Acting Games

[dancealot13]

Im an acting teacher in New York State, and I was wondering if there are any ideas of new games I could play with my students? I teach all ages.

[scoobysoo]

Set up a whole group spontaneous improvisation. Start of with 2 people and give them a scenario to get them started, then tell the rest of the class to join in as soon as they come up with their own character and motivation, and see how long they can keep it up for.

[redmug100]

A good variation on the above is to use nonsense lanuage so that the actors can concentate on the physicality and emotion of what they are doing rather than thinking what to say next.

[mimififi]

if you can get some copies of 'whose line is it anyway' you could perhaps purloin and adapt some games from them. Also, they are great to make drama students watch so they get the feel for what's expected in impro. I used to make my A'level drama students watch them.

[I_love_Ken]

you could just try some expressive exercises, sit the students round in a circle, set a starter key theme, and let it go on from there, letting them express themselves in the different varieties of feelings that the character would be feeling, it's quite a good way to see the stage that the student is at in terms of them understanding and using expressionism as part of their drama work.
I've actually chosen psychology at college because I know that to be in role with my acting, I need to know what I would be feeling in that character's shoes.
Sorry this post is late but I haven't been on here in ages!

[I_love_Ken]

Jabberwocky too, use a language unknown to man, tell them to work out a piece of drama based on a certain theme in groups, then later on, tell them to perform it.
After they've performed it, don't let them go back and rehearse it, just let them improvise, using random wording, for instance take out all the vowels or the consanents, and then use spontanious improvisation to try to create the same scene in this new found language.
You should be able to work out what they're trying to say by their movement, the facial expressions, the way they say it, etc, it's quite challenging, but when you get going, it's really fun too