Phase: | Before/Engage |
Activity: | Students will select a monologue, duo scene, group scene, or song. On the solid lines of the attached document, students will write the character's given lines or lyrics, word for word, directly from the script. This is the text, what the character says. Students will then analyze the scene in context and determine the relationship to the other character's lines. Students will then imagine what the character thinks as the character says each line. What runs through their mind? What memories emerge? What feelings arise? What would they say if they could? This is the subtext, or internal monologue, what the character thinks. Students will write character subtext on the dotted lines. Remind students that there are no right or wrong answers, but their subtext should be supported by the given lines, prior character analysis, and the scene in context with the rest of the play. |
Assessment Strategies: | Students may self-assess the effectiveness of their subtext interpretation according to the following criteria: Believable? Would this character believably think these thoughts? Authentic? Does this subtext create authenticity or dimension to the character? Relevant? Is this subtext supported by the given text? The teacher may evaluate the subtext using the same questions in a teacher-created rubric. Students may share their created subtext with other students to discuss and evaluate its effectiveness. Students may compare and contrast their subtext interpretation with other students' written subtext of the same scene. Students may create alternate subtext interpretations of the same scene, then compare the two interpretations to determine the most effective. Students may rehearse their scenes in front of their peers to demonstrate how the subtext affects their characterization, physicality, and voice (see variation tips).
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Advanced Preparation: | The teacher may model the process by writing subtext for a scene from a movie. Give out copies of the scene's script with space between the lines to write subtext. Watch the scene together and discuss choices that the actors made to indicated things the characters may have been thinking, even though they never said them out loud. Once you have gone through this process together, students will be more prepared to create subtext for their own individual scenes. The teacher will need to make available an assortment of monologues, duo scenes, group scenes or songs. The teacher will need to copy enough worksheets for each student. |
Variation Tips (optional): | They may rehearse their scene by saying only the lines they are given by the playwright. After the scene is over, they rehearse the scene by saying everything that they wrote on the paper--the given lines and the subtext. Discuss how saying the subtext aloud affected their characterization, physicality, and voice. Then rehearse the scene a third time by saying the lines and thinking the subtext. Discuss how thinking the subtext silently affected their characterization, physicality, and voice. Discuss how they can use this technique in performance to make moments believable. Students may revise their subtext during rehearsal or further discussions. Some rehearsals may even be devoted to exploring subtext. When the subtext changes, what changes in the scene and in the actor's physicality and voice? |
Notes or Recommendations (optional): |
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