A great way to get students to watch more shows without having to take class time to do it is to assign play critiques. Mine are a bit in depth as we do three a semester but you could do shorter, more basic ones if you want to do a musical a month. And now with so many shows being live streamed or recorded there are plenty of options for live theatre both in person and digital. They can check out Disney +, youtube, BBC, Filmed on Stage, The Shows Must Go On, and there are many more out there. Digital ones are great if people are worried about ticket prices. Many digital shows have cheap tickets (some have student discounts) and some are completely free.
As part of my acting classes, I require students to watch three plays or musicals over the course of the semester and write a play critique on them. They can choose any shows they want and I do require at least one to be a play (as most will gravitate towards strictly musicals) and they have to be the actual stage version not a Hollywood movie version. This is an outside project. I assign the criteria they should be looking for (it changes depending on what we are working on in class) and the due date. I require them to watch one high school show, one college show and one community/professional show so they can see the different levels of talent and quality in the various productions.
For the play critique criteria I ask the students to give a summary of the show and pick two characters they were the most intrigued by. They need to write detailed observations on what the actors did to create dynamic characters. How did they use their vocals, body language, interactions with other characters, etc. This gets the students looking at performers using specific techniques we have been practicing in class. I find it helps them greatly in their own performances if they can recognize and see how the techniques we discuss in class are utilized by other actors. They see both what is done really well and what is not done so well. For my Theatre II class we also touch on the basics of lighting and sound design so for one of their play critiques I require them to evaluate the lighting and sound from one of the shows they watched. How does the lighting and sound enhance the mood, frame the scene, help create atmosphere, etc. This really gets them thinking more about the overall show instead of just the acting.
This is a great way to get kids exposed to more productions. You can even give them a list of shows they can choose from if you want them to see certain shows.
Hope this helps. If you'd like to see the criteria and rubric I use let me know.
Blessings,
Jillian Lietzau
Theatre Dept Head
Lutheran High School
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Jillian Lietzau
Lutheran High School
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-20-2021 20:11
From: Raymond Palasz
Subject: Getting Students to Know More Musicals
So I have realized over the last couple of years that students really have little knowledge of musicals outside of what's on Broadway. Straight plays are even worse, but not surprising because they aren't as glitzy as a musical.
I want to try and expose my students to a musical a month next year if possible.
Thoughts on how to do that? Anyone do anything like this already? Aside from gathering to watch one on film, what else might get them interested?
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Raymond Palasz
Auditorium Director/Director of Theatre
Munster High School
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