This Dramatic Response to Literature is a Snap - Part 1

As the saying goes... "A picture is worth a thousand words." .... so why not save a thousand words and have students use dramatic 'pictures' as a response to literature.

Borrowing the tableau or freeze frame drama strategy from your drama lesson plans is a great way to encourage enthusiastic student response to literature. It works well as a simple retell of short stories for younger children or a more in depth novel study for older students.

What Pictures Should We Take?

After reading, have the group sift through the story or novel to determine the most important events and characters that would be needed to give a complete overview. Jot down these events on a simple plot line and list the setting, characters, actions, emotions etc. for each event. These become your 'snapshots'.

Set the Scene

Divide into groups and have each group take one event to illustrate. The group should reread their part of the story or novel and decide what information needs to be depicted in their tableau and what is unnecessary 'fluff' to be ignored.

Ask students to discuss:

o setting (scenery/background needed?)

o important action (how to show that in one pose)

o characters (physical features if important, habits, costumes?)

o emotions and interactions between characters

o how all of this can be shown visually with facial expressions, body posture and gestures in their frozen instant in time.

Groups should try different versions of their poses to find the best illustration of the event for their tableau or 'snapshot'.

Slo-mo

Groups could be asked to develop 2 poses for the scene; the main event pose and then a transition pose which would lead into the next scene from the story. This works best if only small changes are made that draw the audience's 'eye' to the right to view the next tableau. A visual signal or a sound could be used to indicate the change at which time the actors very slowly move to their second pose leading the audience to view the next tableau.

Capture the Main Events

Usually the live presentation of each tableau is the culminating activity, but this time we want to capture the drama of each scene 'for posterity' (actually for more activities). Use a digital camera to capture each tableau. Take several snapshots of each scene to get different views and include close-ups of the face of each character.

In Part 2 of the article you'll find some ideas for using the photos to encourage more discussion while venturing into the visual arts as part of a dramatic response to literature. For more ideas about integrating the arts into all areas of your program visit Scruffy Plume's site Play Scripts and Songs for Teaching.

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