BYU Theatre Education Database



Monologue UnitBy Lauren WilkinsUnit Objective: Students will demonstrate their ability to memorize and improve their character development skills by performing a monologue in front of the class.Class Level: Beginning High School Drama ClassPrior Experience: The class has already completed voice and diction and motion units where they have learned the correct techniques in speaking, projection, and movement. They have also already picked out monologues to work on.2014 National Core Arts Theatre Standards: Creating 1.1.I; Performing 4-6.1.I; Responding 9.1.I1994 National Standards:Content Standard One: Script writing by improvising, writing, and refining scripts based on personal experience and heritage, imagination, literature, and history.Content Standard Two: Acting by developing, communicating, and sustaining characters in improvisations and informal or formal productions.Content Standard Six: Comparing and integrating art forms by analyzing traditional theatre, dance, music, and visual arts, and new art forms.Main Concepts:ImaginationCollaborationLesson One: What is a Monologue?Educational Objective: Students will demonstrate their ability to perform independently by slating their monologue information in front of the class.Lesson Two: MemorizationEducational Objective: Students will demonstrate their ability to memorize lengthy monologues by completing memorization exercises and a memorization quiz.Lesson Three: TacticsEducational Objective: Students will demonstrate their ability to find different tactics for their characters by making a list of tactics they could use in their own monologues.Lesson Four: Monologues to MusicEducational Objective: Students will demonstrate their ability to adjust the emotions of their characters by performing their monologues to music. Lesson Five: Who are you talking to?Educational Objective: Students will demonstrate their ability to relate to an unseen character by performing to partners at the same time.Lesson Six: Final PerformancesEducational Objective: Students will demonstrate their applied learning and monologue practice by performing their full monologue alone in front of the class.Lesson One: What is a Monologue?Educational Objective: Students will demonstrate their ability to perform independently by slating their monologue information in front of the class.Previous Knowledge: The students are supposed to have already picked a monologue.Materials Needed:Computer and projection systemAccess to YouTube clips:Much Ado About Nothing Part 5; Little Hobbitses- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers; Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two- Neville’s Speech Scene; Scenes Part 2; and pencil to write story onCopies of the Tangled monologuesHook: Invite students to sit in a circle facing each other. Join them in this circle. Tell them you’re going to be coming up with a story, but we will add one word at a time as we go from person to person around the circle. Ask them to please start with the writing prompt which is: a traveler.Write down the story as it is created. When it is complete, ask the students to sit down in their normal seats. Stand in front of them and slate (Hello, my name is... Etc) and then act out the story as a monologue for them.Teaching Presentation:What would you call that thing I just did there? Does that kind of performance have a name? What does a monologue look like? Can someone define that for me? Let’s watch one!Project the Much Ado About Nothing clip on the board starting at 4:41. At 5:15 turn down the volume, but let the video clip run. Ask, does anyone know what is going on here? Shakespeare has long monologues to express what certain characters are feeling. It would be awkward to start talking about your deepest feelings in real life. Sometimes these types of monologues can get boring, right? Why? What makes a scene interesting? Interacting with someone?Start the Sneaky Little Hobbitses clip. Play it until 1:13 then turn down the volume. Start the discussion but let them observe the role switches between Gollum and Sméagol in the background. The scene is more interesting than the first, but why? He’s still talking to himself. Is this a monologue? Is he one character or two? Yes, it is a great monologue. Because he has someone he is talking to. It might be himself, but we need the reactions of others so we’re not just ranting to ourselves and the audience.Play the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two at 1:50. End at 3:35. This is one of the best speeches in this movie. Speeches can be monologues too. When he starts to speak, he makes eye contact with Voldemort. That is important. You might think you’re just monologueing, but you need to see the person or people you are talking to. There is passion behind his speech. We pick good monologues because they have passion- both comedic and dramatic. Was this a monologue? Now, onto one more.Begin the Tangled Scenes at 7:15. Was this a monologue? Could it be? Why or why not? We said that you needed to interact with people, but we also said a monologue was for one person. Yes, it can be a monologue. It is often hard to find long, usable sections for monologues, so we cut characters! Does that make sense? Sometimes it still doesn’t flow nicely so you have to cut more out. Pass out the Tangled monologues. Have each student cut out a few words to make it flow nicely. Ask them to gather in pairs and compare their monologue scripts by performing them for each other. Encourage them to make it their own. Let them know that if they need to change the feeling or emotion