Theatre 101

Character development
Mikaila Geisterfer
Natasha ingold
Elizabeth McClintock
Sajia rahman
Halina rose

Character Development
Lessons
The following Learning Evaluation Situation consists of four lessons focussing on
character development. The first lesson serves as the introductory lesson to character
development where students will be exploring gesture and expression. The second lesson will
build off from the first lesson by looking more closely at expression, but also exploring how
voice plays an important role in communicating a character to an audience development. The
next lesson will explore how to maintain a specific character while the last lesson will allow
students to showcase their learning in a way inspired by forum theatre. Although each lesson
focuses on character development, students are also gradually building the skills necessary to
prepare them for the forum theatre activity at the end.
Classroom Setting
These lessons are geared towards cycle 3, level 2 (grade 6) students and are designed for
a class of 22 students, but can easily be adapted for smaller or larger classes. In order to teach
these lessons, students would have already acquired the basic knowledge and skills of character
development such as gesture, voice and expression. This LES will build off those prior basic
knowledge and explore those ideas more in depth.
Furthermore, each lesson in the LES will include suggestions or adaptation for the
following; students with ADHD, students with lower reading and writing level and students with
behavioural issues.
Rationale behind Structure
Each lesson in this LES starts with a warm-up exercise, followed by an introductory
game that will lead to the main activity and is concluded by the discussion. According to Su
Jeong Wee, the warm-up portion of the lesson helps serve as a transition for students to
participate in the upcoming activities (2009). The main activity, allows the students to explore
the essential goals of the lesson, while the closing portion of the lesson offer in the format of a
discussion allows for students to reflect, pose questions and make comments on the activity.
Furthermore, The opening and closing of the drama session serve to separate the fantasy of the
drama from the reality of the classroom.(Wee, 2009). This is an essential component of the
lesson, as it ensures students understand the boundary between the two worlds. This will
optimize their learning during the lesson and allow for a smooth transition back to the classroom
activity at the end.

Character Development Lesson 1

Grade Level
Class Size
Time frame

Cycle 3, Grade 6
22 students
1 hour

Drama Competency
1. To Invent Short Scenes
To use personal ideas inspired by the stimulus for creation
2. To Interpret Short Scenes
To bring out the expressive elements of the scene
To share his/her interpretation experience
3. To Appreciate dramatic works
To make connections between what he/she has felt and examined

Progression of Learning
1. Language of Drama
Names the expressions using the body related to characters and dramatic action:
attitude, gestures, mimicry, movement and rhythm
2. Performance techniques
expressive elements
Names some expressive elements such as the nature of a character and the
characteristics of a story

Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to
Read and interpret expressions, attitudes and gestures. It is important to character
development to be able to interpret and appreciate characters expressions, attitude
and gestures.

Lesson Sequence
Time

Activity
Introduction

20 minutes

(teach warm up routine)

Introduce actor neutral. Feet apart, arms on your side (not clasping hands
or swinging side to side), head straight up looking straight ahead with soft
focus vision (being aware of what is around you but not focusing on one
thing).
Body warm up will start with full body roll down starting with the head
(neck), then back (spine), hang arms on the side and swing. Once rolling
up start from the bottom and work your way up. It doesnt matter what
your hair or clothes look like after this, it is really to loosen and ready
your body for drama!
Neck stretches to one side and opposite arm holding a child's hand,
holding a glass of water and waving hi. Same for the other side.
Do a few arm rolls and leg kicks then back to actor neutral.
Warm up the face by using the palm of your hand to massage your jaw.
Use the tips of your fingers to wake up your nasal area and tap around
your face to wake it up. You want your face to be really awake to be able
to show large expressions.
Vocal warm up consists of the four major areas of the voice. Belly, chest,
nasal and top of the head. We will say lines from the Wizard of Oz to
practice the four areas. Belly will say All I want is some courage, chest
will say if I only had a heart, nasal like the witch will say Ill get you
my pretty, and the top of the head says run Toro, run!.
Articulation is to stretch out the students articulation. Example, unique
New York,

15 minutes

Introduction Game
Five person in the middle and outer circle mimic.
Choose five students to be in the middle of the circle. Give a feeling such
as happiness, sadness or anger for the five to represent only using their
body language. The five poses cannot be the same, think of different
ways of expressing that emotion. There is an outer circle around the five
students. Number the five students (1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) and when calling a
number ask the students in the circle to choose a number and copy the
gesture. Example: Number 1 and 5! Why did those who chose 1 choose
that position? And why did those who chose 5 choose that one? Have the
five students in the middle explain why they chose the poses they did.

