toolbox

GAMES

 * Games from Boal's //Theatre of the oppressed//**


 * // Image Theatre //**
 * // Without talking, a group of students sculpts themselves (or is sculpted by another) into an image that represents a situation. One variation is to sculpt the students into a situation that represents conflict in a story and then see if they can resolve the conflict by making one move when given a cue (such as a single hand clap). //**

Have a group of students act out part of the play that includes the conflict and resolution. Then re-do the scene but allow the audience members (spect-actors) to say stop and replace the protagonist to see if he/she can arrive at a different resolution without disregarding the essential details of the story. Multiple characters could be replaced. This is a game in which respecting the word is useful since the point is to go beyond the text without disregarding it.
 * Forum Theatre**


 * Games from Viola Spolin's //Theater games for the classroom//**

__Purpose:__ Making the invisible visible, using space objects as theatrical props __Focus:__ On the object between players __Description:__ Teams of two players agree on an object and begin an activity determined by the object itself, such as folding bed sheets or pulling taffy. __Notes:__ 1. It is natural for players to want to plan the action out in advance, which defeats the spontaneity and results in awkwardness. To avoid playwriting, have each team write on a slip of paper the name of an object. Place all the slips in a container. Each team takes a slip just before its turn. 2. Players are not to build a story around an object, and therefore there should be little need for dialogue. Suggest that the object be one which is ordinarily handled. 3. This is a dramatic situation without conflict. While most playwrights assume that conflict is central to a scene, good actors in performance generally try to help one another. (Coaching tips: Keep the object between you; Keep the object in the space; Make the object real; Show; Don't tell; Use your whole body) (Questions for the group: What was the object? Did players show or tell? Did players work together? Did this team benefit from preceding team's evaluation? Players, do you agree?)
 * Involvement in Twos** (p. 50)

__Purpose:__ To listen with full awareness and understanding to the words of a story __Focus:__ On full physical attention to the words of a story __Description:__ Large group sits in a circle. Sidecoach chooses one player to begin telling a story. The story can be known or made up. At any moment in the story, the sidecoach points at random to a player who must immediately pick up where the last player left off, even if in the middle of a word. Players are not to repeat the last word of the previous storyteller. __Notes:__ 1. To keep players at high energy levels and totally involved with the process, the sidecoach must catch them off balance, in the middle of a thought or sentence. 2. Pre-planning what to say fragments and alienates players. Point to the player least expecting it. Spontaneity results only when players stay with the moment the story is being told. 3. Too many players starting with "and" indicates that the sidecoach is not catching players off guard 4. Additional sidecoaching: Coach players to tell their part of the story in very slow motion. Then have them return to normal speed. 5. Let the player who has difficulty in finding words speak no more than a few words at a time first, but surprise that player by returning to him or her again and again for a few words until the fear of failing is dissipated. 6. For review, we suggest that a tape recording be made of players' stories. 7. This game lends itself to variations including - have them build sentences one word at a time, one word per player. (Coaching tips: Keep the story going; Stay with the word; Don't plan ahead; Aim for one story, one voice; Keep the word in the space; Share your voice) (Questions for the group: Were players caught up in the idea of where the story should go? Or did they stay with the words as the story evolved? Did it become as one story told by one voice? Did the story keep building? Which part of the story did you like best? Why? Did the story end as it shlud have? what other endings are possible?)
 * Building a Story** (p. 157)

__Purpose:__ To add dimensions to //Where,// both in perceiving and describing. __Focus:__ On seeing an incident in full color as it is being told __Description:__ Two players. A tells B a simple story (an incident limited to five or six sentences). B then retells the same story, adding as much color as possible. __Notes:__ 1. The purpose of the game is for the listener to see the incident in full color at the moment of listening to it. 2. Other qualities may be substituted for color (texture, odor, sounds, shapes), as may adverbs and adjectives. 3. Even if they have no experience f world literature, students may be interested in the way this game reflects the growth of the oral tradition. In many cultures, history is whatever is remembered and repeated from generation to generation. Sometimes stories have been written down and become great works of literature. Homer's //Iliad// and //Odyssey// are based on oral traditions as are //The Stories of Roland// and American Indian legends. (Coaching tips: See the other player; Don't wait to add color; See the color as you hear the story; Talk directly to one another; Share your voice) (Questions for the group: Players, did you add as much color as possible? Did you change the story in any other way or did you stick to what your partner said? Audience, do you agree with the players?)
 * Relating an Incident Adding Color** (p. 159)

