B. Drama / D. Visual Arts · Drama and Visual Arts

Drama: Process Drama and Theatre, Then and Now

B3.1 B3.2 B2.1About 40 minutes

Learning goals

I can explain what process drama is and what a theatre production is.
I can describe how process drama and theatre productions have similar purposes.
I can describe kinds of theatre from different times and places.
I can explain how a kind of theatre reflects the time and place it comes from.

Words to know

process drama
Drama where everyone takes part in role to explore a problem or story. There is no audience and no script; the drama is made up as you go.

theatre production
A play that is planned, rehearsed and performed for an audience, usually with a script, a set, costumes and lighting.

script
The written words of a play, including what each character says.

rehearsal
Practice before a performance.

purpose
The reason something is done.

context
The time, place and way of life that something comes from.

playwright
A person who writes plays.

thrust stage
A stage that sticks out into the audience, so people sit on three sides of it.

Remember from Grade 3

You discovered drama forms like mime, puppetry, readers' theatre and radio drama, and traditions like Beijing opera, Kathakali, Noh, Bunraku and commedia dell'arte. You also learned about storytelling traditions of First Nations, Métis and Inuit.

This year you will compare process drama, the kind you've been doing in this unit, with theatre productions, and see how theatre from different times and places reflects its context.

Two kinds of drama

The Maple Creek oak tree drama had no script. There was no audience watching (until you chose to share a scene). You made it up as you went, stopping to plan out of role and jumping back in. That's process drama: the process of exploring is the whole point.

Now picture a theatre in a big city. The lights go down. The audience is quiet. Actors who have rehearsed for weeks say lines that a playwright wrote. That's a theatre production.

An empty theatre with rows of red seats facing a lit stage with open red curtains. — A theatre production happens on a stage like this, in front of a quiet audience. Process drama can happen anywhere, even with no audience at all. AI-generated image

	Process drama	Theatre production
Who takes part?	everyone in the group, in role	actors on stage; an audience watches
Script?	no; ideas are made up as you go	usually yes; a playwright writes it
Rehearsed?	no; it's explored once, step by step	yes; practised many times
Audience?	none (the participants are the audience)	yes
Set, costumes, lights?	few or none; simple props	often many
Teacher's job	often joins in role	a director guides the actors

How process drama and theatre productions are different

How are their purposes the same?

They look different, but process drama and theatre productions share many of the same purposes:

To tell stories. Both bring stories to life.
To understand other people. Both let us step into someone else's shoes and see their perspective.
To explore big questions and issues. Both ask, "What's fair? What would you do?"
To share feelings. Both can make us laugh, worry, feel sad or feel hopeful.
To bring people together. Both are made by groups working together, and theatre brings a whole community into one room.

A Venn diagram. The two kinds of drama look different (the outside parts), but they share the same purposes (the middle).

Theatre from different times and places

Every kind of theatre is shaped by its context: when and where it was made, what people believed, and even the weather and the buildings!

Theatre	When and where	Features	How it reflects its context
Ancient Greek theatre	about 2500 years ago, in Greece	plays performed outdoors in huge theatres built into hillsides; actors wore masks; a chorus spoke or sang together	Plays were part of big religious festivals, so whole cities came. Masks with big, clear faces helped thousands of people see the characters from far away.
Shakespeare's Globe Theatre	about 400 years ago, in London, England	a nearly round, open-air theatre; plays in the afternoon daylight; very little scenery; all the roles played by men and boys	With no electric lights and little scenery, the words had to tell the audience the time and place ("It is night", "This is a forest"). Women were not allowed to act on the public stage in England then.
Stratford Festival	began in 1953 in Stratford, Ontario	first performances took place in a giant tent; plays by Shakespeare and many others; a thrust stage with the audience on three sides	A small Ontario town wanted to build a theatre festival. The thrust stage was inspired by the open stages of Shakespeare's time.
Indigenous theatre in Canada today	today, across Canada	plays written and performed by First Nations, Métis and Inuit artists, often in English, French and Indigenous languages	Artists tell their own stories about their communities, histories, languages and lives today. For example, Native Earth Performing Arts in Toronto has created Indigenous theatre since the 1980s.

Theatre in different contexts

A simplified bird's-eye view of an ancient Greek theatre, not to scale. Rows of seats curved around the round orchestra, where the chorus spoke, sang and danced, with the stage building (skene) behind.

First Nations, Métis and Inuit playwrights today

Many First Nations, Métis and Inuit playwrights and theatre companies create theatre in Canada today. For example, Tomson Highway, a Cree playwright and author from northern Manitoba, writes plays and also children's books such as Caribou Song, which uses both English and Cree.