10-15
minutes

Development
Handshake exercise is when two actors come up and walk into a frozen
handshake position. Once in that position the audience (students) can
interpret the handshake by raising their hands and being called on. The
students are encouraged to use their imagination but to also interpret the
body language and facial expressions. Once one pair is finished ask the
actors What were you thinking going into that position? What do you
think of all the different interpretations? Then ask the audience How do
you feel as the audience?
Have three or four more handshake pairs go up asking the same questions
after to the actors and audience.

10 minutes

Conclusion
Discussion about the two-person handshake. Actors share in more detail
(any actor pair that went up). How do you feel as the audience? (3
minutes)
Give out Exit ticket asking the students to reflect about the scene and talk
about how they felt. (7 minutes - till the end of class)

Adaptations for learners

Lower reading/writing level: For students with lower reading/writing level, read the exit
questions out loud so all students are on the same page and have students within close
proximity to you, so that you are able to assist them while they answer the questions.
Behaviour Issue: The goal to target behaviour issues is to have students participate and
be active. If you notice students misbehaving, direct their behaviour and have them
participate in front of the class.
Evaluation
Exit card questions.
1. Which handshake did you interpret? If you didnt share and interpretation why
not?
2. If you did a handshake how did it feel listening to all the interpretations? Were any
of the interpretations close to your own interpretation?
3. Which one would you like to be seen played out (not just frozen)?

Character Development Lesson 2

Grade Level
Class Size
Time frame

Cycle 3, Grade 6
22 students
1 hour

Drama Competency
.

1. To invent
To use personal ideas inspired by the stimulus for creation
To use elements of the language of drama, performance techniques, styles of
theatre and elements of drama
To organize the elements he/she has chose
2. 2. To interpret
To share his/her interpretation experience
3. 3. To appreciate
To examine an excerpt from a dramatic work or a dramatic production for
elements of content

Progression of Learning
1.
1. Expression using the body
Names the expressions using the body related to characters and dramatic action:
attitude, gestures
2. 2. Expression using the voice
Vocal sounds
Names some noises and sounds related to actions or emotions
Expression using the voice
Combines noises and sounds related to the dramatic action and the
characters emotions

 Combines expressions using the voice related to the emotions and nature of the
character, such as intensity, pitch and timbre

Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to
understand and act in a way that puts the spotlight on the entire scene, not just
themselves
communicate a character to an audience using gesture and voice
to see the value of both body and voice expression

Lesson Sequence
Time

Activity
Introduction

7 minutes

7 minutes

Warmup
Introduction game- Push, Dont Win
Call two volunteers to the front. Have them place their hands on each
others shoulders and at Go! push against each other. If one student is
pushed back past an invisible line, the other one wins. The goal is not to
win. Have the two students demonstrate and then answer any questions
that arise (be brief). Then have the students stand in pairs and try. After
about 30 seconds, change up the partners. Sit down and discuss how
students felt, what happened and how this illustrates teamwork in a
performance.
Rationale: This activity is a good illustration for putting energy and
creativity into the scene versus trying to attract the spotlight on self, and
can be referred to when analyzing performance.

20 minutes

Development
Part 1
Divide the class into groups of 4-5 students. Give a general topic such as
fairy tales and allow the groups to choose a specific story to interpret.
Each student takes on a character and they create a short scene (approx.
15-30 sec.) to communicate these characters, using only body language.
Each group then performs for the class. The audience guesses which
character each student is portraying. If the audience guesses wrong, the
answer is not revealed.

15 minutes

Part 2:
Give 5 minutes for the groups to plan the scene again, this time allowing
voice expression. The students practice and then present to the class a
second time. Again, the audience guesses and the answer is revealed.

