How to Teach Kids About Theater Lighting & Sound
Theater and sound are two very important elements within the world of theater. Sound and light help set the stage and the mood, conveying emotions and tones that cannot necessarily be inferred through simple dialogue. Seeing as much theater as possible and studying the light and sounds of the plays provide clues for children learning about the medium. Practical experience working in a theater company with their lighting and sound equipment is also very helpful.
Instructions
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Choose a couple of appropriate plays for your students to read and use as examples. While you can choose any play you'd like, it is especially helpful to contact local theater companies or your school's theater department and see what shows they are performing that season. Studying the show and then seeing it executed will help broaden the students' understanding of the medium.
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Ask children what role they feel sound and light plays upon within a play. Discuss how different lighting and sound can create mood and manipulate the audience's emotion.
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Go see a play together and ask the children to pay specific attention to the lighting and sound. Discuss what roles they played in the piece in class.
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Call a local theater company and ask if your class can come help with production or if a lighting or sound designer can come speak to the class. If possible, take your class to watch him hang lights to get a feel for what is physically involved in creating a lighting design for a show.
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Study the play you have chosen together. Ask students to write a short paper explaining the type of lighting and sound they would use for the play.
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Assign each student a scene from the play. Have each student create a sound scheme for the scene and a lighting scheme if you have the facilities. Have this student use the computer, sound system or even a tape recorder to do her sound cues while fellow students take parts in the play.
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Go to a professional performance of the play your class studied, if possible. Discuss or have students write papers on what the designer of the show chose as opposed to their own choices and their classmates' choices.
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References
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