, ask them what might be the historical contexts of the show (when was it written, and what was happening at the time). Again, their curiosity and background knowledge will guide discussion towards the teacher revealing the actual historical context of the show. Challenge students to find ways to make audiences sympathize with one character or another by changing posture, voice tone, or way they share the stage with other characters.
Activity 4
Finally, as a summarizing strategy, ask students to develop their own character that values the particular freedoms discussed in class. This should take no longer than five minutes and will be used as source material when students have to write their own work. Identify what the character needs, who/what might prevent him from getting what he needs, and a situation where these two might come into conflict. To keep a visual archive of the freedoms you have explored as a class, have students post on the wall the new freedoms discussed during each lesson along with the freedoms and needs discussed in Activity 1. By the end of the class, there will be a running log of freedom throughout American history that students can draw upon as inspiration for their final performance. This activity will also serve as a reviewing tool that answers the essential questions of each day's lesson.
Activity 5
The culminating activity of this unit puts student analysis to practice by challenging them to make their own musical. Naturally, a full-length musical is too large for a beginner drama class, or other classes with little theater experience. Hence, the goal will be to perform a mini-musical that explores a freedom students believe is necessary to their lives. This activity will take five-six days, to allow for idea development, script writing, rehearsal, and presentation.
Performance Day One: Give students their Playbill Assignment. This is a written assignment that ensures students have justification for the decisions they will make in their show. See Appendix Figure 5 for Assignment Rubric. For their performance, in groups, students must identify the freedoms they feel are reflective of the times in which they live. Encourage them to use the "needs" from Activity 1 and the growing list of freedoms posted on the wall throughout the unit. From this point, have them look back into their notes to find a character they wrote about in Activity 4 that compliments the needs/freedom they wish to dramatize. This character will function as the protagonist. They should also have developed an antagonist in Activity 4 by writing about who would inhibit the protagonist's freedom. Their tendency will be to use an authority figure like parent or teacher, but question whether the antagonist needs to have an authority role to infringe upon the protagonist's freedom. Finally, choose a setting and situation that places these characters in direct conflict. All students must have a role, so it might be valuable to have multiple protagonists who have similar needs. While multiple characters may need the freedom to self-expression, one may exercise this need by playing an instrument and another by getting a new haircut. By the end of Day One, students should have a concept, with a protagonist/antagonist conflict, setting, and the beginning of a situation with beginning middle and end. Before starting on the actual script, students should complete the first draft to their director's note in the Playbill Assignment. This director's note will give students direction by asking them why they think the freedom they have chosen is relevant to their lives and why they chose to create these specific characters. Performance Day Two will allow student the time to have their concept and director's note approved by the teacher. Once they have a clear direction, students will write their script and start the search for a song appropriate for one of their characters. Songs can be recordings from other artists or created by the students. If a student is uncomfortable with singing, lip sync with a good recording will suffice, provided that the student stays in character while lip syncing.
Performance Day Three is the first scratch performance of their script. Have each group present a reading (meaning, just sit in chairs and read the script aloud) while their classmates analyze what they believe is the type of freedom being explored. This will allow performers to see if their intentions were clearly communicated to the audience. Specifically ask students "What are the needs of each character?" Even the antagonist has a need and each should be clearly identified. If obscurity is present, allow students to make suggestions as to how the performance can make character needs and overall freedom themes more apparent. If the teacher has access to video recording, it is always helpful for students to hear feedback and then watch their own performance to look for ways to fix problems.
Performance Days Four and Five should be dedicated completely to rehearsal. Any adjustments based on feedback from the previous day's evaluations can be made during this time. Also, this is when students can simply work on memorizing their lines or blocking their scene (planning the movement of actors, where props/set pieces should be placed, etc.).
Finally, Performance Day Six is when students present their final performance. Be sure to allow time in the schedule for transition between each performance, for collecting written work, placing props and set pieces, etc. While each performance takes place, audience members should again write about the needs of each character, this time citing evidence in the performance that show these needs. On this day, students should submit their final Playbills as well.
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