Conclusion
10 minutes

3 minutes

Discuss. What helped the audience recognize the characters? What were
the strategies of the actors in each of the scenes? What were the
challenges for both the actors and audience in communicating? What did
the students like or find challenging with the silent scene and the voice
scene? Did we do Push-No-Win style of working together or did work
more individually?
Together, decide what to write on a large sheet of paper regarding what
the students want to remember or learned from this activity.
Exit cards

Adaptations for learners

Lower reading/writing level: For students with lower reading/writing level, read the exit
questions out loud so all students are on the same page and have students within close
proximity to you, so that you are able to assist them while they answer the questions.
Behaviour Issue: The goal to target behaviour issues is to have students participate and
be active. If you notice students misbehaving, direct their behaviour and have them
participate in front of the class.
Evaluation
Observation checklist during scenes.
Exit Cards - answer these two questions:
1. What gesture did you use to help the audience know who you were? What sound or
words did you use in the second scene?
2. What is a strategy you learned or did today that you want to remember when you
are acting?

Character Development Lesson 3

Grade Level
Class Size
Time frame

Cycle 3, Grade 6
22 students
1 hour

Drama Competency
1. 1. To invent

To use personal ideas inspired by the stimulus for creation

To share his/her creative experience
2. 2. To interpret
To become familiar with the dramatic content of the scene
To apply elements of drama
3. 3. To appreciate
To make connections between what was felt and examined

Progression of Learning
1. 1. Invent
Creates a story with continuous development (improvisation)
2. 2. Interpret
Chooses some different attitudes, gestures, mimicry, movements and rhythms
related to the character in the story
3. Appreciate
Gives an example of the connections made between what he/she felt and the
element observed

Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students will be able
To replay a characters scene while maintaining the given
personality/characteristics, but also modify (or attempt to) the outcomes of the
scene.
Lesson Sequence
Time

Activity
Introduction

7 minutes

7 minutes

Warmup
Introduction game This is a pen
In order to get the students thinking about character and attitude, we will
play this game. Each student that is giving the pen will be acting as if they
were so happy because it was their birthday. Each student, as they receive
the pen, will act as if they are very angry because they lost a soccer
tournament.
This will help the students to practice taking on another role and making
the actions, gestures and expressions of that given role.

Development
45 minutes

Main activity: Into anothers shoes

1st time: Set out the shoes/placemats
Situation: In the playground - First day of school - trying to choose a
game
Characters: Johnny, Carla, Rosy, Luke and Terry
Ask for 5 volunteers to come up and take the places of the 5 characters.
Each person will have a few moments to say 2-3 lines of dialogue. Each
subsequent student will add to the dialogue, remaining in character. After
each students goes once, they switch spots (towards the left) and continue
the story, now taking on the new character, but trying to continue the
same story.
Continue this until each student has played each character once. While
this is happening, ask the students in the audience to observe their
classmates and notice how well they are sticking to the base characters.
What things would the observer change? Keep these thoughts in mind.

Once the scene is done, ask the performers to share their thoughts about
their experience. Was it difficult to change characters often? Was it
difficult to maintain the same character that someone else had created?
Next, ask the students/observers to share what they thought (kind,
constructive criticism).
Was this the most positive interaction? Is there something we (the
audience) would change? Each audience member takes a few moments to
jot down some ideas of what they would do or say differently.
Now, ask the same 5 students to restart the skit, sticking as closely as
possible to the original story-line.
Invite the observers to tap-in, when they arrive at one of the places that
they wrote about. After the characters on stage play the scene, the student
says Freeze and all characters freeze. That student comes to the front,
taps on the person who just spoke, and then rewinds, and re-does that part
of the scene. The goal is to stay as close to the personality as possible, but
also to change the outcome of the interaction. (If we need, we can pause a
student and ask them to change their tone of voice, or words, to help them
fit better in the new character)
Continue until the whole skit is done, with as many changes as the
students see necessary.
Discuss with the students who tapped in why they did or said a certain
thing? Does the class agree with what happened? How close did the
character stay?

