Childrens Theater Syllabus

CHILDRENS THEATER SYLLABUS MR. HACHMEISTER

Welcome to the world of Childrens Theater! (If you do not like working with small children, this might not be the best place for you.) This class has plenty of potential for fun for all of us as well as the children in front of whom we will perform. Here are some expectations I have to ensure that you (and I) will have a positive semester:

-Expect to rediscover your imagination. This class will “put you in the place of a child” and that means you have to think back to how you used to perceive things. You will need to look at things through the eyes of a child. You will need to make sure that you use material that is age-appropriate for 5-7 year olds.

-Expect to do things that might make you feel silly. We will do tongue twisters and read Dr. Seuss. You will have to act out a fairy tale so you need to be willing to look goofy and play a role. We will all be doing this (myself included) buy you need to allow yourself to have fun.

-Expect to visit Hanna Woods this semester. We have done this in the past and it has been a great experience for everyone involved. To me, it makes sense to prepare students in Childrens Theater to go perform for children. (There will be strict guidelines for this trip we will cover later in the semester.)

-Expect to be looked up to when you perform for children, not just literally but figuratively. You will become a role model as soon as they see you so you need to speak, dress and act appropriately.

-Expect to use material already written for children as well as material that YOU create. We will read stories and fairy tales and you will write YOUR OWN stories. You will even make puppets for your own puppet show.

-Expect to know the difference between being childlike and immature. That is a BIG difference. I expect you to have fun and act like a child or act in a manner that a child would appreciate. This does not include acting immaturely or doing anything inappropriate.

Everyone can have a great semester and have a great time. We all just need to work together and be willing to laugh at ourselves. We can do that and respect each other as well as ourselves. CHILDRENS THEATER SYLLABUS UNIT BREAKDOWN

This syllabus should give you a solid overview of what it is we will be doing this semester. I will give you more specific information on each unit as we get to it but this is the list of our potential units. We should go in this order but if there are changes I will give you plenty of notice.

UNIT ACTIVITIES

Introduction to Imagination Imagining, coloring and drawing

Storytelling Practice and perform telling of stories and a self-evaluation

Tongue Twisters Reading and creating tongue twisters

Fairy Tales Reading, watching and performing

Cinderella Watch various versions of Cinderella and research the story and write a paper

Original Story Write and perform an original story

Puppets Create puppets/props for a puppet show

Dr. Seuss Read and perform Dr. Seuss

Childrens TV Watch and compare/contrast Write a paper on this

Video Project Develop a story and film/edit

Memorized Story Character analysis, practice and Delivery of a memorized story

The bulk of what your points will be earned through participation, practice and performance but you will have at least one, maybe two, papers. There may be some other smaller assignments not listed above but this will give you a good idea of what we will be doing.