Have your students look around the classroom and describe their surroundings. Make a list of the items that would be needed to recreate their classroom on stage or on a TV set. Explain that designers are hired to create a “look” for most performances and then people with specific technical skills create the look.

Show the TV Program  - Meeting Place of the Arts: Theatre Tech 

In this activity the students will develop a storyline and then devise a basic plan for scenery, costumes, and lighting that will help the audience understand the storyline. 

Divide the class into small groups and have them look at designs in books or they can access The International Theatre Design Archive on the web at: http://www.siue.edu/ITDA/y.html

Have each group select three plays and answer the following questions about the sets, costumes and lighting. 

1. Compare the theatrical renditions to real life situations: 

• What’s different?
• What’s the same? 

2. Are the designs:

• Dramatic?
• Comic?
• Serious?

3. Are the lighting designs:

• Stark?
• Bright?
• Soft?
• Dim?

4. Do the designs convey an emotion?

5. Do the designs tell a story? 

6. Do colors play a role in the designs?

7. How do the designs:

• Set the mood?
• Advance the plot?
• Help the audience visualize the storyline?

8. Is the designer using stereotypes?

Have each group share their observations and create a list of their answers on the chalkboard. Based on their answers, develop a list of skills that would be needed by the people who build the set, light it, and do costumes. (Math, carpentry, understands color, sewing, etc.)

In small groups, have the students develop their own storyline. Each group will also decide how they will use scenery, costumes, and lighting design to tell their story. The groups may choose to describe their storyline in a written or visual form. Each group should share its creation with the entire class.

Hold a discussion about the following: Shakespeare created the greatest plays in the English-speaking world. These plays were done without lights, set or sound amplification. If Shakespeare could do it, why do today’s theatre presentations put so much into these areas?