Conclusion
10 minutes

Give a 7 minutes of quiet journal writing for the students to share how
they felt during the process (as an actor or an observer, or both).
Students should reflect on: (choose 3-4)
What changes I made (if I participated)
What was my role in those changes?
What change did you appreciate from someone else?
Why?
How different was the outcome?
How did I maintain a characters attitude, but change the words
spoken?
Was that difficult? Give an example

Recap
Today we say how it was to take on another character but to bring our
own ideas into that characters attitude or actions. These activities help us
to learn about the development of the character in terms of attitudes,
gestures and voice. It also helps us to see the characters as being
changing, although they maintain certain features.
Next class we will wrap up this unit and create our own skits and learn
how we can each jump into a skit and, if we know the characters, we can
try to change the outcome.

Adaptations for learners

ADHD: Participating in this activity is great for students who need to move around. It
gives them focus but also allows them to develop different characters. It is necessary to be
patient with these students, as it may be difficult for them to remember which characters
role they are in.
Low reading/writing: This lesson does not deal with reading at all. As for the writing, it
may be easier for this student to have extra time to write their journal entry, or to present
it orally (individually) to the teacher after class.
Behaviour issues: The difficulty with this lesson, for students with behaviour issues, is to
keep them on task and respectful during the performances. It is necessary to be patient if
they are acting, and help them remember which character they are playing. Having a
paper with the characters name may help them.

Evaluation
The students would hand in their journal entries, and participation would be noted.

Character Development Lesson 4

Grade Level
Class Size
Time frame

Cycle 3, Grade 6
22 students
1 hour

Drama Competency
1. To invent
To use personal ideas inspired by the stimulus for creation: The original idea will
be given by the students
To share his/her creative experience: Students will discuss the process of creating
a scene with others.
2. To interpret
To become familiar with the dramatic content of the scene: After deciding on a
topic and script, students will interpret their characters and act out the scene.
To apply elements of drama: Students will enhance their scene by giving their
character gesture, voice and ---, thus improving dramatic effect
3. To appreciate
To make connections between what was felt and examined: Students will have the
chance to appreciate the other students work, and even have the option to change
the ending of the scene.

Progression of Learning
1. Invent
Creates a story with continuous development (improvisation)
2. Interpret
Chooses some different attitudes, gestures, mimicry, movements and rhythms
related to the character in the story

Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to
demonstrate their ability to take on a character and to demonstrate their knowledge
in character development by participating in activities inspired by forum theatre.
Students will also participate in the creation of a short scene inspired by their own
ideas, as recommended by Osterlind (2011) in his article about Forum play and
Dorothy Heathcotes method, as described by Wagner (1976) in the article
Evoking, Not Directing.
Lesson Sequence
Time

Activity
Introduction

5 minutes

Warmup (a bit faster today)

Introduction game

7 minutes

To remind students of the idea of "tapping in" seen last class,

students will participate in the following activity:
Ask the students to form a circle (standing up), with two students in the
middle. The students in the middle begin a scene (any scene!) and act it
out while exaggerating their movements. At any point, students in the
circle can shout FREEZE! and the scene pauses. The student who
shouted walks up to the character they wish to replace, taps them on the
shoulder and takes on their pose. However, once the scene resumes, the
new students must completely change it into something different.
NOTE: If the game is not rolling along or students are not freezing the
scene, draw from the following variations:

have a timer that automatically freezes the scene after 30 seconds

Ask students to slow down the scene so it is easier to interject.

Development
40 minutes

The following activity is meant to introduce basic ideas of forum theatre,

while allowing students to explore character development in more depth.
Doing Forum Theatre with a group this young would be very difficult,
which is why it is good to start small, with the opportunity to go further if
the students respond well.

2 minutes

1. Start by resuming everything we have learned in the last 3 classes about

character development and writing it on the board: (2 mins)
1 Gesture, attitudes, movement
2 Voice

