Unit 2 Sample Unit - Set Design - Defining the Performance Space

Students will learn how to create a set design that encourages strong blocking choices that allows actors and directors to express the action of the play and characters to explore relationships. Students will learn how to develop sets and transitions to indicate multiple settings with minimal changes.

What considerations must you make that differ between designing a room in your home vs. a room in a set?

Why are scene transitions important?

How can a single set become multiple settings?

Why is it a good idea to not completely change the set to accommodate another setting?

A3.2 use different acting approaches to explore and depict character in a variety of situations

A3.3 select and use a variety of technological tools to help convey mood, create tension, and suggest universal connections

B1.1 use the critical analysis process to reflect on and justify or revise decisions in creating drama works

B1.3 analyse and evaluate the aesthetic and technical aspects of a variety of drama works and/or theatrical productions

C3.2 demonstrate an understanding of the tasks and responsibilities involved in producing drama works

At the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

• Create a set design that is flexible and allows for actors to use the space for interesting blocking and character-related choices.
• Create transitions that are smooth, efficient and clarify setting.

Readiness

Students have already explored and analyzed the plays they have chosen in their production groups. Students have a working understanding of blocking and how movement on stage can be used to establish status, relationships, objectives, tactics, etc.
Students have discussed set design and understand that stage design need not be naturalistic. This lesson should take place before they design the set for their productions.

Terminology

Materials

A collection of neutral drama blocks would be ideal for this activity, but if unavailable, desks and chairs can be used in their place. Include other neutral objects as well.

Various set properties for a variety of possible sets.

Photographs or drawings of set designs paired with interior designs of similar locations i.e. a set design of a bedroom paired with a similar interior design of a bedroom.

BLM#10 Venn Diagram Set vs. Interior Design

Small Group > Discussion

Show students photographs of a room from a design catalog and photographs of a set design that defines a similar room e.g. a kitchen.
Have students fill out BLM#10 Venn Diagram describing the similarities and differences in the considerations that the designers must have made when creating their individual spaces. 

Key Questions for Discussion:

What is the interior designer's goal?  What is the set designer's goal?
What does the interior designer want the room to feel like?  How might that differ for the set designer?
What problems does the interior designer have to face that are the same/different from the set designer? 

Whole Class > Sharing

Use all the information from all the venn diagrams and compile into one large diagram.

Key Questions for Discussion:

When "Defining the Production Concept," we had discussed creating the "feel" of an environment, as opposed to replicating a literal or naturalistic interpretation of the setting.  How have the set designers specifically accomplished this?
Some of these sets are more literal than others.  What have the designers done to make the setting clear?
What obstacles are there to creating create a literal set for us as a class?

Assessment for Learning (AfL)

The discussion of the Venn Diagrams will clarify if students understand how a set is not necessarily a literal representation of a setting.  Discussion can be used to steer students towards an understanding of representative design vs. naturalistic design.

Assessment as Learning (AaL)

During the creation process of their transition scenes, ask students what their audience will perceive when they see the work.  Will the audience understand what is being shown?

Differentiation (DI)

Students may choose the setting for their design.

Students have the opportunity to choose what their second location will be and what roles they will take in the transition exercise.

The lesson interacts with the verbal linguistic, bodily-kineasthetic and visual intelligences.

Quick Tip

To extend the activity, have students experiment with theatre-in-the-round or thrust stages. Have students repeat the activity but use music, lighting or other during their transitions.

Link and Layer

The concept of "texture" or "feel" of a set was explored in Defining the Production Concept.  

Using the principles of set design, students may begin to create the designs for their own sets.

Hyperlinks in the Lesson

Below are some online portfolios of set designers that can be used as sources for the set design photos mentioned in Minds On.

http://www.rfdesigns.org/
http://www.mishakachman.com/
http://www.lynnekoscielniak.com/

Whole Class > Creating an Interior Design

Tell students that they will create the interior design for a teenaged boy's bedroom using only the drama blocks or neutral pieces of furniture. They are to design it as if it were a bedroom and not a set. 

