Activate

1. Clear as much open space as possible for the group to move around.
2. Stand in a large circle in the open space.
3. When the facilitator says “go,” participants walk in the space at a comfortable pace. Participants should:
   • Make eye contact with each person they pass but not make physical contact with people, furniture, or objects.
   • Imagine themselves inside of a bubble of personal space and be mindful not to “pop” anyone else’s bubble by coming too close.
   • Avoid collisions!
4. Participants may walk in any direction they choose, and in fact, should shift direction regularly. They should try to maintain an even distribution of bodies in the open space and stay a consistent distance from each other.
5. If participants find themselves moving in the same circle over and over again (it is natural for this to happen), ask them to change direction.
6. Once the group is comfortable with the basics, try these options:
   • To work on attention to detail, ask participants to observe and memorize the room around them as they walk. Occasionally, ask participants to freeze in their current location, close their eyes (or look at the floor), and try to picture various details in the room and where they are in relation to it. For example, ask participants to think about:
     • Where is the door to this room?
     • What color marker are the instructions written with on the dry erase board?
     • How many plants are on the windowsill?
     • Who in this room is wearing a red sweatshirt? Where is that person in relation to you right now?
   • Consider using Milling & Seething as a springboard to Sculpture Garden.

1. Clear enough space for participants to line up across the room.
2. Introduce the idea of a continuum: A line of items in an ordered progression.
3. Participants practice placing their bodies in a continuum from one side or corner of the room to the other. Try creating a continuum of participants:
   • From shortest to tallest
   • In alphabetical order by first name
   • By birthday from January 1 – December 31

• Variation: Ask participants to create any of the above continuums silently, communicating only with facial expressions, body language, and gestures.
• Variation: Provide a prompt that requires participants to take a subjective stance according to their own personal opinion or point-of-view. Once everyone has staked out their spot, ask participants to share why they chose their position on the continuum. For example:
  • One side of the room represents being a morning person and the other side represents being a night owl.
  • One side of the room represents the glass being half full and the other side represents the glass being half empty.
  • One side of the room represents one person being able to change the world and the other represents the need for collective action.

1. Clear as much open space as possible for the group to move around.
2. Participants should work in pairs and choose a partner A and a partner B. Ask participants to spread out around the room with their partners and imagine that the space is a beautiful garden full of boldly carved statues, sculpted by brilliant artists.
3. To begin, A will be the sculptors and B will be the clay that becomes a statue.
4. Offer a set of basic circumstances to inspire participants’ sculptures. A’s job is to model for their clay how they should position their bodies and faces to express the given circumstances. B’s job is to freeze themselves into the indicated position like a statue made of stone. Suggestions for some introductory circumstances:
   • Rushing to catch the bus.
   • Eating the most delicious meal.
   • Searching for a lost sock.
5. When the facilitator says time is up, all statues must remain frozen while the sculptors take a walk through the Sculpture Garden and observe what has been created.
6. After a brief tour, discuss: What similarities and differences were there among the statues? What helped the story be most clear? Encourage participants to describe what they saw, as opposed to making a value statement about a particular statue.
   • For example: “Allie was stretching her arms above her head as if she were waving at the bus driver. Her mouth was open as if shouting ‘Wait!’ and her wide eyes made her look afraid. I really believed she wanted to catch the bus.”
   • As opposed to: “I really liked Allie’s sculpture because she did a good job looking upset.”
7. Next, A and B will trade roles so that B becomes the sculptor and A becomes the clay and eventual statue. Repeat the process.
8. Alternatively, the whole group can transform themselves into sculptures.
   • Ask the group to mill and seethe.
   • The facilitator provides prompts in the form of circumstances, questions, or characters. Participants should stop where they are in space and freeze as a sculpture in response to the prompt.

