Volume 1 Number 6

Hi Folks,

OK - have done a couple of major work outlines over the past few issues.  This week is a bit of a breather and a few tips rather than overviews of work.   The PD reference this week is really interesting - and in Bergen!!

LESSON/ACTIVITY IDEA

• Using parallel situations in improvisation to explore and deepen the study of text.

This tip will seem totally obvious to anyone who's been doing drama for a while, but I have been using it quite a bit lately and it never hurts to be reminded what's in our repertoire.

I'll try to explain by way of example.  We have been looking at Ibsen's "The Doll's House" in class recently.   In order to understand some of the issues I set some improvisation activities.  This was done before we began our discussions of the text.  The first improvisation required the students to work in groups of three or four and explore the following...

DECEPTIVE BENDS

Characters:

The Deceiver – this person has a secret that is being kept from another character.  The consequences of being discovered will be serious.   This person is well liked and cares about friends and family.  This person is somewhat optimistic.

The Threat – this person has discovered the secret and in order to gain some personal benefit presents an ultimatum to the Deceiver.  This person is poorly regarded and has a reputation for creating trouble.

The Other – this person is unaware of the secret.  This person is significant to the lives of the other characters.  This person holds a position of authority and respect.  This person is also a little caught up in their own affairs.

Situation:

The scene is to take place at a celebration.   All three people are present and have known each other for many years.  

The Goal:

When the students had explored this improvisation activity we looked at the concerns each character had and how that affected the relationship structures...  Then we look to the text and see how Nora's deal with Krogstad affects her marriage to Torvald...  

Similar improvisation activities can be structured to explore other aspects of any text.

RECOMMENDED WEBSITES

• Scene4 - International Magazine of Theatre, Film and Media.

A very savvy, stylish and intelligent magazine containing sections:

• Plays and Screenplays published with full text (including
  Production Notes) for reading on-line;
• What’s happening in theatre and film in cities and regions throughout the world, with reports by people who live and work there;
• The personal notebooks logged by actors, directors, playwrights, screenwriters as they work through development, rehearsals and performances;
• News and Reviews;
• Focus articles;
• Short reviews.

This months feature topic is Art, Media and War

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

• Computer Support for Collaborative Learning 2003
  Designing for Change in Networked Learning Environments
  
  
  CSCL 2003 is the fifth international CSCL conference and will be held in Bergen, Norway, on June 14-18, 2003. The conference will be co-organised by InterMedia, University of Bergen and InterMedia, University of Oslo.

CSCL is a genuinely interdisciplinary field which strives to create a better understanding of collaborative learning that is mediated by a diverse set of computational technologies. Research that is able to combine and synthesize the different aspects of technology supported collaborative learning is what gives the CSCL community its colourful and special characteristic. We especially invite contributions that attempt to cross boundaries by successfully demonstrating the integration of the different aspects of CSCL.

The CSCL conference is a major international event that gathers people involved in all aspects of the field of CSCL, including research, education, training and technology extensions. Accordingly, CSCL 2003 invites participation from researchers and students, designers, educators, industrial trainers from various disciplines including education, cognitive, social and educational psychology, didactics, subject matter specialties, computer science, linguistics and semiotics, speech communication, anthropology, sociology and design.

The original call for papers can be found here.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

Action Theater : The Improvisation of Presence
by Ruth Zaporah

Each chapter of this book presents a single day of the twenty-day training which Ruth Zaporah developed into Action Theater, her investigation into the life-reflecting process of improvisation. This book shows through excercises, stories, anecdotes, and metaphors how to focus attention on the body's awareness of the present moment, moving away from preconceived ideas. Improvisations move through fear, boredom, laziness, and distraction to a sustained awareness of creative options.

The Young Actor's Book of Improvisation :
Dramatic Situations from Shakespeare to Spielberg : Ages 7-11
by Sandra Caruso, Susan Kosoff

With over two hundred dramatic situations, this volume is by far the most extensive sourcebook available for nurturing young actors' improvisational work. The range is vast. Sandra Caruso includes everything from beloved classics to folk and fairy tales to modern realism and contemporary stories, facilitating improvisational work of equal variety.

Also available in hardcover

Kim Flintoff