DEVISING PERFORMANCE: BACKWARDS PLANNING A UNIT FOR IB THEATRE AND FILM by Gretchen Teague
Extracted from Scene 2012 - 13 March Issue 3
Devising performance:
backwards planning
A unit for IB Theatre and Film
By Gretchen Teague
Gretchen Teague teaches IB
Theatre at Central High School
in Springfield, Missouri, USA.
Teague holds a BFA in Theatre
from Missouri State University and
a M.Ed. from Drury University.
She is currently pursuing her Ed.D
in Instructional Leadership from
Lindenwood University. Teague
has directed and choreographed
well over 40 musicals and plays,
including two productions for the
International Fringe Festival in
Edinburgh, Scotland.
Gretchen writes: “Springfield,
Missouri is the third largest city
in Missouri, but has the feel of a
small town. The local arts scene
is huge in Springfield - with many
community theatre organisations
including Springfield Little Theatre
which is the largest community
theatre in the US. Springfield is
host to three large universities and
several smaller universities and
community colleges. The school
district is the largest accredited
district in the state of Missouri.
Central High School is home
to the district’s IB MYP and DP
programmes and over 1700
students and 80 faculty. In 2012,
Central received the Gold Award
from U.S. News and World Report
for being one of the top schools in
the nation.
One of the best things about
teaching at Central is the diversity
of the population. All of the
students and faculty are very
accommodating and accepting of
differences. I have enjoyed being
the theatre teacher at Central for
the last thirteen years. Watching
students of all walks of life grow
as actors and people through
their experiences in theatre is the
greatest gift of teaching.”
26 Issue 3 | 2012-13 March | Scene
The Devising Backward and Forwards lesson is a collaborative day with IB Theatre and IB Film. It is
in preparation for IB Film’s short film project and IB Theatre devising. It is a day that we focus on script
writing or storyboarding that is helpful for creating original performances for both classes. The idea is
that students are used to reading the story from front to back… that’s normal… but when you create
purposeful actions it helps to approach them backwards so that each new event is the reason the next
thing happens.
Within the context of the whole curriculum, I have found the introduction of backwards planning
to be beneficial to the students both during their IP work and PPP. It is another option when students
are stuck for ideas or don’t know where the story is going.
Warm-up to
learn
Catch a story
Students are out of their seats and standing in a circle. Beginning
with a prompt (What is something that would fit in a shoebox?
What career would you like to study in college? Where is a
place that would be unexpected to visit?), students tell one line
of the story and pass/toss the ball to another student who adds
their part of the story until the whole story has been taught.
This activity can be repeated as necessary. Goal is to warm up
students to telling stories, increase spontaneity, and create an
atmosphere of trust and creativity.
5 minutes
Review story
structure
Simple story structure:
Students identify the beginning, middle, and end of the story (or
stories) they told during Catch a story activity.
2 minutes
Watch film
Set purpose
Students watch “I’ll Wait for the Next One” (www.YouTube.
com) or “My Best Friend’s Wedding/ My Best Friend’s Sweating”
(www.storyoftheweek.com) for the simple story structure.
5 minutes
Identify story
structure
Students turn to their partners at their table and identify the
simple beginning, middle, and end of the story. Spokesperson
from each of the tables shares one of the parts their team has
identified.
1 minute
Climax
Questions posed to the teams as individuals
What do you identify as the climax of the story? How do you
justify your answer?
Magnets
Students stand up from their tables. They move to one other
classmate and share their definitions and justifications. If the
answers match, the two students lock arms and become one
unit and continue to move about searching for other people
who share their opinion. New students are added to their
group when they match. When the teams have reached three
or four total groups in the room, ask teams to turn and discuss
their answer and elect a spokesperson. A new spokesperson for
each team is asked to share the answer and justification.
1 minute
think time
Ask teams to clarify the definition of climax:
• Highestemotionalinvolvement/leveloftension:whose?
The audience? The character?
• Pointwhereactionreversesdirection?
Students discuss and share information with the class.
1 minute
Clarify
definition
2 minutes
to travel
and create
groups
1 minute
to share
answer
1 minute
Building blocks
“Aristotle says a play’s main ingredients are plot, character, and
thought.” (Backwards and Forwards).
Offer an alternative argument that this is the result of ACTION,
not the first steps.
• PrimaryBuildingBlocks=ACTION
• Everyplay,film,novel,ismadeupofaseriesofactions
and through these actions are plot, character, and thought
revealed.
• Everyactionismadeoftwoparts:triggerandheap
3 minutes
TRIGGER (1st event) connects (2nd event) HEAP
ACTION
• Theheapbecomesthetriggerforthenextaction.
