Overview

Creative drama is a spontaneous form of theatre in which there is no script and the process of acting out is more important than the end result. Because creative drama is not performed in front of an audience, it allows for a nonthreatening exploration of theatre.

A crucial element of creative drama is the evaluation that comes after acting out a story. Evaluation includes discussing what worked well and suggesting changes that could make a story more believable or an activity more successful. An evaluation may lead to replaying, which is acting out a scene again, using some of the changes discussed.

Two forms of creative drama are narrative pantomime and story dramatization. In narrative pantomime, a leader/teacher reads a story that has literary merit, and the class acts out the narrative in motions. For this activity, the leader/teacher should choose a story that presents a defined sequence of events, is action driven, and contains conflict. In story dramatization, a group examines a story that has literary merit and finds a way to act out one of its scenes. Story dramatization, unlike narrative pantomime, uses dialogue. The goal of story dramatization is to create a clear and believable representation of a scene.

Participating in creative drama is a fantastic way to work on your theatre skills while developing your personal resources.