District of Columbia K–6 theatre standards

Retell familiar stories and relate life experiences through ensemble pantomimes and improvisations.

Role-play to recreate situations in familiar settings.

Perform imitative movements, rhythmical activities, and theatre games (e.g., freeze, statues, and mirrors).

Demonstrate the ability to participate cooperatively in performing an improvisation or dramatizing a story.

Create costumes and props to dramatize familiar events.

Use the vocabulary of theatre, such as perform, imagination, movement, audience, actor, character, cooperation, ensemble and environment to describe theatrical experiences.

Distinguish between a performance space and an audience space, and respond appropriately to a theatrical experience as an audience member.

Use movement and voice to reinforce vocabulary (e.g., fast/slow, in/on/through, over/under, big/little, loud/soft).

Improvise familiar simple stories from classroom literature and life experiences with plots that have a beginning, middle, and end.

Use body and voice to improvise alternative endings to a story or concept.

Demonstrate thoughts and feelings through movement.

Demonstrate the ability to work cooperatively in an ensemble to create and present a tableau, an improvisation, or a pantomime.

Create costumes, props, and sets to reflect familiar stories.

Identify theatrical conventions, such as props, costumes, masks, and sets.

Use objects and sounds to create appropriate environments.

Use the vocabulary of the theatre, such as play, plot (beginning, middle, and end), playwright, improvisation, and stage, to describe theatrical experiences.

Identify and discuss emotional reactions to a theatrical experience and describe the roles and responsibilities of audience and actor.

Observe and respond to actors' performances.

Apply the theatrical concept of beginning, middle, and end to other content areas.

Retell familiar stories with a focus on specifying character, setting, and conflict through dramatization.

Demonstrate how voice (diction, projection, pace, and mood) may be used to orally present multiple readings of a text.

Respond to voices and language of others through verbal and non-verbal means.

Demonstrate the ability to perform improvisational theatrical games in an ensemble.

Create costumes, props, and sets to reflect different characters from literature.

Describe the elements of theater production (e.g., costume, sound, light, set, props, and make-up).

Create environments that communicate locale, character, and mood.

Use the vocabulary of theatre, such as monologue, dialogue, scene, design, and script, to describe theatrical experiences.

Respond to a live performance by identifying its style (e.g., comedy, tragedy, musical) and describe its impact on the audience.

Respond to and describe an actor's use of voice, gesture, facial expression, and movement.

Dramatize a story or a current event from another subject area.

Write or improvise a monologue or scene using the five W's (who, what, where, when, and why) that demonstrates the role conflict plays in drama.

Create original scenes based on own experiences or stories, using language and tone of voice appropriate for the person, thing and/or event.

Make acting choices when dramatizing stories, myths, fables, and fairy tales from various cultures and times.

Develop problem-solving and communication skills by participating collaboratively in theatrical experiences.

Demonstrate confidence in discussing theatre vocabulary, activities and performances.

Research, identify and follow instructions to build appropriate props, sets, and costumes for a cultural celebration or pageant.

Explain the roles and responsibilities of the director, actors, and stage managers in the theatre

Demonstrate knowledge of basic blocking and stage areas.

Use the vocabulary of theatre, such as character, setting, costumes, props, stage areas, and blocking to describe theatrical experiences.

Respond to a work of theatre and explain either orally or in writing how the actors and playwright elicited that response.

Identify a character's objectives and motivations in stories/short plays to explain that character's feelings and behavior.

Identify various theatrical experiences, including live theatre, television, and puppetry.

Use body, voice, and imagination to illustrate concepts in other content areas.

Write or improvise short plays adapted from classroom literature that demonstrate the role conflict plays in drama.

Exemplify the emotional traits of a character through gesture and action.

Make acting choices when dramatizing cultural versions of similar stories from around the world.

Develop problem-solving and communication skills by participating in cooperative scriptwriting that demonstrates knowledge of basic blocking and stage areas.

Demonstrate confidence in creating and presenting performances in the classroom.

Design and create costumes, props, and makeup/masks to communicate a character in formal and informal theatre performances.

Explain the roles and responsibilities of designers and technical artists in theatre.

Stage scenes or monologues that demonstrate spatial awareness.

Use the vocabulary of theatre, such as plot, conflict, climax, tone, objectives, motivation, and theme to describe theatrical experiences.

Describe how actors convey meaning or intent, including relationships between characters (conflict and resolution).

Identify themes by analyzing major ideas of stories/short plays.

Compare and contrast how live theatre differs from filmed or taped performances.

Use improvisation and dramatization to explore concepts in other content areas.

Write or improvise scenes based on personal experiences that communicate ideas and feelings.

Create dialogue from personal experience and observation.

Make acting choices when dramatizing scenes from literature that explore universal themes and conflicts.

Develop problem-solving and communication skills by collaborating as an actor or playwright in creating formal or informal theatrical performances.

Demonstrate confidence in creating and presenting performances for an audience.

Design and select visual and aural elements suitable for character, locale, and situation in formal and informal theatre performances.

Explain the role of the playwright as a collaborating artist with the directors, actors, and designers in the theatre.

Demonstrate the use of blocking (stage areas, levels, and actor's position) in dramatizations.

Use the vocabulary of theatre, such as stage manager, cue, director, critic, protagonist, and antagonist to describe theatrical experiences.

Compare the content or message in two different works of theatre, including the visual and aural elements used to create character, locale, and situation in each.

Identify and relate to universal characters, themes, or morals in stories/short plays from different periods and places.

Interpret how theatre and storytelling forms (past and present) of various cultural groups may reflect their beliefs and traditions.

Use theatrical skills to dramatize events from other curriculum areas (e.g., reenacting the signing of the Declaration of Independence).

Write, improvise, and evaluate scenes that reveal character motivation, demonstrate conflict, and advance action

Make acting choices when improvising in a manner that demonstrates an understanding of text, subtext, and context.

Use a variety of vocal expressions, gestures, facial expressions, and timing to create a range of characters.

Create scripts that reflect particular historical periods or cultures.

Analyze a selected scene for technical and design requirements.

Research and create appropriate props, sets, and costumes for a cultural celebration or pageant.

Explain the importance of sets, lights, costumes and sound in communicating dramatic elements to an audience.

Describe characteristics of theatre technology and equipment, including various sound, lighting, and special effects systems.

Use the vocabulary of theatre, such as action/reaction, vocal projection, subtext, theme, mood, design, production values and stage crew, to describe theatrical experiences.

Analyze the use of figurative language and imagery to create tone and mood in dramatic texts.

Identify dramatic elements within a script, such as foreshadowing, crisis, rising action, catharsis, and denouement, using the vocabulary of theatre.

Explain how a dramatic performance on video or film depicts a feeling or event the student may have experienced.

Develop criteria and write a formal review of a theatrical performance, using basic theatre terminology.

Differentiate between and among the techniques used in theatre, television, and radio.

Identify examples of how theatre, television, and film can influence or be influenced by society, politics, and culture.

Use theatrical skills to identify and communicate rhetorical ideas from other curriculum areas (e.g., demonstration on persuasion and propaganda in advertising).

Compare and contrast how works of theatre from different cultures or time periods convey the same or similar content or plot.