When it comes to supporting unemployed adults, many times we tend to be busy with the topics of employment, instead of working with practical activities that develop various needed skills. Outdoor activities are ancient practices, so ancient that centuries ago actors were acting outside, in open theatres. If you want to make your participants travel back and learn how to create a theatre play while having fun and being creative, then this activity is going to be your choice.
Duration:
1 hour at least, the duration depends on how many groups are going to act.
Preferred location:
in the forest or on a field, definitely in a natural area, the participants can have this activity both outside and inside
Working method:
cooperative learning, teamwork, and communication through theatrical acting (at least 4 people per group).
Materials:
colourful paper, colours, paper tape, scissors (and any material you want them to use for crafting purposes).
Purpose:
Improving verbal and non-verbal communication, improving teamwork, improving creativity, improving text comprehension.
Instructions
- choose a classic piece from international literature and share it with the participants (the choice is the same for every group);
- divide the participants into groups with 4 people per group (at least);
- the participants will have 1 hour to understand the scene, find a way they want to play it, and practice it for the final acting in front of the group. You can also tell them to use all materials they received in order to create costumes and tools for the acting. The participants are free to choose how to play and to decide their style without any limitation, the only important thing is that the plot has to be clear for everyone;
- time to act!
Debriefing
after the groups presented you can take some minutes to ask short questions as a way to reflect on the activity, here are some examples:
- how was it?
- what did you do?
- was it easy to understand the piece; was it hard; how come?
- was it easy to decide how to play your scene; was it hard; how come?
- how was working with your group?
- for the ones who were watching, was the plot clear?
- what were the elements during the acting that gave you information on what was going on?
Possible alternatives
after choosing the piece, you can give different parts of the story to each group so they will present it chronologically and perform the whole story. You can also make it more challenging by putting limitations so the participants will have to focus on specific aspects of communication or problem-solving (no speaking, no objects allowed in the acting, etc.).