Unit
in Technical Theatre Mini Units Curriculum
Lighting
Created by Josh Hatt
This is an introductory mini-unit to lighting that can be achieved whether or not you have a lighting system. Students will work toward being able to demonstrate their knowledge of lighting effectiveness.
The questions of the unit include: How can light affect a scene? How can lighting affect the audience? What is the mood of the scene? How does lighting play a part in creating mood? How can you use shadows onstage? How does color impact the scene?
Start here
The overview lays out the objectives for the unit and reviews the content of each lesson.
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1Lesson 1Introduction to LightingStudents are introduced to lighting through video demonstration, discuss the impact of lighting on a scene, address lighting safety and complete a vocabulary activity.
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2Lesson 2Colour and AnglesStudents will explore how lighting can affect a scene through colour and angles. Questions include: What is mood? How do shadows affect a scene? Students are given a lighting assignment to apply colour and angles by drawing a simple light plot.
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3Lesson 3Lighting EffectivenessStudents continue to work on their lighting assignment. They will rehearse their scenes, continue to discuss lighting effectiveness and reflect on their work in class.
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4Lesson 4Tech Rehearsal and PerformanceStudents are given time for a tech rehearsal and then perform their scenes. The emphasis is on the groups demonstrating a knowledge of lighting effectiveness.
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5Lesson 5ReflectionStudents watch the scenes from the previous class and reflect as a group on the process.
Standards Addressed
Critical Thinking & Reflection
- TH.68.C.1.4 Create and present a design, production concept, or performance and defend artistic choices.
- TH.68.C.1.5 Describe how a theatrical activity can entertain or instruct an audience.
- TH.68.C.2.2 Keep a rehearsal journal to document individual performance progress.
- TH.68.C.2.3 Ask questions to understand a peer's artistic choices for a performance or design.
- TH.68.C.2.4 Defend personal responses to a theatre production.
- TH.68.C.3.1 Discuss how visual and aural design elements communicate environment, mood, and theme in a theatrical presentation.
- TH.912.C.1.3 Justify a response to a theatrical experience through oral or written analysis, using correct theatre terminology.
- TH.912.C.2.1 Explore and describe possible solutions to production or acting challenges and select the solution most likely to produce desired results.
Historical & Global Connections
- TH.68.H.1.1 Explore potential differences when performing works set in a variety of historical and cultural contexts.
- TH.68.H.1.5 Describe one's own personal responses to a theatrical work and show respect for the responses of others.
- TH.68.H.2.4 Discuss the differences between presentational and representational theatre styles.
- TH.68.H.2.5 Compare decorum, environments, and manners from a variety of cultures and historical periods to discover and influence historical acting styles and design choices.
- TH.68.H.2.6 Describe historical and cultural influences leading to changes in theatre performance spaces and technology.
- TH.68.H.2.8 Identify and describe theatrical resources in the community, including professional and community theatres, experts, and sources of scripts and materials.
- TH.68.H.3.3 Use brainstorming as a method to discover multiple solutions for an acting or technical challenge.
- TH.68.H.3.6 Discuss ways in which dance, music, and the visual arts enhance theatrical presentations.
Innovation, Technology & the Future
- TH.68.F.1.1 Manipulate various design components to imagine the world of the character.
- TH.68.F.1.4 Survey an aspect of theatre to understand the ways in which technology has affected it over time.
- TH.68.F.2.1 Research careers in the global economy that are not directly related to the arts, but include skills that are arts based or derive part of their economic impact from the arts.
- TH.68.F.2.2 Identify industries within the state of Florida that have a significant impact on local economies, in which the arts are either directly or indirectly involved in their success.
- TH.68.F.3.2 Develop a list of line items that would typically be found in a production budget for a performance.
Organizational Structure
- TH.68.O.1.2 Discuss how color, line, shape, and texture are used to show emotion in technical theatre elements.
- TH.68.O.1.3 Explain the impact of choices made by directors, designers, and actors on audience understanding.
- TH.68.O.1.4 Discuss how the whole of a theatre performance is greater than the sum of its parts.
- TH.68.O.2.1 Diagram the major parts of a play and their relationships to each other.
- TH.68.O.2.2 Explain how a performance would change if depicted in a different location, time, or culture.
- TH.68.O.2.5 Explain how the contributions of significant playwrights, performers, directors, designers, and producers from various cultures and historical periods have influenced the creative innovations of theatre.
- TH.68.O.3.1 Compare theatre and its elements and vocabulary to other art forms.
Skills, Techniques & Processes
- TH.68.S.1.3 Describe criteria for the evaluation of dramatic texts, performances, direction, and production elements.
- TH.68.S.1.4 Discuss the ways in which theatre experiences involve empathy and aesthetic distance.
- TH.68.S.2.1 Discuss the value of collaboration in theatre and work together to create a theatrical production.
- TH.68.S.2.3 Analyze the relationships of plot, conflict, and theme in a play and transfer the knowledge to a play that contrasts in style, genre, and/or mood.
- TH.68.S.3.2 Use the elements of dramatic form to stage a play.
- TH.68.S.3.4 Lead small groups to safely select and create elements of technical theatre to signify a character or setting.
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