"I didn't sit at home and dream them up. When I had a problem directing, I made up a game. When another problem came up, I just made up a new game." (Interview, Los Angeles Times, May 26, 1974)
Spolin's Theater Games are simple operational structures that change complicated theatre conventions and techniques into game forms. Each game is based on a specific focus or technical problem and is an exercise that militates against the artifice of self-conscious acting.
The playing or acting comes naturally and spontaneously. Such things as age, background, and content are irrelevant. However, one critic has written that the exercises are "structures designed to almost fool spontaneity into being" (Review, Film Quarterly, FallWinter 1963) By themselves, the games have liberating effects, within the theatre context, and each clearly adopts an aspect of performance technique. Theatre Games have many purposes. There are games that free the actors from tension, games to "cleanse" the actor of subjective preconceptions of the meaning of words, games building on relationships and character and games of concentration. From these examples it
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Creative Drama
... that teachers understand the approach as defined by the Visual and Performing Arts Framework and any others texts by noted professionals such as Viola Spolin. ... (3460 14
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"Godmother of movement"tm, Spolin suggests that Theatre Games need only the rules of the game, the players (both actors and audience are considered to be players), and a space in which to play. Beyond the pleasures of "playing" which the games include, they also heighten sensitivity, increase self-awareness, and effect group and interpersonal communication. As a result, Spolin's games have been incorporated into drama classes as an educational tool, not only in university, community, and professional theatre training programs, but also in numerous curricula concerned with educational interests. She notes that "Theater Games are a process applicable to any field, discipline, or subject matter which creates a place where full participation, communication, and transformation can take place." (Los Angeles Times, May 26 1974) These issues also arise in ones everyday life, so they are not only beneficial in a classroom environment but also in society, where individuals are faced with many different settings and interactions. Through this theory Spolin embraces one of the arts learning areas, arts in society, where students understand the role of arts in society and gain a sense of personal identity while reflecting knowledge of cultural diversity.
Drama praxis refers to the manipulation of theatre form by educational leaders to help participants act, reflect and transform. Spolin has contributed to the three elements in the drama praxis, which are people, passion and platform. The people element involves the conscious manipulation of people in time and space. Passion is the fictitious world where the participants find themselves. It is a world that demands that people momentarily step into imagined roles, characters and situations. And lastly platform, not referring to an elevated area where the passion is performed, but to a variety of spaces. Such spaces as around campfires, on horse-drawn carriages and fields. Platform spaces where ever they may be are where people and passion take place, and where audiences may engage with them. Spolin incorporates these elements in her teachings as she gives her students the chance to bring their own knowledge and understandings in play then an opportunity to think or reflect on the processes allowing them to transform into a more highly skilled pupils.
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