Indigenous theatre often connects to long storytelling traditions and to life today. It's a living, growing art form.

Just for fun

Why did actors in ancient Greece wear big masks with clear faces?

So that even the person in the very last row, way up the hill, could tell whether a character was happy or sad. No giant screens back then!

Worked example

Example: Comparing purposes

Let's compare our Maple Creek process drama with a theatre production of a play about a town saving a forest.

Different: our drama had no script and no audience; we planned out of role and a grown-up joined in role. The play has a script, rehearsals, a set and an audience.
Same purpose 1: both tell a story about a community and nature.
Same purpose 2: both help people understand different perspectives (the mayor, the bakery owner, the people who love the trees).
Same purpose 3: both ask a big question: "How do we balance what people need with caring for nature?"

They work differently, but they share purposes: telling stories, understanding perspectives and exploring big questions.

Worked example

Example: How the Globe reflects its context

Why did Shakespeare's characters often say what time it was or where they were?

Context: plays at the Globe were performed outdoors in the afternoon, in daylight.
There was no electric lighting to make the stage dark for a night scene, and very little scenery.
So the playwright put the setting into the words. A character might say it is night or describe a stormy sea, and the audience imagines it.
Today, theatres can use lights and sets, but they still perform Shakespeare's words that describe the setting.

The Globe's context (outdoor daytime shows, little scenery) shaped the words of the plays.

Hands-on activity

Globe-style scene: paint the setting with words

You need: a room with the lights on (just like daylight at the Globe), no props, and one or two people.

Choose a setting that would be hard to show: a ship in a storm at night, a frozen lake under the northern lights, a busy market long ago.
Write three lines that tell the audience the time and place with words only. Example: "How dark it is! The wind howls through the sails. Hold on, the waves are as tall as houses!"
Perform it in full light, with big gestures and strong projection.
Now perform the same scene as a process drama: no script, everyone in role, and a grown-up joins in role as the ship's captain who asks, "What should we do?" Explore it together.
Talk: "How was the Globe-style scene different from the process drama? What purposes did both have?"

Your turn

What is process drama?

Name two things a theatre production usually has that process drama usually doesn't.

Name one purpose that process drama and theatre share.

Why did actors in ancient Greek theatre wear masks?

Why do Shakespeare's characters often describe the time and place in their words?

What is a thrust stage?

Name a Cree playwright from Canada.

More practice: warm-up

True or false: Process drama always has an audience.

What is a script?

What is a playwright?

In which Ontario town did a theatre festival begin in a giant tent in 1953?

What is rehearsal?

More practice: on your own

Our Maple Creek drama had a grown-up join in role. In a theatre production, who guides the actors instead?

How does the context of a theatre (its time and place) change how plays are made? Give one example.

Why is it important that First Nations, Métis and Inuit artists tell their own stories in theatre?

Give one way process drama and theatre productions are different and one way they are the same.

Make a personal connection: which would you rather do, process drama or a theatre production? Why?

Challenge

Plan how to turn the Maple Creek process drama into a short theatre production. Name three things you would need to add.

Ancient Greek audiences sat far away in huge outdoor theatres. Name two choices besides masks that would help them understand the play.

Explain how the Stratford Festival connects two different times and places.

Check your understanding

Quiz

Which is a feature of process drama?

Which purpose do process drama and theatre productions share?

Why did ancient Greek actors wear masks with big, clear faces?

Shakespeare's characters often describe the setting in words because ___.

A stage with the audience on three sides is a ___.

Context means ___.

For parents and teachers

Big idea: Grade 4 students identify and describe similarities in the purposes of process drama and more formal, traditional theatre productions (B3.1), and show awareness of different kinds of drama and theatre from different times and places and how they reflect their contexts (B3.2). They also make personal connections (B2.1).

How to help:

If you can, see a live play: a school or community theatre show counts! Afterward ask, "How was that different from our process drama? What was the same?"
Many theatres offer family shows and online videos. Look for plays by First Nations, Métis and Inuit companies, and talk about whose stories are being told.
Try the Globe-style scene: it's fun to "paint" a setting with words alone.

Common difficulties:

Thinking process drama is "not real drama" because there's no audience. Emphasize that exploring together is a real purpose of drama.
Mixing up "different" and "same". Use a two-column chart: "How they work" vs. "Why we do them."
Describing Indigenous theatre only in the past tense. First Nations, Métis and Inuit artists are creating theatre now; keep the language present-tense.