Classroom Connections

Prime Stage Theatre’s Classroom Connection in-school Workshop

Classroom Connections is an opportunity for middle school students to learn about the use of storytelling in literature, onstage, and even on their favorite social media channels.

The workshops are ideally scheduled during an English Language Arts session and can be presented in three days over one or two weeks. The price for this workshop is $300

This highly-flexible three-day program consists of two 45 to 60-minute workshops and a ninety-minute application and participant evaluation. Each day, the students will begin the session with icebreakers and interactive games.

First Workshop
The first workshop introduces the concept of setting and tone as they relate to both literature and drama. It will include a read-aloud piece of literature, chosen by the students’ educator and the Teaching Artist, in which the work’s setting plays a large role in the telling of the story. This can be a work already on the students’ syllabus, or something entirely new, based on the educator’s expectations of the class. This workshop will conclude with an exercise in which students must convey, without talking, several different types of settings. Ideally, students will become comfortable at expressing ideas through body language. Regarding tone, the Teaching Artist will define and explain it as it relates to both fields. Several interactive exercises will be used, such as “Open Scenes” and “Change the Meaning.” In addition, The Teaching Artist will provide a variety of settings, which will be chosen randomly for the students.

Second Workshop
The second workshop will focus on character and conflict, both of which are important in literature and drama. The Teaching Artist will provide an extremely abridged version of how the introduction of multiple actors and a chorus in ancient Greek theatre influences drama and literature today. Conflict will then be explained as the essential element that all storytelling - on stage and in print - has in common. The four types of conflict will be discussed, with students providing examples of each. Under the guidance of the educator, students may also discuss the current or recent works they have read, identifying the conflict(s) in each. A simplified version of the game “Freeze” will be used, incorporating the students’ new understanding of setting and character to rise to the challenge of establishing setting, character, and relationship in a single spoken line.

Third Workshop
The third workshop will be an opportunity to display what students have learned. They will be divided into small groups by the educator, and each group will be given, at random, a well-known fairy tale or fable to dissect, as well as a tone. The groups will have 15 minutes to identify the conflict(s) in the story and present a two-minute performance of the story using the tone assigned. The workshop will conclude once each group has presented its skit. Other students should be able to guess the tone, setting, and conflict in each.

The workshops are ideally scheduled during an English Language Arts session and can be presented in three days over one or two weeks. The price for this workshop is $300

Education Program Funding

Our Education Programs are funded in part by:

The Grable Foundation, The Laurel Foundation, McKinney Charitable Trust of the PNC Foundation, Nora Roberts Foundation