In the first workshop we discuss the actor's instrument and the tools the actor uses to create the character that helps tell the story. Imagination, Feeling/Emotion and the Five Senses are demonstrated through improvised activities and games and references are made to the assembly that illustrate these concepts. We discuss the language of the body and movement and how meaning is defined by posture, expression, pace and vocal intonation. As we discuss, the students begin using new vocabulary to express themselves. They start drawing conclusions and forming opinions as they realize how the actor develops a character. They learn to understand their own feelings by identifying with the emotions and motivations of the characters in the story and in this way learn to empathize with others as well.

As we progress through the workshops the students create improvisations using emotions and actions. They take the story they will perform and break it down into the sequence of events, (beginning, middle and end), while working collaboratively with other students.

They learn the importance of forming a cohesive ensemble that understands the plot and setting of their story so they can perform it successfully. The students create dialogue, make choices and learn the staging for their play in the classroom, which allows them as well as their teacher, to see how a theatrical presentation is just as valuable performed in the classroom as performed in an auditorium.

In The Theory of Multiple Intelligences, by Howard Gardner, he suggests that effective curriculum taps into and develops the multiple intelligences of children which includes their artistic and social skills, verbal and mathematical strategies and intuitive and logical methods of understanding. Providing young children with the opportunity to experience literature through the art of theatre humanizes the learning process and enables young minds to make connections between concepts, words and actions.

Seeing a live performance and then participating in one allows students to learn and synthesize information aurally and through visual cues. This enhances their abilities to decipher meaning, form ideas and develop oral language skills. Theatre Arts maximizes the use of creative intelligence and is integral in conceptualizing and learning. This will lead to higher achievement throughout school.