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DRAMA CLUB Chapter 11: Blocking and Stage Directions
EDUCATION PRO GRAMS AT CLEV ELAND P LAY HOUSE
Blocking and Stage Directions
The idea of blo cking or stag ing a play can be ve ry daunting . It is impor tant to remem ber that the pic tures you
create with the acto rs on the stag e ultimately ser ve to better tell the sto ry. This chapter is d edicated to he lping you
tell the physical s tory the bes t way possible.
Regardles s of experience , some things to kee p in mind are:
• Go into ever y rehearsa l with a clear und erstandi ng of the space in wh ich you will be pe rforming . You will not
always have the luxur y of rehearsin g in the actua l space, so und erstand ing how that space w ill eventually be
set up is imper ative.
• Simplify.
• Know the “ rules” but al so know when to brea k the rules. F or example, it is i mportan t that the audie nce is
able to see the pe rformer s. Therefor e, it is rare that a dire ctor will bloc k a scene with the ac tors’ backs to th e
audience . However, there may be a mome nt when that cho ice is particu larly powerf ul.
• Keep in min d that stage di rections writ ten into a script are ve ry often sim ply the blocki ng that was used i n
the original p roduction . Feel free to us e those as a guid e, but do not get s tuck trying to re plicate the orig inal
movement exactly.
NASCENT
At the nascent level , it is very poss ible that your stu dents will have no i dea what to do with the ir bodies in th e
space. It is , therefore, im portant th at you are able to gui de them.
For every scene:
• Find the i mportan t moments . Decide ah ead of time how to bes t tell that part of th e story physic ally.
• Come into ever y rehear sal knowing rou ghly how you want the s cene to look. I f you can choos e your “picture s”
ahead of time , as a team you and you r cast can fig ure out how to get to each o f them.
• Make sure th at you, the cas t, and the sta ge manage r (if you have one) write down ALL of the b locking. Th is
way you do not have to re-do t he work multipl e times.
• Know whe re in the space the m oments ta ke place.
NASCENT ACTIVITY
For this ac tivity, you’ ll need th e following r esources , found as a ddendu ms to this d ocument .
• Addendum 1: Explanation of abbreviations
INTERMEDIATE
At the intermedi ate level, your stud ents will prob ably have starte d to develop some go od instinc ts. It is imp ortant
to let them explore a nd try thing s in terms of block ing, but you sh ould also go in wit h a plan. Plea se see the sec tion
on Nascent B locking in term s of what you shoul d prepare, b ut also allow yours elf to be flexible a nd make chang es
based on what th e actors are a ble to bring to the tab le.
INTERMEDIATE ACTIVITY
For this ac tivity, you’ ll need th e following r esources , found as a ddendu ms to this d ocument .
• Addendum 1: Explanation of abbreviations
Remember to:
• Use your tri angles: stra ight lines are i ncredibly bo ring to look at!
• Find levels : create picture s with some per formers st anding, so me kneelin g, some sitti ng, etc. This wi ll create
visual interes t.
• Edit when n ecessar y: though you wa nt to give your studen ts freedom to m ake choices an d try new things ,
ultimately it is up to you to d ecide when so mething is work ing and when it i s not.