1. Practice “freezing” the group by counting them in with a “1-2-3 Freeze!”
   • Try practicing freezing a few times, coaching the participants to try finding a variety of ways to freeze their bodies and take up space.
2. Explain that a Tableau is a frozen moment in a story, just like a living photograph that someone took with their phone or camera, freezing the events of a story as they were happening. Creating a Tableau is more than simply freezing in place—we need to think about the story the image is telling. Story elements that should be decided upon include:
   • Setting (where the story takes place)
   • Characters (who the story is about)
   • Action (what was happening in the moment when the story was frozen)
3. Practice a Tableau by giving a few example story elements and allowing groups to create their image.
   • Setting: A living room
   • Characters: A group of friends
   • Action: Watching the scariest movie they have ever seen
4. The facilitator should then count in the group with a “1-2-3 Tableau!” Remind the participants to use bold, specific body language and facial expressions to communicate the story.
   • Side coach by describing what you see in the frozen poses, as opposed to making a value statement about a particular participant’s choices. For example: “Sam is covering his eyes with his hands like he doesn’t want to see what’s happening on the screen. Ashley is on a low level, on the ground, hiding behind the couch.”
5. After unfreezing, try a contrasting Tableau using similar story elements. Again, remind participants to make their body language and facial expressions as bold and specific as possible.
   • Setting: Still a living room
   • Characters: Still a group of friends
   • Action: Watching the funniest movie they have ever seen
6. Count the group in with a “1-2-3 Tableau!” Remind the participants to use bold, specific body language and facial expressions to communicate the story.
   • Side coach by describing what you see.
7. For future Tableau work, divide participants into small groups of 3–5.

1. Participants begin in an existing solo Sculpture or group Tableau.
2. The facilitator should ask participants to consider:
   • How does your character feel in this moment?
   • How are they interacting with other characters in the story?
   • What does your character want?
   •  What might they do to get what they want?
   • With these questions in mind, what is the next most likely movement they would make, starting from the pose you are frozen in right now?
   • If we were frozen in another Sculpture or Tableau of the characters in that next moment, what would it look like?
3. Count participants in with a “1-2-3 Dynamize!” to cue them to shift into their character’s next position. Cue “Restore” to return to the original position.
4. Practice shifting from one position to the other and back again a few times.
5. Ask participants to consider:
   • When you shift from one position to the next, what might your character say if they could speak?
   • Think of one phrase or sentence that corresponds with that movement and what they are trying to achieve.
6. Again, practice shifting from one position to the other and back again, this time adding each person’s chosen phrase or sentence simultaneously.

• To connect with other activities:
  • If the group is working with Tableau, the participants should then share their movements and lines with each other and find ways to put them in an order as the beginnings of a collaboratively made scene of Dialogue.
  • If the group is working with Sculptures, participants can use these statements and gestures/movements as the beginnings of Monologues, or pair up with another participant to begin creating Dialogues together.

Story Circles involve each person telling a story about a personal experience or event, based on a prompt from a facilitator. They can be conducted in a large circle, telling stories one at a time, or round-robin style, with multiple participants sharing simultaneously.

In either version:

1. Explain the focus of the storytelling. For example:
   • Are we looking to learn about ways the values in the Declaration of Independence have shown up in our own lives? Or ways those values have been absent?
   • What will you be creating based on the stories and ideas that are shared? Monologues? Tableaux? Short scenes of dialogue? Something else?
2. Be clear about the rules of the Story Circle. Share how long the total circle will last. (Participants should gauge how long they speak based on this. For example, if there are 40 minutes allotted to the Story Circle and there are 20 participants, each person should only speak for 2 minutes.)
3. Share how the facilitator will signal to a speaker that they need to wrap up or end the story, as they approach the time limit. All members of the circle, including the facilitator, should speak, and all members must respect the time limit. End the circle on time.
4. Participants should try not to plan ahead what they will say. When it is not their turn to speak, participants should actively listen to the person telling a story and be mindful not to interrupt or respond. Listening to and honoring the stories of others is just as important as telling our own.
5. Reserve time for reflection at the conclusion of the circle.
6. After framing the goals of the Story Circle, the facilitator should put forth a specific prompt for the group to tell stories about. For example:
   • What is a time when you experienced a group of people coming together to accomplish something for the good of everyone?
   • When is a time when having diverse perspectives and backgrounds in a group was beneficial?
   • What is a situation you have seen or experienced in which you felt justice was not served?