behind the words, they are allowed to.Do you know how to start a monologue? Has anyone heard of slating before? I did it at the beginning of our story! You introduce yourself and the basic information about yourself. Slate again for them and give them five minutes to figure it out for themselves. Invite them up to slate one at a time. Before they leave, sign off on their monologue choices for clean language and content, then assign them to memorize half of their monologue by next class.Tangled MonologuesMother Gothel:Rapunzel? Rapunzel, what’s going on up there? Are you alright? Please speak up Rapunzel, you know how I hate the mumbling! Oh, Rapunzel, do you even hear youself? Why would you even ask such a ridiculous question? Everything I did was to protect you. Rapunzel- Rapunzel! Where will you go? He won’t be there for you! That criminal is to be hanged for his crimes. Now, now, it’s alright, listen to me. All of this is as it should be. You want me to be the bad guy? Fine. Now I’m the bad guy. Rapunzel: I am the lost princess. I am the lost princess, aren’t I? Did I mumble, mother? Or should I even call you that? It was you! It was all you! I have spent my entire life hiding from people who would use me for my power, when I should have been hiding from you! What did you do to him? No… No! You were wrong about the world! And you were wrong about me! And I will never let you use my hair again!Monologue UnitLesson Two: MemorizationEducational Objective: Students will demonstrate their ability to memorize lengthy monologues by completing memorization exercises and a memorization quiz.Materials:Class candy stashSquare blank sheet of paper for each studentCootie Catcher TemplateQuiz for each studentAny type of tape for the gameHook:Welcome class. Ask, “Who can tell me what slating is?” Throw candy to the first person to answer correctly. Feed off of students’ answers to check for understanding. Continue tossing candy to each student who answers correctly and helps along the class discussion. “So, if it performed before a monologue, what is a monologue?” “Why are monologues important?”… etc.Teaching Presentation:Invite students to get into pairs. Do not tell them what you are making, but follow the cootie catcher template and teach the students to make cootie catchers. Slowly teach each fold in the process step by step, making sure everyone is following along. Tell the students to write one of each of these four activities on each of the inside tabs: “perform the first three sentences in your monologue as fast as possible,” “perform the last three sentences in your monologue as slow as possible,” “recite your full monologue with a different accent,” and “pretend your monologue is a poem- recite it with a cadence or rhythm.” Invite the older partner to pick a random number and begin working on their monologues by following the cootie catcher promptings.Walk around and assist students with their monologue work. Provide individual assistance . You should know class well enough by this point to take the students’ needs into consideration and help them as best as you can.Have the students switch partners and begin working on straight memorization. One student will work on remembering and reciting their monologue while the other student checks it word for word. They will keep switching back and forth and improving their memorization. Go around to each pair and encourage the partner who is checking the wording to cheer for every correct word. Join along with them. Physically cheer (clap, whoop, exclaim, etc.) for your students and their improvement. Ask class to cheer at once for everyone’s progress today. Gather together again and tell them that you can memorize better when you divide the monologue into topics or create a rhythm when you speak. Ask for ideas on how the students memorize and rehearse things. Have the class put away their materials.Pass out the quiz. When students finish, have them work on memorization alone until everyone is finished and you can gather up all of the assessments. Game time! Have students assist you in making a pathway of tape on the carpeting or floor. Think gameboard around the perimeter of the room. Tape strips should be placed about a foot from each other around the room. Ask who thinks they know their monologue best from the beginning. Ask that student to recite his or her monologue from the beginning and take a step onto the tape with each correct word. Begin by checking that student’s progress yourself. Then get three to five players going at once, with student’s checking their reading. When a student gets one word wrong, they stay on that place on the board until someone passes them. Then they must start over and try to recite their monologue with more exactness. Give candy to the top three winners of the game. Name: __________________Memorization QuizWhat is slating? How do you use it? (2 points)Name two ways we discussed that could help improve your memorization. (2 points)In the space below, write down your monologue, word for word. (6 points)Key:Introducing yourself and your monologue at the beginning of the monologueMusic, poems, memorizing little bits at a time and putting them togetherVariesMonologue UnitLesson Three: TacticsEducational Objective: Students will demonstrate their ability to find different tactics for their characters by making a list of tactics they could use in their own monologues.Materials Needed:Computer and projector with speakersAccess to Youtube clip: The Lion King – Rafiki [Eng]; Double sided tactics list: will enter the classroom as a clip of the Lion King is playing. We will watch this