Rachel Tillotson

Theatre (an intro to theatre/Theatre 1 course)

Vocabulary Instruction - Speaking Like a Director

Standard: Utah State Standard L1.T.P.8: Identify and use appropriate vocabulary to describe

kinds of stage spaces, stage directions, areas of the stage, and blocking techniques.

Instructional Objective: Students will be able to identify and discuss directing techniques and

use disciplinary vocabulary to effectively direct a scene.

Essential Question: How do directors communicate to their actors and to the audience?

Vocabulary Words:

● Stage Picture: a visual image that captures something compelling about the story or

composition of people and objects onstage (imagine you take a picture of the stage at any

moment, what is that picture saying?)

● Levels: The use of different heights whether it is the height of the floor someone is

standing on, or what they are doing with their body

● Flat: non-moving, boring, or all on one visual plane

● Dynamic: intriguing, interesting, or flowing/moving

● Obligatory Blocking: blocking necessary for storytelling, often written in the script as

stage directions

● Cross: to move from one location to another

● Counter/Counter Cross: a secondary actor moves from one location to another to

emphasize the movement of a primary actor

● Stage Business: blocking that is not a cross but adds to the believability of the scene (e.g.

reading a newspaper, tidying the table, lighting a candle, etc.)

Instructional Activities

1) Introduce the words, and help students figure out their meanings by breaking up the

words and phrases into smaller more digestible bits. Work with the students on Stage

Picture, Dynamic, and Obligatory. Allow students to work in pairs or small groups to

figure out the rest then share with the class.

a) Stage Picture: stage and picture -- what do they mean separately and what do we

infer from the connection?

b) Levels: prior knowledge, how does this apply to the theatre?

c) Flat: again prior knowledge, how does it apply to theatre?

d) Dynamic: highlight it in comparison to “flat” They are used as opposites in this

sense

e) Obligatory Blocking: blocking is prior knowledge, then find morphemes,

“obligations” “oblige” “obligated”

f) Cross: pull on prior knowledge, crossing the street, crossing your t’s, etc.

g) Counter/Counter Cross: this is another antonymic word.

h) Stage Business: separate stage and business - discuss what business means in the

context

2) Then have students use a modified Frayer model to define the words the four sections

should be “explanation/definition,” “examples,” “non-examples,” and “draw the word”.

Encourage students to use the other vocabulary words and words that they use in other

classes as examples and non-examples.

3) Students will observe trained theatre makers as they do the blocking techniques (vocab

words), writing down observations for a discussion.

a) https://youtu.be/wF2SP7gNyuM?si=-aOS8dPfoE7xEkYz&t=199

i) Time Stamp 00:03:29-00:06:30

b) With the words on the board, have students write down their observations about

this short scene. They must identify at least one example of a cross, counter-cross,

stage business, levels, and obligatory blocking. After watching the clip, find a

freeze frame from anywhere in the video (preferably from a front view, not a side

view) and have students discuss These questions:

i) Is the stage picture dynamic or flat? Why?

ii) How can you change flat stage pictures?

iii) Which is better, why? (this is not something that has a real answer because

both types of stage pictures convey a story)

4) Use Manipulatives: Have students choose 2-5 minute scenes with 3 or fewer people in

them (they can be self-selected, or if they want help finding one, the teacher can give

them a play to look for a scene in). Students will then be paired off based on the number

of people in their scene. Students will have time to implement pre-blocking (a directing

strategy) by using papers with a ground plan of the stage printed/drawn on it and colored

beads to represent actors. Students will write down their planned blocking using the

proper vocabulary. Then students direct the scene using the given vocabulary and their

pre-blocking. They must implement a cross, counter cross, levels, stage business, and

follow obligatory blocking or have legitimate and believable reasoning for not

implementing any of those things. Then the scenes will be performed. Students will
 observe the scenes that they were not acting in/directing and will discuss in smaller

groups similar conversations as they did with the video. The director will then justify and

discuss their direction in writing based on the observations from their peers.

Justification

Activity 1 utilizes vocabulary teaching strategies like morphemes, finding context clues, and

creating student definitions of words to teach the words to the students. This is supported by the

Graves reading which shares these as effective methods of vocabulary learning for both EFL and

ESL students (Graves et al. 24-30). Activity 2 uses the Frayer Model to then cement the ideas

that were discussed in Activity 1 (Buehl 237). In completing the Frayer Model for these words,m

students can understand the defining characteristics of the words, and finding non-examples

allows their brains to differentiate from possible other definitions, especially in words with

multiple meanings or definitions like dynamic or business (Buehl 84-86). My modification to the

Frayer Model is supported by “Doing It Differently: Tips for Teaching Vocabulary” where she

lists creating non-linguistic representations of words as a supportive measure of vocabulary

learning (Alber). Activities 3 and 4 are supported by ideas expressed by Alber where students are

encouraged to engage in activities to deepen their understanding of the vocabulary words --

while Alber lists specific examples of written activities, observation, and discussion can be

classified as an activity that deepens understanding. Finally, all four activities are supported

through word consciousness, scaffolding, and repetition and reinforcement described by Graves

et al. (30-32). The students are encouraged to think about the words and how they implement

them (word consciousness), they are supported by the building of knowledge through these

activities (scaffolding), and they are required to say, write, read, and implement these words in

several different ways.

 Works Cited

Alber, Rebecca. “Doing It Differently: Tips for Teaching Vocabulary.” Edutopia, 17

December 2010, https://www.edutopia.org/blog/vocabulary-instruction-teaching-tips-

rebecca-alber. Accessed 25 February 2024.

Buehl, Doug. Classroom Strategies for Interactive Learning. International Reading

Association, 2013.

Bus Stop (Act 1) - Academy of Art University 2015. 2016. YouTube,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF2SP7gNyuM.

Graves, Michael F., et al. Teaching Vocabulary to English Language Learners. Teachers

College Press, 2013.