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This lesson provides students with class time to work on their plays. Will students be able to maintain focus and engagement with their writing to get done what needs to be done without someone overseeing their work?

Students will discuss and reflect on how they successfully or less-than-successfully engaged with writing a play using self-management skills. Were they able to write independently? Did they use the tools and actions they laid out in their plans of action? Students will then complete a Unit Reflection and a Self-Assessment worksheet.

Students will review quotes from LGBTQ+ theatre professionals in set design, lighting design, sound design, and costume design. They will write out their first impressions, reflect on the quote, and then create a theatrical design expression. The focus here is time management and self-management. How will students use their time to complete their tasks?

Students will start with pre-reading questions about lighting design. They will then read an article about prolific lighting designer Tharon Musser who revolutionized the field of lighting design. Finally, students will reflect on what they have learned.

Students will start with pre-reading questions about costume design. They will then read an article about costume designer Machine Dazzle, who specifically identifies himself as an artist before a costume designer. Finally, students will apply what they have learned about Dazzle’s design philosophy in their own costume designs.

Students will choose a LGBTQ+ designer that is unknown to them and has not, as of this writing, worked on Broadway. The chosen designer has to have a website with visual examples of their work, a bio or about page, and a resume. Students will analyze the work of the designer using the Analysis Worksheet. They will then reflect on what they have learned. If you want to extend the length of the lesson, have students put together a brief presentation on their designer and share their findings with the class.

In this lesson, students will consider what would happen if a character made a different choice within the context of their story. Students will work in groups to identify and analyze a decision made within the text by a character and then think creatively about what the characters might have done differently. They will then create and perform a scene demonstrating the character’s different choice. If you’re looking to incorporate Social and Emotional Learning in your drama classroom, this lesson would fit well into a discussion about responsible decision-making. This exercise can be done individually, in pairs, or in small groups.

If you want to incorporate Social and Emotional Learning into a play study unit, use this lesson. Students discuss self-awareness and apply it by analyzing characters in a play they are currently studying. Seeing fictional character examples will help students gain a deeper understanding of the concept of self-awareness. This can be done as a class, individually, in partners, or in smal groups. It can be done in person, virtually via distance learning, or as a written homework assignment.

In this lesson, students will start by working individually to either create and analyze a new character or to analyze an existing character. Then, with a partner (who has their own character), they’ll figure out a scenario where the two characters would meet and form some sort of relationship. If you’re looking for a way to apply Social and Emotional Learning in the drama classroom, in this case building relationship skills, this is an active and theatrical way to do so.

Students will reflect on their own identities and the components of their identities. They will then reflect on how often they see themselves in current entertainment. Students will discuss common identities in fairy tales and then change a fairy tale character to reflect their identity in a scene. How does the change in identity affect the story? How does the story change?

Using a set of criteria, students will watch a movie (or read a play) and analyze it based on the criteria. The Vito Russo is specific to LGBTQ+ representation in a work. Does the movie meet the criteria and, therefore, pass the test? Students will then reflect on the results: Is the criteria a good way to assess representation? How could the movie be changed to meet the criteria?

A costume designer and a costumer are two different things. A costume designer creates pieces from the drawing board to the stage while a costumer pulls from already existing pieces to create fully realized characters. This means the approach is different. With costuming, there is no such thing as a perfect costume. But there are costumes that create the right atmosphere. In these lessons, students will be introduced to the role of the costumer.

In this lesson, students start the costuming process for a specific play through analysis. Then they will be assigned (or choose) the character they will design for, as well as a specific costume. They will be given time to answer some analysis questions for this specific character and costume. Students complete these analysis questions in advance of the next lesson.

Students will take what they’ve learned so far to create a digital Inspiration Collage as a way to help them visualize the costume they will create.

Students will learn how to set up the costume racks to prepare for costuming a show. Students will then learn how to take proper measurements by measuring each other. They will fill out a standard costume measurement form. Then, after instruction on how to do the three stitches that can help them to complete alterations, they will practice these stitches by creating a pincushion.

In this lesson, students will learn some distressing techniques and complete a distressing activity. After this activity, students will start pulling items for their costume designs as indicated by their Inspiration Collages. Students will then prep for a design presentation and costume parade after a work period in the next class.

Students will show their Inspiration Collages, their costumes, and their slide decks. They will explain why they made their choices and how it reflects their understanding of the character and the play. Students will do as much as possible to realize their costumes, given the resources available and the time they’ve had to work on the project, and describe what they would do to complete their costumes.

Students will research the character of Jo from the musical Jagged Little Pill. The character, allegedly, started out as nonbinary and was changed to cisgender for the Broadway run. When confronted with this change, those involved with the production stated that Jo was always intended to be cisgender and was written as cisgender. This confused many in the LGBTQ+ community. What is the background to this situation? What is the origin story to the character and the actor playing the character? Why did the creative team react the way they did and what was the response to their reaction? Who is right? Students will research, analyze, and come to their own conclusions and then express their conclusions in a response.

Students will reflect on common societal norms and expectations. Who decided these norms? Why do we follow them? What happens when we don’t? They will then write a monologue for a character who doesn’t fit within the common societal norms and expectations construct.

Students will research how the character of Anybodys was changed from a tomboy in the original West Side Story movie (and musical) to a transgender character (played by nonbinary actor iris menas) in the 2021 Steven Spielberg version. Students will research the change through articles and video and come to their own conclusions about the change. Students will then apply what they have learned by creating their own scenes with a character change.