Students explore various jobs in theater and show what they’ve learned through posters, collages, or PowerPoint® presentations.
Grades: 6-12
Resource:
Electronic Field Trip to the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts
Teaching Concepts:
- Becoming familiar with the variety of jobs in theater creates a greater understanding of the collaborative artistic process.
- Creating collages, posters, and PowerPoint® presentations requires students to search for appropriate text and images to convey a message.
Academic Content
- Drama/Practical Living: careers in theater
- Visual Arts: principles of design
Lesson Idea
Additional Resources: Any performance from Performance Excerpts or Aspects of Drama, the Electronic Field Trip to Horse Cave Theatre, and Kentuckians in Theater
Open: Show an excerpt from a performance and brainstorm a list of the jobs needed to produce that play. Encourage students to think about all possible phases in the process, from selecting and casting the play to designing sets and costumes to selling tickets.
View and Discuss: Your choice of the two electronic field trips (the Kentucky Center and Horse Cave Theatre). Then explore the Kentuckians in Theater web site to learn more about job responsibilities and skills needed.
Create: Choosing a single job in theater, each student creates a collage, poster, or PowerPoint® presentation that uses text and illustrations/graphics to convey accurately the identified job. Have students present their creations to the class.
Extend: Using the Kentuckians in Theater profiles as a model, have students interview people working in theater in your area. Create a companion web site—Theater Careers in [Your County/City]—with photos and information.
From Stage to Screen: Take the process a little further. Using either the Liz’s Circus Story web site or the “Bringing a Theatrical Work to Television” video segment from Aspects of Drama, have students compare producing a play for the stage to producing a play for television. How are the processes similar and different? What additional jobs and specialized skills are required for television production?
Author: Mary Henson