Open Forum

Hi All!

Would anyone happen to have suggestions or resources in regards to Icebreakers for theater teachers? I'm leading a few professional development classes, and I wanted something fresh and I try to stray away from the cliché, but I still would like to provide the teachers with something useful that they may even perhaps use with their students. 

Open to any and all suggestions! Thanks!  

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Tiara Mikell, MSW 
Theatre Teacher
Pearland TX
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Move yourself   - similar to musical chairs . You only take one chair away . Everyone sits in a circle. The person without a chair has to get in the middle of the circle and say something true about themselves " I have been to Europe" if this is true for you, you must get up and move to another seat. If you cannot find a seat, you are the new person in the middle. I always model this by being the example first. " if what I just said is true for you, get up and move" 

body shapes- in groups of four, I want you to make a pair of eye glasses with your bodies- go! Now remember who was in your group. Next find new partners to make a robot- three people. Remember your group. You will need to know your group again soon. Windmill- three people. Dragon - four people. Okay I hope you are ready because now we are going to form all of the shapes again in rapid fire succession. I will call out a shape and count to five . You must have found your group and made the shape by then. Ready?

eye glasses! 12345!

windmill! 12345!

robot! 12345!

dragon! 12345!

windmill 12345

this can end here or go for a few more. Then I call everyone get together and form a pirate ship. Now you get to see who the leaders are in your group and the general group dynamic.

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Natasha Hart
Montreal QC
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Anyone I've ever worked with or taught (literally from age 7 to adult) love ABC Cup Volleyball.  It's not so strictly a theatre game, but it emphasizes collaboration, focus, team work, communication, etc.  I find it great fun for people who know each other already, and also a great way to get a group of people who don't know each other to quickly work together without awkwardness.  

Materials: Some plastic or paper cup.

Set up: Everyone stands in a circle.  It's best to be a little spread out. 

• I've had students sit in a circle before, when I had a student with physical limitations.  It's more difficult when sitting, but still fun.

The rules are simple:

• Every time you hit the cup, you say the next letter of the alphabet.
• You can only use your hands.  No heads, elbows, feet, knees (really for safety... a head and a knee or foot colliding is never fun...)
• If it touches the ground, start over.
• If someone hits it twice in a row, start over.

Goal: Get to Z.

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Jessica Satryan
Arts Faculty: Music and Theatre
Philadelphia PA
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Check out Theatre Games Thoroughly Explained. This article will link you to articles that provide detailed directions for theatre warm-ups and improvisation games. Some will be quite familiar to you, but you may find a few new ones--I certainly hope so! 

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Rosalind Flynn
Head of the M.A. in Theatre Education
The Catholic University of America
Silver Spring MD
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The first thing I have every class do is alphabetize themselves.  For a teacher meeting, I would have them use first names.  In class I have them alphabetize themselves by last name, so introductions once they are in order let me check attendance.  

I just stand back and watch the class dynamics.  Does someone jump out and insist that everyone follow his or her method?  Do they quietly introduce themselves or ask each others' names?  Who is really shy?  Does someone have an accent or speech impediment that presents a communication difficulty?  Does anyone get really impatient or agitated without the teacher controlling the process?

I learn information from this exercise that I use all through the course.   

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C. J. Breland
Asheville NC
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I have loved readying all of these great ice-breaker ideas!  

In the past I have typically started with some of the circle name games.  I change it up a little bit each time, but I typically start with each student saying their name and an word that starts with the same letter.  Then we go around the circle and the next person repeats the names that came before them before introducing themselves.  Many times my classes are pretty large so I will divide the class into 4 smaller circles to start.  After they finish I combine the 4 small circles into 2 medium circles and we do it again (I do ask them to sit every other person from the other circle).  Finally we come together as a full circle (again every other person).  Depending on how long the class period is I would then move into adding a physical action with their name and doing the same type of thing.  It is always amazing how well the students do with this (even when they panic a bit at first).    

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Steven Fleming
Howard County Public School System
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