Act as facilitator of the design activity. Have students offer suggestions to you, and then let them implement their choices.  Have students assemble this floorplan on the area of the classroom defined as a stage. As they work, ask them to consider functions of that room and to place furniture within the room to accommodate those functions (i.e. school work, storage, etc.).  Emphasize that this is an interior design and not a set.

When the design is finished, ask the students to sit or stand within the room to decide if they like its feel. 

Whole Class > Creating a Set Design

Move students out of the room and have them stand in the audience and look at the design as a set, instead of a bedroom.  Begin a discussion with students about what needs to change in order for this to be turned into a set.  Refer back to the Minds On activity and use the large venn diagram as an anchor chart.  As the discussion evolves, have students begin to transform the interior design into a set design by moving, removing or adding objects to the set.  As students make changes side coach them with the following questions:

Can the audience see everything?  Can they see people no matter where they are sitting/standing on the set?

Where are the entrances and exits?  How can we define them without flats or actual doors?

Have we considered depth of stage?

Let's put the set pieces at diagonal angles.  How does putting set pieces on a diagonal impact upon the visual appeal of the set?  How does it change our perception of depth?  How does it change traffic patterns?  How does it affect blocking? 

It is much more interesting to watch blocking that uses diagonals.  How can we reconstruct the set to create diagonal blocking patterns for the actors?

Is there a way to encourage actors to use levels in this set?  Do they have places to sit down?  Stand up?  Lie down?

Can we give actors a place to sit or stand that will give them an excuse to turn away from each other?

Can we give actors locations within the set where they can engage in stage business?

During the transformation of the set, try not to allow students to discount an idea without trying it first, as what may not seem to work in their minds may work very well or stimulate more ideas once they can see it.

Small Groups > Transition to a New Location

Once the class is satisfied with the set design, ask them what makes this look like a bedroom to them.  Explain that it is the audience's imagination that will fill in the blanks of any set design.  Ask them if there is anything that is literal about the arrangement of blocks that tells them that this can only be a bedroom.  If those elements were changed, could it become something else?  Tell them that it is the way that they use the set that will define its location, not just the set pieces themselves.  Give students an example of how this can be done by miming an activity that uses the set pieces that illustrates what the set could be in terms of setting.

Put the class into small groups of 3-4.  Instruct students that they are to present a scenic transition from either the current set or a setting of their choice, into another setting altogether, moving as few set pieces as possible in the transition.  

The presentation must include the following:

1. Actors on-stage, must use the setting as a bedroom.  They may say a single line that signals the set change.
2. There is a transition during which the setting is changed.
3. At the end of the transition, each actor must do one piece of stage business to help establish the setting.
4. The transition must be very short (20 seconds maximum).

The presentation may include the following:

1. During the transition, 6 small props (chairs, decoration) may be moved to a different location or onto/off of the stage. 
2. 1 large object (a large drama block, etc.) may be moved from its current location during the transition (it may be moved off the stage or somewhere else on the stage).

Provide students with a collection of stage properties and decorations that they may use to illustrate the change of setting.  Allow students to rehearse their transitions.  Encourage students to rehearse their transition so that each student knows what their job is during the transition.  Tell students that they must be sure they know how they are carrying/moving things and where they will take them (in a real play, a set piece may be needed stage right for the next transition). Tell students that they should do the transitions neutrally.

Whole Class > Presentations of Transitions

Have students present each transition and discuss with the class how each was effective or how they could have been made more effective.

Teacher prompts:

What was the second setting?  (If it was unclear) How could they have made that more clear?
How did they use their line or their stage action to clarify their second setting?
Was their transition "clean" or distracting?  (If it was not smooth) How could they have done things differently to make it smoother?
Was it clear when the "play" ended and the transition began?  Was it clear when the transition ended and the next "scene" began?
How can lighting and sound help a transition?
Why is it better for the audience to see a transition than for it to be hidden behind a curtain or in a blackout?  What is more necessary as a result of making it visible?
How can you use characters, their relationships and the story itself to enrich your transitions?  How can transitions enrich or express those very elements?
How much time did it take to create these transitions?  Have your production group allotted enough time to rehearse and develop the transitions?

Next Steps:

Students can take the ideas and concepts about set design and apply them to their production groups' plays.