clip for about five minutes. When it is over, ask the class, “What was Rafiki trying to do?” Guide their answers toward teaching Simba or getting Simba to go back. “How did he do it?” Accept their more physical answers like hitting him or showing him his dad in the water, etc. We will slowly expand and go deeper with the idea of tactics, so these answers are a great beginning.Teaching Presentation:Explain what objectives and tactics are. The objective for your monologue is the thing that your character wants the most and is trying to get. He or she achieves this through tactics. In (play we’ve already covered as a class), what does the main character want? What is his objective? How does he get it? What tactics did he use to accomplish what he wanted?Pass out tactics list. “See how different all of these are?” Most tactics aren’t physical actions. They can be, but you want to use a wide range of tactics to get your objective.Invite everyone to get up and on their feet. Get with a partner. You want something from this partner. Don’t tell me what it is. Don’t tell them what it is. Just think about it. What do you want from your partner? Now I’m going to call out a few tactics from this list. Be bold! Just go for it! As strange as each tactic sounds, use that tactic to get what you want from your partner! Yell out random tactics. Go around and give feedback and assistance where people need it.Ask for understanding. Do you understand now what objectives and tactics are? Does anyone still have any questions? Have everyone get back in their seats.Now we are going to work on your own monologues. Think about your character. What is his or her objective? Now, we are going to have each of you come up to the front of the class and begin performing your monologue. I might stop you or have you start over, so don’t worry if you don’t perform the whole thing. Keep your objective in mind. I will call out random tactics. You must use these to try to get what you want. The rest of the class will also be giving tactics. If you want to give a tactic, please raise your hand. Some of these might be difficult! This is just to make you think about the different ways your character could work with others. Some tactics will not work at all. Don’t worry about it! This is a learning experience!Bewitch, lecture, frighten, free, evade, prod, reprimand, quash, remedy, etc.Use the tactic list to help push each student along. Use the students’ tactics as well! Look for those students that aren’t very engaged. Ask them personally if they would like to contribute. If a student is too shy or doesn’t really understand, help them along! Give them a tactic to call out and let them go! Get everyone involved and let everyone get up and present their monologues for the class.When finished, have them sit down and start to write out a list of tactics that their characters would use. Assign them to rehearse these tactics tonight as homework for at least twenty minutes. We will do a little check on this tomorrow.Close the class period by asking the students what objectives and tactics are. Make sure they truly understand. How can using different tactics be helpful with your characters? Why is this important? When you feel like they understand very well, dismiss them!Monologue UnitLesson Four: Monologues to MusicEducational Objective:Students will demonstrate their ability to adjust the emotions of their characters by performing their monologues to music. Materials Needed:Song listSong ListNessum Dorma- Paul PottsDo You Love Me- The ContoursRafiki Mourns- The Lion King (Original Broadway Cast Recording)Spectrum Song- Sherman/ShermanSeptember- Earth, Wind, and FireKeep Your Head Up- Andy GrammerBad Day- Daniel PowterSamba da Bencao- Bebel GilbertoLove Song- Selena Gomez and the SceneLive and Let Die- Paul McCartneyTen CD playersTen CD’s- with the music from the song listIndividual song names written on paperPlay MicrophoneHook:Using one of the CD’s and players, play Love Song by Selena Gomez and the Scene as they enter the classroom and take their seats. Dance and bounce around to it. Sing along into the microphone! Go around the class and try to get students to sing along with you!Teaching Presentation:If any students are willing to play along and have fun, ask them why they liked opening with a song. If no one liked the exercise, ask what they didn’t like about the song. What are your favorite genres of music? Why do you like it? Is it fun? Heart-wrenching? Cheery? Do you agree that music is enjoyed because it is impactful? Music is full of emotion. Do you think musicians are kind of like actors in that respect? They’re putting on a character to get the message of their music across. Have the students stand up. Explain to them that you will turn on different types of music. You want them to think about the song for a little bit and decide on which emotion the artist is trying to convey. Then the students need to act out that emotion in whatever way they feel inclined. Start playing the music in this order:Rafiki Mourns- The Lion KingSeptember- Earth, Wind, and FireKeep your Head Up- Andy GrammerSamba da Bencao- Bebel GilbertoSpectrum Song- Sherman/ShermanNessum Dorma- Paul PottsBad Day- Daniel PowterLive and Let Die- Paul McCartneyDo you Love Me- The ContoursLove Song- Selena Gomez and the ScenePlay each song for about a minute, giving the students time to go for it. Push them out of their comfort zone a little bit. If they are having a hard time, call out a couple of emotions that you hear in the