EXPERIENTIAL THEATER: A TUTORIAL FOR TEACHERS
Although McCarter Education’s production of The Odyssey Experience is theatrically staged with professional scenery, music and actors, the root of the event we create derives from an in-class theater arts education exercise designed to empower students to react and interact within imaginary circumstances. In fact, the techniques we developed for the student interaction in our show began in residencies and workshops with as few as fifteen participants. Our initial objective was to create an opportunity for students to act out stories without needing any rehearsals or prior knowledge of the material. Through a series of prompts, the students portrayed characters and spoke lines of their own devising. Every “performance” was different, and the joy of the exercise was in observing students making decisions about their characters based upon their own perception of what it would be like to actually be the people they were portraying.
We hope that you can make use of some of our techniques and that they will inspire you to create your own productions in the classroom. Past participating classroom teachers have remarked that successful “experiential theater” can be a great new mode of learning for students of varying retention skills, as well as a fun diversion from other story exploration exercises that may already be employed in the classroom.
Step #1 Preparation:
Before involving students, some initial considerations are necessary. First, what is your students’ level of familiarity with the source material? "Experiential theater" has primarily been created for stories that students are not already familiar with. If you select a story with which the students are already familiar for example, the Three Little Pigs, then students will simply speak the lines they know are expected (“Little pigs, little pigs, let me in.”) and there will be no opening for imaginative exploration. However, if the students have little to no information about the story they are going to tell, then they will have opportunity to create their own words and help guide the emotional action.
Once you have decided on a story, try to evaluate what items you may need to help tell your story. Are you going on a journey on a boat? Then maybe some wooden dowels or yard sticks to represent oars might be good to have in the classroom. Are you going to encounter some superheroes? Maybe a few yards of cloth or bath towels to make some impromptu capes would be good to have around. In general, a box of rope and cloth, and sticks/dowels are useful as quick props or costumes.
Step #2 Preparing the Students:
Sometimes, particularly with smaller groups, we begin with discussion. Let us say, for instance, that we want to tell the story of The Tempest by William Shakespeare. Instead of just launching into the tale by starting to narrate it, we might begin by asking the students some questions to get them thinking about the world of the story. We might ask, “What is a shipwreck?” “Have any of you ever been in a really bad argument with one of your siblings? Do you still hold a grudge about it/the argument” “What does it mean to be a slave?” “Do you ever feel like you are in servitude to people in your own lives?” After everyone is familiar with the basic subject matter and has a sense of the themes we are going to explore, we are ready to begin the program.
Alternatively, sometimes we simply begin the program. We don’t even offer a “hello,” or “how are you?” as is the case with The Odyssey Experience. The reason for this is we want to maintain a distance with the students to encourage a level of formality right from the start. With very large groups, it is easy to lose control if the students think that they have more freedom than you want them to have.
Step #3 Style of Interaction:
When we begin to bring our story to life it is not necessary that the students follow the "rules" of theater such as "don’t turn your back to the audience" or "you must project your voice." Since there is no intended audience in the classroom, the whole activity is for the entertainment and edification of the participants exclusively.
The crafting of the script to be spoken by the teacher is the key to the success. Every line and every gesture will be the key to proper interaction with the students. Below are some examples of text from an experiential theater script with stage directions and explanations written in italics:
It was a dark and stormy night.
(Teacher cups hands next to her ear and uses her other hand to invite the students to make the sounds of the storm.)
…when smiling, old Bill Brown entered the house.
(Teacher makes eye contact with a student and presents hand as to invite that student to come into the playing area and enter as Bill.)
He was jovial and whistled as he entered. He called out to his wife Janet to let her know that he was home.
(Teacher’s description of Bill’s actions should prompt the student to go through the motions of his activity.)
His surly wife came down the stairs, unhappy with the world. When he went to greet her, she barely acknowledged him.
(Teacher’s description of Bill’s actions should prompt the student to go through the motions of his activity.)
She had had a horrible time dealing with their children and in spite of his positive tone, she decided to tell him all about her day.
(This is an open-ended line, so should yield some fun results. We know that we have an angry spirit who has a happy older husband. We also know that they have kids and that it was a rough day. The student should be able to cobble together some line. After she has spoken enough, the teacher should begin the next line.)
Suddenly, as to stop her from speaking, Bill put his hand up. She reluctantly fell silent. In the distance, they heard chanting, whispered “Old Bill Brown, old Bill Brown, the greatest man in all of town.”
(The teacher puts her hands with her palms turned upwards and motions with her fingers for the rest of the students to join in.)
(Quietly) “Old Bill Brown, old Bill Brown, the greatest man in all of town.” (A little louder) “Old Bill Brown, old Bill Brown, the greatest man in all of town.” (Louder) “Old Bill Brown, old Bill Brown, the greatest man in all of town.” (Very loud) “Old Bill Brown, old Bill Brown, the greatest man in all of town.”
(Teacher puts her hand up to stop the chant, then:) Bill Smiled…And then opened the front door. There was the whole town smiling right back at him. (The rest of the students can be the rest of the town.)
Mr. Peterson came forward and emotionally thanked him.
(If the teacher knows her students, she can pick someone who will really put a lot of emotion into this part.)
And, after seeing Mrs. Browns’ surprise at this, he asked her if she knew why they were chanting. (Give a moment for “Mr. Peterson” to ask her and for her to respond. Whether or not she does, the teacher then says:)
She didn’t know, …so Mr. Peterson explained why the whole town thought her husband was the greatest! (Again, depending on the student, this can be a great opportunity for improvisation.)
The instruction outlined here is very simple and seems mostly intuitive. Once the teacher begins to craft his or her scripts to create succinct narrative riddled with description, the students will be able to interact and bring to life whatever scenario the teacher might care to create.
Step #4: Post-Activity:
Whether in the process of creating the “performance” or afterwards, the teacher should feel free to assess the actions and decisions the make as characters. If, for instance, Mrs. Brown had said that her day was terrible because she won the lottery, then it would be perfectly within the right of the teacher to ask, “Why would that be terrible?” If the student is trying to sabotage the exercise inadvertently or otherwise, then the teacher needs to address the issue right away. However, if the student has some odd reason for winning the lottery being a terrible thing, then it falls to the teacher to draw that reason out in the moment, so that the exercise stays on track for the other possibly confused listeners.
In the event that there is nothing that warrants discussion over the course of the play the teacher should take mental note of what the students say and create, so that at the end, positive and enigmatic choices can be discussed and analyzed through discussion with the rest of the participants.
