At the Ark at Eight

Pre-Show Lesson Plan

 

"Animals on Deck"

 

Topic: At the Ark at Eight

Target Age Group: 2nd/3rd grade (with variations for 4th/5th grade)

Goal: To prepare students for the themes and characters they will encounter in At the Ark at Eight

Objectives: The students will engage critically and creatively with acting exercises, collaborate, and learn through embodied knowledge

Materials: Piano (optional)

 

Warm-up/Introduction: Welcome!

 The instructor starts by asking general questions about the theatre

  - Have you ever been to a theatre before? 

            - What makes a play different from a movie? 

  - What do you suppose At the Ark at Eight is about? What does the name suggest about the action of the play? 

 

 

 

Activity One: Animal Play (Be the character!)

1. The teacher begins by walking around the room and invites everyone to join.  As the students walk silently around the space the teacher asks them to start paying attention to the way they move in the space in comparison to those around them. (Think about yourself.  How do you move?  How is it unique from those around you?  What characteristics would you use to describe yourself?)

2. The teacher then steps aside and asks everyone to think about a specific animal, coaching the students to begin to take on the form of that animal.  (How does a frog move? How is it different from a snake? Why does a frog need to hop?, etc)

3. After everyone fully changes into their animal the teacher calls out a different animal.  After a few rounds of different prompted animal forms the teacher asks the students to pick their own animal.  (If you were an animal what kind of animal would you be? Why? What makes your animal unique? What does your animal want? What is it afraid of? Excited by?)

4. After each student fully establishes their individual animal the teacher instructs everyone to begin to observe the other animals in the room, making note of those that might be friendly and those that might not.  (What makes an animal different from you? What makes it the same? Can you tell which animals are around you? Which animals look friendly? Which look different? Why?)

     

Variation: Use this popular acting exercise to prompt your students to pay more attention to the world around them.  Ask your students to identify and engage with the other animals around them.  What happens when predator and prey are confined in a space? 

 

Bridge: Shrinking the Space

1. The instructor asks the students (still as their favorite animal) to start thinking about the space.  What do you need to survive?  Do you like having a lot of space?  Does your animal thrive in the wide open spaces?  

2. The instructor shrinks the space by moving to the middle of the room and has all of the animals get onto a boat that is as small as the space they have created between themselves and the end of the playing area.  How has the smaller space changed how you interact?  Are you too close to the other animals?  How do you eat?  Where do you sleep?  Can you move around?

3. When the students start to settle into the smaller area, the instructor opens the space back up and asks the students (as animals) to leave the ship.  How do you feel now that you are back in the wide open space?  Did you enjoy being on the boat?  What did you eat?  What if you were in that small space for months and months with nothing to eat but cookies? 

 

Acting Activity: "Animal Face-Off"

1. Divide the students into groups (4-6 groups depending on the number of students, 3-5 students per group).

2. Each leader asks their group to pick an animal.  The leader asks the students what that animal does.  Where does it live? How does it move?  How does it eat?  How does it sleep?

3. The leader asks their group to help him or her become the animal.

4. The leaders return and act out their animal for the class and all of the groups guess what animal they are representing.  

 

  Bridge: "Making the Boat" 

 

1. The instructor asks for volunteers to become the boat

2. Ask the group for ideas of what makes a boat.  What does a boat need to float?  How does a boat move in the water?  How do you get on the boat?  Does it need a kitchen/bedroom/bathroom/etc?

3. Have the volunteers become various aspects of the boat.  

 

Acting Activity: "All on Board!"

1. Instructor calls out each animal group from the "Animal Face-Off" activity to get ready to board the boat.  

2. Each group has to run to the boat, move through the boat, make a sandwich, eat dinner, go to sleep, entertain themselves, etc. 

3. The instructor then adds in the Rule Enforcers. The Rule Enforcers, played by the leaders, enter the boat.  Whenever the animals see the Rule Enforcers they have to immediately stop what they are doing.  It is now against the rules to eat cookes.  You find you have a package of cookies and are hungry.  What do you do?  Do you give them to the Rule Enforcers?  Do you hide them?  What will happen? 

4. The Rule Enforcers then declare that everyone is now able to leave the boat.  All of the animals depart. 

 

Reflection:

1. What kinds of things did you think about while you were being an animal?

2. What was it like to have to be in a crowded space with other animals for so long?

3. How did you deal with the Rule Enforcers?

4. After the activities of today, what do you think the play will be about?

5. Open up for more questions from the students. 

 

If time allows: 

End by teaching "Penguins in the Rain" and the accompanying dance.