You will work together in groups of 3-5 to create a 2-5 minute drama on a topic that inspires your group.

Whanaungatanga is kaupapa Māori that is key to creative strategies. Promoting whanaungatanga will help you to uphold the mana of the group and the story you are performing, and provide a collaborative path for making your drama.

First: Stimulus — Text

• Use text as a starting point to come up with a shared idea for the devised drama. For example, your stimulus text could be a play, a visual text, a poem, or a short story.
• In your group, brainstorm and share stories, events, ideas, and topics from texts that you have discovered and that inspire you. Accept and contribute ideas while upholding and uplifting the mana of the group.
• Agree on a shared key message or vision for the drama. Start to think of what the title of your drama might be. This will involve sharing ideas, so be sure to accept and contribute ideas while upholding the mana of the group.

Second: Research and gather

• Gather different ideas and feelings people have about the key message.
• Wānanga with your group. Share knowledge and possibilities for research to be done so that you have all the information you need to create a coherent drama.
• Research ideas to communicate the key message in your drama. This research might include practice-based research, such as physically trying out conventions or movements or vocal activities.
• Research how different conventions might be used to emphasise specific elements of drama.
• Kōrero with your group about the form and structure your drama may take.
• Talk with your group about the things you are doing that are helping promote whanaungatanga.

Third: Explore and experiment

• Improvise and experiment with conventions based on the ideas and stories you have shared.
• Trial conventions to develop elements of role, time, place, situation, mood, focus, and symbol.
• Contribute and respond to ideas as you go through this process.
• Reflect on and refine your shared vision for the drama.
• Reflect with your group on how whanaungatanga is being built in your group, the collaborative skills you are developing in this respect and what you find challenging in your mahi.

Fourth: Structure

• Use conventions with purpose. Start the process of selecting, structuring, and refining your drama. This will involve taking everything you have gathered and selecting a small piece or pieces of dramatic material to create your drama.
• Negotiate and extend ideas as you work through the devising process. Keep track of the kōrero you have with your group when you are negotiating ideas so that you can include evidence of the decisions and contributions you have made in the evidence that you will include in your portfolio.
• Refine your title if required. Check that the title and key message of the devised drama have informed your selection of elements and conventions so that you have enhanced the storytelling.

Fifth: Refine and perform

Work together to edit and refine dramatic ideas in your devised drama to realise your shared ideas and vision for the drama:

• Refine your drama. Use ‘outside eye’ processes to get feedback from an audience perspective. You can do this by watching and reflecting on a recorded video of your group performing your devised drama. Another option is to perform your devised drama in front of another group and ask for feedback.
• Rehearse your devised drama with your group. It is through this process that your group will be able to continuously refine and memorise their lines and roles for your devised drama performance. There is no need for you to write a script.
• Perform your drama for an audience.

Sixth: Reflection — Collate your portfolio

You will prepare an individual portfolio showing how you have created and refined your devised drama with the use of creative strategies. This individual portfolio can consist of the following:

• Examples of how you promoted whanaungatanga during the collaborative process while negotiating and extending ideas.
• Discussions of how you contributed or accepted ideas when selecting elements and conventions to create a coherent devised drama.
• reflection on:
  • the value of whanaungatanga to support collaborative mahi
  • how the title and key message of the drama informed your selection of elements and conventions to enhance expression and storytelling.

You can provide this evidence using visual, oral, or written reflections (or a combination of these), or in a way that suits your learning style.