Should you’ve spent about 3.1 seconds on the web, you’ve got encountered a meme. Should you’ve seen or heard of Grumpy Cat, Condescending Wonka, Stunned Pikachu, Girl Yelling at a Cat, or The Ermahgerd Lady, these are all well-known, long-standing memes. New memes are popping up day-after-day – on the time of writing, a Google seek for “theater memes” returned 17.9 million outcomes. Memes have grow to be so prevalent that there’s even a collection of card video games referred to as “What Do You Meme”. (And simply in case you reside beneath a rock, it is pronounced “meem,” not “me-me.”)
Right here is an fascinating truth: the phrase “meme” is a by-product of the phrase memetic and the Greek phrase mime, that means “imitated”. British biologist Richard Dawkins launched the phrase meme in his 1976 e book The egocentric gene, as an try to elucidate how concepts reproduce, change and develop. The official dictionary definition of “meme” is “a enjoyable or fascinating merchandise (resembling a captioned picture or video) or type of merchandise that’s extensively shared on-line, particularly through social media.” It is fascinating to see how the that means of the phrase has developed!
Most long-running memes originated on boards like Reddit, however have since moved to locations like Instagram and TikTok. Your college students can undoubtedly introduce you to present meme tendencies, as they’re continuously altering. Memes aren’t going anyplace, so why not harness the ability and hilarity of memes and use them as inspiration for performing class actions? Listed below are 10 concepts for utilizing memes in your performing class.
1. Make a set of favourite drama/drama class memes and put up them in your classroom wall. You may also use them to brighten your theater classroom door.
2. When learning a play, ask college students to search out memes that relate to it. (For instance, a Google seek for “Romeo and Juliet memes” yields practically 2.3 million outcomes.) Analyze the place they got here from within the room. Do they make sense? How might they be modified to make them funnier or fairer?
3. Create a meme (or a collection of memes) utilizing a present meme development, both associated to your class or a play you are learning. When you’ve got an account on the college’s social networks, share them!
4. Select a personality from a play or musical. Discover 5 memes that describe or relate to this character. Use these memes to make a personality description presentation, video compilation or temper board. Why did your college students choose those they selected?
5. Create a tableau scene the place college students recreate a well-liked meme on stage.
6. Do it ABC of drama class challenge utilizing theater and theater associated memes for instance the ABC.
7. Write a scene by which the characters confer with a meme sooner or later within the interplay. How can college students incorporate the meme with out making it apparent or awkward?
8. Write a scene by which totally different meme characters meet. For instance, Ridiculously Photogenic Man meets Kermit Sipping Tea. How would they meet? What would they discuss? What have they got in frequent?
9. Write an origin story for a meme character. The place do they arrive from? What are their likes and dislikes? How did they grow to be the individual they’re within the meme?
10. Write a monologue from the angle of the individual/object within the meme.
Bonus exercise: Share memes that had been well-liked whenever you had been your college students’ age. (For instance, the primary viral meme is claimed to be the Dancing Child, launched in 1996!) How have memes developed and adjusted since then?
Click here for meme-related exit voucher questions.
Kerry Hishon is a director, actor, author and stage fighter from London, Ontario, Canada. She blogs at www.kerryhishon.com.
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