Single circle version:

7. Go around the circle allowing each person to speak one at a time while the rest of the group listens.
8. If a story someone tells sparks an idea for another participant, they may begin their story by saying “[name]’s story reminds me of…” and then may use their time to tell a story based on that.

Round-robin version:

7. Divide participants into two groups. One group forms a circle with their backs to each other, facing outward. The other group forms a larger circle around them, with each outer participant facing an inner participant as their partner. It may be helpful to give the circles names or titles: For example: A and B, lemons and limes, peanut butter and jelly, etc.
8. The outer group will begin by telling a story in response to the question. The inner should actively listen.
9. If the speaker finishes their story before time is called, they and their partner should wait silently while the other stories wrap up.
10. Rotate the outer circle clockwise by 2–3 participants. The inner circle can then tell their own story to a new partner.
11. Repeat 1–2 more times so that each participant shares their story multiple times and hears multiple other stories.

Starting points for creating monologues could be:

• Stories from Story Circles. Participants could:
  • Document their story by writing it down.
  • Expand upon the story they were telling by adding more detail.
  • Tell the story from the perspective of someone else who was present.
  • Choose a moment from their story to explore what they were thinking and feeling in that moment in the form of an inner monologue.
• Thought bubbles from Tableau.
  • When a group is sharing a Tableau, identify one character and ask, “If this character could speak right now, what would they say?” Similar to the text in a thought bubble above a character in a comic book or graphic novel.
  • The audience or the actor playing the character in question could respond. These can become starters for monologues that share what the character might say if they could speak at that moment, uninterrupted.
  • Provide the characters from an existing dialogue the opportunity to speak at-length about what they thought about their interaction with the other character and what they wish to see happen next.
  • Create a “break-out” moment in the midst of a dialogue in which the scene freezes and a character can step out to speak directly to the audience to share their thoughts, uninterrupted, on what is happening in the dialogue.

A starting point for creating dialogue could be:

• A Tableau that has been Dynamized. After adding one gesture or movement and one statement for each character, expand upon these. Who should speak first? How might the responses be informed by the Dynamizing process? Build and expand from there.
• Divide into pairs.
  • Pairs choose a partner A and a partner B.
  • To practice creating dialogue, participants should take on the roles of two friends. Partner A wants to borrow a pen from partner B. Partner B does not want to loan the pen to partner A.
  • In 5–10 total lines, A must try to persuade B to allow them to borrow the pen. B must determine whether A has won them over and at the end of the dialogue, choose to either loan the pen to A or end the conversation with a definitive “no.”
  • Give some time to practice, then popcorn around the room to share.

1. Ask participants to share 2–3 favorite lines from whatever they have written that they feel summarizes or best represents their work, or that they feel most directly addresses the prompt, or that is simply their favorite part of what they’ve created.
2. Standing in a large circle, participants breathe together for a moment. Ask them to share their 2–3 lines when they feel moved to do so. There will be no specific order.
3. Participants should listen to what others share and read their lines when they feel inspired to do so, based on what they have heard.
   • If two people begin speaking at the same time, they should both continue until they are complete.
   • Silence between readings is OK.
   • Repetition is OK.
4. Everyone should share at least once.
5. This exercise can serve as a bridge to Choral Reading.

• Ask participants to identify key passages in the text. Experiment with emphasizing important words and phrases by:
  • Multiple voices speaking them in unison or repeating them.
  • Speaking those words more loudly in contrast with quieter passages.
  • Slowing the pace in those sections to provide emphasis.
• Ask participants to consider: What is the impact of some lines being heard on their own versus overlapping with other lines? What does this symbolically communicate about the segment of text?
• Participants can annotate their text to create a performance guide. For example:
  • Highlight sections they will speak out loud either alone or with others.
  • Underline words or phrases that will be repeated.
  • Place an asterisk (*) next to lines that will overlap.
  • Place an exclamation point (!) next to lines that will have increased volume.
• Choral Reading can be combined with other visual performance strategies such as Tableau and Sculpture Garden. In addition, try adding:
  • Percussive beats (clapping, stomping, tapping a pencil on a surface).
  • Simple (or elaborate!) choreography—intentional gestures and other movements.