5 minutes

5 minutes

5-10
minutes

10 minutes

2. Then, tell the students that you would like them to try to invent their
own short scene, taking on a character with the help of all we have
learned so far. Briefly brainstorm ideas about what students would want to
create a scene about, inspired by the driving question "Have you ever
had a moment you would like to change?" Write these ideas on the
board. Students share their ideas, either fictional or drawn from real life
experiences. It can be something funny, embarrassing, a moment in
history almost anything. But it is extremely important that the ideas
come from the students. As Osterlind comments in his/her article; "yad
yad yada".
3. Build a short scene with the class, with the help of a few students.
Assure the students that the main focus will be on their character. Make
the scene short and to the point while allowing all students to participate.
Remind them to act out the scene without changing it, about something
you wish you could change.
4. Allow the students to break into groups of 3-5 students, to choose an
idea from the list or one of their own, and take around 5-15 minutes to
rehearse their scene. When everyone is ready, you ask everyone to resume
their seat as the audience.
5. Ask the first group to come up and play out their scene. After allowing
a bit of feedback and appreciation from the audience, ask the students to
act the scene out again, and this time you (the teacher) are going to freeze
the scene at some point. Play it through until an opportune moment
appears, then freeze the scene and ask the audience is anyone would like
to tap into one of the characters, like the previous game except you are not
changing the entire scene, only the outcome of the scene. If no audience
members are inspired, brainstorm ideas of what could be changed and ask
if anyone would like to initiate that change. If not, resume play as it was
and freeze at another point.
6. After the first group, ask the class a series of questions to get them
thinking:
Why did the new actor decide to change the scene in that way?
Was their one player whose actions were more important in
changing the scene? Why?
Did everyone manage to stay true to their character after the
scene changed for the unexpected? Why is it hard to do so?

18 minutes

Congratulate the players and audience members, and then allow all groups
to show their scene and apply the same method to each.

7 minutes

Conclusion
Many of the discussion questions will be asked in between the scenes.
The idea is to draw the students attention to the key player in the scene
and to try to stay true to character, so that even when certain actions are
taken, it can be tough to completely change the outcome of a scene. In
addition to the questions above, these ones can also be asked after the
scenes in order to get the students thinking:
What was easy/tough about this scene?
Why did {students name} tap into that particular character?
Did the scene go the way you had planned? Why/ Why not?
What is another way this scene could have gone?
Another important thing to discuss with students Forum Theatre itself. It
would be interesting to let the students know that the exercise that was
completed in class was like Forum Theatre in many ways, but that in
Forum theatre is completely improvised on the spot and that the only
character that can be tapped-out is the oppressed character. This
discussion can be led by the following questions:
We noticed there were certain key characters that were more
influential in changing the scene than others. Why do you
think that is?
In Forum Theatre, it is always the oppressed (define oppressed
so everyone understands) who is swapped out. Were there any
scenes that you felt included someone who was oppressed? Did
that person get swapped out in our scenario? (if no): Do you
think the scene would have ended differently if they had? (if
yes): Why were they the key player, in the eyes of the person
who tapped them out?
(Just for teacher planning): Did you like this game? Would
you like to do more Forum Theatre?

Adaptations for learners

This class requires a comfort with the unknown and improvisation that not all students
will have. It is important to be sensitive to students who are uncomfortable and to support
them if they freeze on scene. The teacher can pause the scene if they notice a student or
many students are having a hard time and ask if they wish to consult the audience. If so,
audience members may be able to suggest what to do or say and the student in question
can take or leave the suggestions to move the scene forward.

Specific Adaptations:
Students with ADHD:
During presentations, students may play with something in their hand to help them
concentrate.
Students may also stand up in the back of the audience, so long as they do not
disrupt the actors.
Students with reading/writing difficulties:
Exit cards will be tiered.
Students with behavioural issues:
Will be asked their opinion on the scenes many times.
Will be engaged as much as possible.
Will be surrounded by students that will not provoke her/him.

Evaluation
Exit Card with question:
Tier 1: Are you happy with the way you portrayed your character? Why/ why not? Please use
the keywords voice, gesture, attitude and movement.
Tier 2: Explain how you demonstrated these three things while portraying your character:
Voice:
Gesture, attitude and movement:
Tier 3: A) Please draw a line between each word and its definition.
Voice
Gesture
Attitude
Movement
B) What was your favorite part of the class today?

Bibliography
Osterlind, E. (2011). Forum play: A Swedish mixture for consciousness and change. In S.
Schonmann (Ed.), Key concepts in theatre/drama education (pp. 247-251).
Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense Publishers.
Wagner, B.J. (1976) Evoking, not directing. In D. Heathcote, Drama as a learning medium
(Ed.), (pp. 20-33). Cheltenham: Stanley Thomas
Wee, S. J. (2009). A Case Study of Drama Education Curriculum for Young Children in Early
Childhood Programs. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 23(4).