song. Fear, sadness, mourningExcitement, elation, smilesEncouragement, happiness, hopeRelaxation, calm, contemplativeSilliness, funConfidence, heavy-heartedHurt, depressed, upsetPower, forceExcited, optimistic, hopefulConfusion, excitement, lovePoint out the stations around the room with each CD player and CD as you tape up the song name signs. Give the students five minutes to decipher which song fits their interpretation of their monologue. Ask them to congregate at each station as it applies to their monologues. Ask them to practice their monologues to the music. Follow the rhythm, feel the music enter your soul as you rehearse the lines of your monologue. Ask them to discuss with their groups why they chose that particular song. Come up with three reasons they work well with those monologues. Gather whole class together and talk about those reasons.Guide the discussion towards the emotions they are feeling. Are they easier to tap into when you have music supporting your character’s emotions? Do you think you could go that deep without the music?Try it! Rehearse your monologues while keeping the tunes of those songs in your head. Walk around and help them try to emote what they need to. Ask questions about their emotions and try to help them connect with their characters’ emotions.Assign them to write a half page essay on who they are talking to in the monologue. What do they see? Where are they? Who is this person? What is their relationship? Play music again as they leave.Monologue UnitLesson Five: Who are you talking to?Educational Objective: Students will demonstrate their ability to relate to an unseen character by performing to partners at the same time.Materials Needed: Clean room so the students can spread out and relaxHook: When the students come in, have them find their own space in the room, close their eyes, and start to meditate. Ask them to imagine one of their parents. What does their hair look like? What is the expression on his or her face? How is your parent holding himself or herself? Does he/she look nice? Now, imagine your best friend. What are you two doing? What does his/her hair look like? Are they wearing jewelry? Where are you hanging out? What are you doing? Teaching Presentation:Do you see the character opposite of you in your monologue just as clearly? Why not? In every monologue, you are talking to someone. You need to be able to see that person and truly talk to them.Have them close their eyes again and imagine the characters they’re talking to in their monologues. Ask those same specific questions from the hook.Explain that the character opposite you will react to your monologue. Do you mentally see those reactions? You need to react to their reactions. Are they yelling back at you? What are they saying to you?Assign pairs. Have each student recite their monologues to each other at the same time. This will give them an unexpected reaction. Most reactions won’t even fit, but it will make a challenge for the actors so they will stretch themselves with memorization and with different tactics to get what they want.Ask for a volunteer to perform their monologue in front of the class. Also ask for a volunteer to be the imagined character. As the first student begins the monologue, coach the second student to give reactions to the first student. It will throw them off for a bit, but force them to react to their imaginary character. Do this with every student.Monologue UnitLesson Six: Final PerformancesEducational Objective: Students will demonstrate their applied learning and monologue practice by performing their full monologue alone in front of the class.Materials Needed: Stopwatch or timer of some kindRubrics for grading students, (influenced by and partly taken from )Teaching Presentation:First ask for volunteers to perform their monologues, then call on students if no one else volunteers. All students must slate and perform their monologues in under three minutes. Time them.Thank them for their hard work. Give some class notes on monologues that applied to many students, then dismiss them.Monologue RubricCriteriaExcellent Work (88-100 points)Good Work(80-88 points)Fair Work(70-79 points)Poor Work(0-69 points)Elementspoint of view and person are integrated; an implied listener is evident throughout the monologuepoint of view and person are clear, focused, and consistent; an implied listener is establishedpoint of view and person are clear and consistent; an implied listener is evidentpoint of view and person are inconsistent; an implied listener is seldom evidentPhysical Deliverynatural gestures and movement enhance message; fit character or rolegestures or movements are fine, but may have omitted obvious character behaviorsbehaviors, gestures, or movements do not fit the characterlacks involvement; no movement or gesturesSpeaking Techniquesadjusts volume, tone, and pace to achieve a special effect or for impact; nonverbal gestures and facial expression enhance characterizationuses volume, tone, and pace appropriate to the content and purpose; nonverbal gestures and facial expression suit the character uses volume, tone, and pace somewhat to suit the content and purpose; nonverbal gestures and facial expressions are occasionally distracting or inappropriate to the characteruses volume, tone, and pace inappropriately or ineffectively; limited use of nonverbal gestures and facial expressionsMemorizationFully memorized and does not need any prompting from the teacherMostly memorized but stumbles over a few thoughts or phrasesPoorly memorized; needs prompting from the teacherNot memorized; needs constant prompting from the teacherComments:Total: _____ / 100 ................
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