Rod Caspers is a very well known and respected teacher and director in the Austin area. The RRISD theatre teachers had the privilege of working with him this afternoon, and even more beneficially, watching him work with our students.
I have been to several workshops now by Rod, and he does the mirror exercise in every single one! What is he trying to tell us?! He constantly reminds us that there is very important (even vital) reasons for theatre fundamentals. He also reminds us that there are dozens of variations of the exercise in order to keep it interesting. He is patiently reiterating that quality theatre comes from a well developed set of skills that can transfer to any profession or academic endeavor.
He spent a great deal of time on warm up work which I think has very important implications for the classroom. He used the following activities: stretching, walking, mirrors, heartbeat, composition, and cross game. The exercises offered practical ways to explore composition, intentnion, and subtext with students.
After a short break, he is going to do some creative writing acitivites with us. Looking forward to it!
This was a great staff development! I especially think that involving students was a huge success - my kids are still talking about it!
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