Experience 8: Improvisation and Movement on Stage

Improvisation (also called improv) is an acting technique where very little or nothing is planned in advance. No scripts are used and actors must rely on their imaginations to determine what to say or do. Like charades, the following game focuses on movement improvisations. How actors move their bodies, their posture and even how they stand still can reveal unique and interesting characteristics about a particular person. 

For theatrical performances, all movements on stage are thought out in advance. Planning where characters are positioned on stage and where they move is called blocking. Directors use five basic stage directions to help guide actors movements: upstage is the portion of the stage farthest away from the audience, downstage is the portion of the stage that is closest to the audience, stage right and stage left refer to the actors’ right and left. Center stage is the middle portion of the stage. 

The following is a Simon Says-type game to help students practice taking stage directions and to plan their movements for their final dramatic presentation. This exercise also encourages students to think about how movement helps define character.

The Mental Joust: How do actors know where to move on stage? How can movements reveal information about a character? How should I move when I portray my medieval character?

Time: 30 minutes

Worthy Words: blocking, center stage, downstage, improv, stage left, stage right, upstage

Diagram:       audience (& director)
        _____________________
        /          downstage           \
        /                                       \
             /     center stage              \
            /  stage left      stage right  \
              /                       \
          /          upstage                     \

Procedure for the “Director Says” Game:

1. Imagine you are actors on stage and I am the director. I say move left. Whose left? Yours or mine? What if the director tells an actor to move upstage? Which direction is that? Is upstage closer to the audience or farther away? This could be confusing couldn’t it? 
2. Draw the diagram of stage directions on the board. Is this how you thought it would be? By looking at this diagram, is stage right and left the actors’ right and left or is it according to the director’s perspective? How can we remember downstage and upstage? (For example, downstage is closer to the audience who is often seated down lower than the stage.)
3. Who has played Simon Says? This game is similar, but our game is called “Director Says.” 
4. A group of students (actors) stand and face the teacher/director as if they are on stage. 
5. The director says, “Downstage you nervous peasants!” Students respond with a few forward steps in character.
6. The director continues to give directions moving the participants around the stage. Occasionally the director just says how to move and leaves out the words, “Director says.” Students who move must then sit down.
7. The game continues until only a few students are left or as long as time permits. This exercise can be done as a warm-up activity and repeated until all students are familiar with stage directions.

1. After the game, ask students to describe how their characters (that they are developing for their final festival presentations) would walk and move in their Book of Days. What is their posture like? Do they move with self-assuredness or are their movements more tentative? Do they have any health issues that affect their movements? Does their costuming affect their movements?

Once it becomes clear that students have grasped the five basic directions, the teacher/director could include some diagonal directions such as: upstage-right, upstage-left, downstage-right, and downstage-left in the game. 

Use the teachable moments that arise during this exercise to point out specific examples of how movement can build characterizations. For example, how can posture denote status? How would a prince’s posture be different from a peasant’s? How can the speed of movements denote power, age or health of a character? What happens when you walk stiff legged or wobbly legged? What type of character might move that way?

Past and Present:
The life expectancy of a peasant in the Middle Ages was 25 years. There were plenty of deadly diseases or they literally worked themselves into an early grave! What is the life expectancy of people today? To what might we attribute this change?

Exhibit Connection:
Practice taking stage directions on a stage at The Children’s Museum.

References and Resources:

Bany-Winters, Lisa. On Stage: Theatre Games and Activities for Kids. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 1997.

Evans, Cheryl and Lucy Smith. Acting and Theatre. London: Usborne Publishing, 1992.

Malam, John. Theater: From First Rehearsal to Opening Night. Chicago: Peter Bedrick Books, 2000.

Pryer, Nick. Putting on a Play. New York: Thomson Learning, 1994.