Tone & Performance/Finishing Up Crimes of the Heart

Good morning!

We'll be starting with a discussion of Najla Said's performance and discussion. You'll engage in a Think, Pair, Share activity.

 First, you'll have one minute to think individually about the following questions:

How did use of tone make Najla Said’s performance more interesting?  Where did you see examples of interesting tone shifts?  How does this factor in to Said’s creation of character? Then, turn to your neighbor(s) and take 4 minutes to discuss your thoughts.  After that, we'll take some time to discuss as a large group. Every group will have a chance to share out.  Next, I'll be giving a short presentation on ways to recognize and create tone in plays and scenes.  Once you've gotten a good idea of tone (and how to incorporate it into scripts) you'll do a few short writing exercises. You can work individually or with a partner. Write this on a separate sheet of loose leaf paper—Mr. Craddock and I will be collecting them.  Here's the exercise: Part 1: Write 5 lines of dialogue that have an explicit tone. Underline the part where the tone is indicated.  Part 2: Write 5 lines of dialogue that have an implicit tone. Underline the part where the tone is indicated.  You'll have 10 minutes to complete this exercise.  Finally, we'll move into reading Act III of Crimes of the Heart. If you volunteer to read, please keep these indicators of tone in mind while you're "performing"! It will make listening to the play much more enjoyable than it would be if we all read in a flat voice.  I'll give you a graphic organizer to complete as we read. This will be more tone practice—you'll choose lines from the play and think about different ways in which the tone is indicated. You'll also take on a directing role: how could an actor portray this tone?  Once the play is done, we'll discuss it. We'll talk primarily about the three Magrath sisters and how Henley develops their characters.  If there's time, we'll continue work with our scene performances. (you should have a lot of new things to keep in mind for your upcoming performances now!) Staple this graphic organizer to your character graphic organizer and put it (along with your partner activity from before) in Mr. Craddock's inbox.  HOMEWORK: Finish Crimes of the Heart and complete the accompanying graphic organizer.