 Theatre Performance Task: "Camping"
In this improvisation task, four students were asked to improvise a short scene about a strange noise
they hear on a camping trip. The task assessed students' spatial awareness, vocal production,
focus, ability to demonstrate their objectives and establish characters, sense of ensemble, and
overall ability to make good creative choices to convey the situation and their feelings to an audience.
Administrators read the script shown below to students. Actions that administrators needed to do
are indicated in italics. Administrators were also responsible for setting up the performance area and
videotaping student performances.
You are going to work together to act out a scene. Each of you will need to use your imagination to
play a character in the scene. First I'll describe the situation the characters are in. Then I'll give each of you a card that tells you about your character and what your character needs to do in the situation. This is the situation: You and your friends are camping in the woods. It is late at night and you are gathered around the campfire getting ready to go to sleep. One of you hears a strange noise. Here are the character cards. Please take a minute to read your card when I hand the card to you. [Give students 1 minute to read cards. Cards read as follows:]
Actor 1 (White Vest): You have heard a strange noise and you are convinced that there is a bear or other wild animal nearby. You are a fearful, nervous person. You feel you are in great danger. It is your job to get your friends to help you protect your campsite.
Actor 2 (Yellow Vest): You have heard nothing. You are a relaxed, peaceful person. You feel comfortable and want to go to sleep. It is your job to get your friends to go to sleep so you can.
Actor 3 (Red Vest): You have heard nothing. You are a trouble-maker. You enjoy creating trouble between your friends. It is your job to cause trouble between your friends.
Actor 4 (Black Vest): You have heard nothing, but you didn't want to come on this camping trip in the first place. You feel uncomfortable being away from home. You are a grumpy person. It is your job to get your friends to go home.
Now please put your cards down and listen carefully to the rest of the directions. Your scene is an improvised scene. In an improvisation, the actors make up many of their words and actions as they go along instead of memorizing a script. You will have five minutes to plan your scene. Your goal is to work as a group to create a story for the scene. Talk over your ideas and try acting some of them out. Decide on a basic idea for your scene; remember, this is an improvisation, and you do not have to decide on everything you will say or do before you perform. Use this poster [indicate poster] to help you plan your scene. [Read poster; point to each item as read]:
- Think about what happens in the scene.
- Make each character play an important role in the scene.
- Use words and actions to show your character.
The area marked on the floor [indicate performance area] is the playing area, or stage. Stay within the lines of the stage when you practice and perform your scene. Think of this side [indicate side toward camera] as the audience. Practice facing the audience as you plan your scene. I will tell you when you have one minute left to plan your scene. Your scene should be no longer than two minutes. Start planning now. Be creative!
You have one minute of planning time left.
Now it is time to get into position to get ready to play your. Remember, these tape marks [indicate area on floor] represent the stage for your scene. Face the audience, and do not move outside of the marks during your performance. Speak loudly and clearly, and relax! Once the scene starts, you cannot stop to do things over again. Get ready, begin.
View scoring criteria and student responses for this task.
See how the students evaluated their own performances.
Explore a variety of exercises and student responses from the music, theatre, and visual arts assessments in the 1997 NAEP Arts Report Card.
Back to The Content Description of the NAEP Theatre Assessment.
Last updated 16 December 2003 (CC)
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