2nd Watching
Set purpose
Students watch “I’ll Wait for the Next One” (www.YouTube.
com) or “My Best Friend’s Wedding/My Best Friend’s Sweating”
(www.shortoftheweek.com) a second time making a mental
catalogue of actions.
5 minutes
Sequential
analysis
Students record events from beginning to end in teams of two
at their table.
2 minutes
Follow-up
Going forward events seem arbitrary
2 minutes
• Lifegoesforward,butnotpredictably.Therearemany
unpredictable possibilities.
If you analyse in reverse, you can see with certainty how events
are caused.
• Backwardsanalysisexposesthatwhichisrequired.
• Ensuresnogapsinaction.
Backwards
analysis
Students work in table teams to list the events moving
backwards through the story of the film.
• Isitdifficultandtedious?Yes,butifitwereeasythere
would be no reason to succeed at it.
• Missnolinks.Makenolargegaps.
As students are working, teacher circulates to ensure no large
leaps of action are made.
5 minutes
Discussion
After working for approximately five minutes, stop students and
ask how many steps each team had between one action and
the end. (For example, from the time the woman decides to
get off the train and the blackout at the end of the film).
Review the end of the film from that moment on and have
teams split purpose: one student to watch to make sure no
actions were missed and one student to count the number of
edits from that point to the end.
Students update their backwards analysis of the film.
3 minutes
Synthesis
Students are asked to stand up, pair up, and stand back to back: 15 minutes
one film student and one theatre student.
After instructions, students will go to the table where a variety
of images have been displayed. They will select one image, take
a copy of the storyboard for each team member and return to
the tables sitting with their new partner.
The image will become the last image of their story board. The
students are to collaborate with their partner to create a story
using backwards planning on their 10 frame story board.
* Use images that might spark an idea to be used in a future
project (ie. April’s Fine Arts Collaboration: Fortunate Inspiration,
How does man affect his environment?)
Share
Students share the story they have created.
5 minutes
Reflection
What could you take from today’s lesson and use in your
planning for future film or theatre productions?
3 minutes
Reflection
www.ista.co.uk
Total Time
70 minutes
Resources needed:
• 10FrameStoryboardhandouts
• BlankPaper
• Computerwithinternetaccess
• 20-30imagesforendingframeofstoryboard
• Projector/Screen
• Backwards and Forwards
References
Ball, D. (1983). Backwards and forwards: A
technical manual for reading plays. Carbondale:
Southern Illinois University Press.
Kwan, D. (Producer), & Scheinert, D. (Director).
(2011). My Best Friend’s Wedding/My Best
Friend’s Sweating. [Motion picture]. USA: Vimeo.
Retrieved on 4 February 2013 from http://www.
shortoftheweek.com/2011/08/03/my-bestfriends-wedding-my-best-friends-sweating/
Pattedoie, E. (Producer), & Orreindy , P.
(Director). (2002). J’Attendrai Le Suivant (I’ll
Wait for the Next One). [DVD]. France: La Boîte.
Retrieved on 2/2013 from http://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=VqwgeZooUmQ
Extract from a devising unit of work…
[The backwards forwards collaboration often falls
somewhere in this following unit of work.]
Basic breakdown of the performance
workshop
[Time: 1 class period for Step 1 & 2]
Step one
Stimulus (fortune cookie). Brain-dump for 5
minutes all the thoughts in your
mind. Then read the stimulus. Write for 10
minutes solid all thoughts, images, etc. that come
from the stimulus.
Step two
Write poem, short story, monologue, narrative,
personal reflection.
[Time: 1 class period for preparation, 1 class period
for rehearsal; 1 class period for performance and
reflection for each step 3-6]
Learn the “rules” of performance
Step three
Create performance with focus on dramatic
structure. Select from climactic structure, wellmade play, episodic structure, circular structure,
serial structure
Step four
Create a performance with focus on character.
Select from archetypal characters, psychological
characters, stock characters, characters with a
dominant trait, depersonalized characters,
deconstructed characters
Step five
Create a performance with focus on European
written tradition genres. Select two contrasting
styles and apply the rules of ancient tragedy,
neoclassic tragedy, Elizabethan or Jacobean
tragedy, bourgeois and romantic drama, modern
tragedy, tragicomedy, melodrama, satire,
situational comedy, farce, romantic comedy,
comedy of manners to the exact same text.
Step six
Create a performance with a variety of other
performance techniques. Select from puppets,
masks, mime, dance theatre, physical theatre
Break the “rules”
Step seven
Create a performance that is avant garde. Mixing
and matching structure, character, genre, other
performance techniques, music, movement, film,
images, documentary performances, etc.
[total time for unit: 16-17 class periods]
Scene | Issue 3 | 2012-13 March 27