The next time your team practices, get out the video camera and tape them. Then have them watch and become critics. (Be careful with this – the kids need to critique themselves- please don’t jump in with your ‘helpful’ ideas!)
If your team did the “HISS” exercise earlier in the season, bring out their lists now to see how their skit measures up to what they decided is important and problematic in a play. Otherwise you can use the questions below as a checklist for evaluating their solution. Remind them to pretend that they have never seen this play before.
Script Evaluation
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Is the theme/plot of the play easy to pick up?
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Does the plot have a beginning, middle, and end?
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Is the script rated “G”, without any references to drugs, sex, violence, or other inappropriate topics?
Technical Evaluation
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Did the entire performance occur within the designated space?
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Did the props, scene changes, and other technical components work as planned?
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Does it meet the time requirement, including time for set-up?
Acting Evaluation
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Did all of the actors work together or did some detract from the performance by not doing what they should?
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How did voice/movement help convey the character’s personality or mood?
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Did the actors underplay or overplay their parts?
Directorial Evaluation
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Could everything be seen properly?
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Could everything be heard properly?
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Were any aspects of the production confusing?
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From the front of the stage, would judges be able to see all of the important parts of the solution?