__Purpose:__ To learn to concentrate on several things simultaneously __Focus:__ On writing about three different subjects at the same time. __Description:__ Full group, seated at tables or desks. Each player divides a piece of paper into 3 columns and marks them 1, 2, 3, with the name of a different subject at the top of each column. When the sidecoach calls out that column number, player immediately (without pause) starts to write about the subject in that column. When another column number is called out, player stops (even in mid-word) and immediately starts to write about the subject for that column number in the column. Sidecoach will move from column number to column number randomly, and players are to pick up where they left off. When the game is over, each payer should have a piece of paper with three different short essays or stories on it, none of them necessarily completed. __Notes:__ 1. Three-Way Writing will produce an off-balance moment within which the player begins to act instinctively. 2. You will find this is a good game for incorporating curriculum needs by choosing three topics the students are working with and having them all write on these topics. It will then begin to resemble the real-life experience of homework. 3. In early work with this exercise, try not to rush players, but do not go so slowly that time lag is allowed through which penmanship and spelling fears become censors to content. After the game is called for time, players can be given additional time to edit for spelling and to neatly rewrite the final pieces. (Coaching tips: One; Three; Two; One; Two; Three; Don't pause to finish the sentence; Move to the new column right away; Keep writing; Forget about spelling; Forget about writing neatly)
 * Three-Way Writing** (p. 134)


 * Other games**


 * Help Me, Help Me**

Players stand in a circle. One person in the circle is designated as occupying the "Help Me, Help Me" position (this person may often be the teacher or leader). This person does not make up his/her own line and action, but rather says, "Help me, help me" and puts their hands up above their head in a supplication motion each time he/she says "help." Every other player says a line they choose from a movie and makes up an action to go with that line. The "Help Me, Help Me" person begins, then, moving clockwise, each player in the circle says their line and does their action. After each player introduces their line and action, all other players repeat the line and the action. For the purposes of this example, let's assume 12 players, although you can play with whatever size group you desire (recommended between 7-20). Once every player has done a line and action, the leader explains that the line and action now stay with the position in the circle, not with the individual who created it. Everyone in the circle goes around and repeats their word and action again, so that all players may identify the line/action with the position in the circle. Now, the leader begins "Help me, help me" then does some other line and action in the circle. Whoever is in that position--in this case the person who created it--repeats that line/action, then does another line/action, thus "throwing" the turn to someone else. This continues until someone says a line incorrectly or does an action incorrectly, e.g., says "Hello my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Now you must die." or thrusts forward with his/her left foot instead of his/her right foot. When someone makes this kind of mistake--line or action--this person must move to the "Help me, help me" position, Position 1. The person in the "Help me, help me" position moves into Position 2, thus, one spot clockwise. Everyone else shifts as necessary. So, if the player in Position 2 makes an error, he/she and the person in Position 1 simply switch places. However, if the player in Position 12 makes an error, he/she shifts into Position 1, the player in Position 1 shifts to Position 2, and everyone else in the circle shifts one position clockwise. The player who at the beginning was responsible for saying "Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya...etc" every time the line was "thrown" by another player, is now responsible for saying "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming" every time this line is "thrown" by another player. Every time a player makes an error, and moves into the "Help me, help me" position, that player is the one to resume play again by saying "Help me, help me" then another line and action. The game continues until enthusiasm wanes!
 * e.g. Line: "Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." (from //The Princess Bride).// Action**:** Player moves right foot forward and thrusts their closed fist forward as if brandishing a sword.
 * e.g. Line: "Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming." (from //Finding Nemo//). Action: Player puffs out cheeks, says line, then makes fin-like motions with hands and moves shoulders from side to side.
 * e.g. "Help me, help me" is Position 1 in circle; "Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya..." is Position 2 in circle; "Just keep swimming..." is Position 3 in circle, etc.
 * e.g.
 * Position 1: Help me, help me. Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.
 * Position 3: Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Hello my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.
 * Position 2: Hello my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die. (Line/Action for Position 7)
 * Position 7: (Line/Action for Position 7). Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming.
 * Position 3: Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. (Line/Action for Position 9) etc.