IB Theatre - Collaborative Project (first assessment 2024): Get started!

This guide provides resources for the Collaborative Project External Assessment task for IB Theatre (first assessment 2024).

On this page, see:

Just the Basics: Collaborative Project

What is "Touring Scale"?

Professional Theatre Companies Gallery

IB Resources - Assessment Criteria, Key Terminology, and Handouts

Suggested Process

For help with forming the ensemble for your collaborative project, see:

The Ensemble

For help with choosing the starting point that will inspire your collaborative project, see:

Starting Point

For help with writing the Theatre-Maker Intentions (TMI) for your ensemble, see:

Theatre-maker Intentions

For guidance on using your theatre journal to help with evaluating the collaborative creative process, see:

Theatre Journal

For information on measuring your impact on the audience, see:

Audience Impact

For information on the assessment criteria for the Collaborative project, see:

Assessment Criteria

For information on how to structure your Project Report, see:

Task Structure

For help with developing your performance skills, see:

Performance Skills

For links to resources from 44 different professional theatre companies that create collaboratively, see:

Professional Theatre Companies

For information on the IB Academic Integrity policy, see:

Citing Your Sources

For help with your references, see:

NoodleTools

MLA Citation Examples

Gretchen Nordleaf

Room: Frodel B
Frodel Hall

Email:  gnordleaf@westsoundacademy.org

WSA IB Theatre Website: https://www.wsaibtheatre.org

The Collaborative Project is an external assessment for IB Theatre.

SL 40% ~ HL 25%

Students at SL and HL collaboratively create and perform an original piece of theatre (lasting 7–10 minutes maximum) created from a starting point of their choice. The piece is presented to an audience as a fully realized production. Each student submits the following.

1. A video recording of the final piece (7–10 minutes maximum).

2. A project report (a maximum of 10 pages of written text and images, with written text not exceeding 4,000 words) plus a list of all sources used.

For the Collaborative Project, you will work in a group of 2-6 people to create (devise) an original piece of theatre at "touring scale".

As a collaborative group, you will:

• Choose and explore a starting point that is not an existing piece of theatre.
• Formulate your own Theatre-Maker Intentions (TMIs) as a group.
• Work together to create, direct, and design all aspects of the final piece and present it to an audience.
• Individually contributes to multiple moments of Tension, Emotion, Atmosphere, and/or Meaning (TEAM) both as a performer and as creator, director, and/or designer.

Details on the performance video and written report requirements are as follows:

• The performance must be between 7 and 10 minutes long, filmed in one unedited take, and everyone must perform. Only students from the assessed cohort may form the group of 2-6 performers, but if you are the only IB YR2 student, then your teacher must allow only non-assessed students to join you (e.g., up to 5 IB YR1 students).
• There is a maximum of 10 pages allowed in the report, excluding the list of sources. A further, ‘backup’ limit of 4,000 words is placed by the IB, though it is not expected that you will get anywhere near the number. It is there to ensure you don’t write 10-page essays! Use relevant images, with citations, captions, and/or annotations. All text within images, diagrams, and tables is included in the page limit and maximum word count.

• You should keep things "touring scale" and focus on performance.
• Keep your tech limited to what is required to fulfill your Theatre-Maker Intentions.
• Everybody must perform.
• All students should have roughly equal contributions on stage to score well.

*See Collaborative Project, Student Information Booklet, IBDP Theatre, First Assessment 2024, by Kieran Burgess. The booklet is available for download on his website here.

Assume your ensemble is preparing a creative brief for a small, collaborative, low-budget touring theatre company.  You are required to create a 7-10 minute maximum piece of theatre that could feasibly tour. You won't want to add too many unnecessary layers to your work in terms of production elements (scenic and technical) unless they are essential to the theatre-maker intentions of the ensemble and the artistic contributions of individual group members. Consider:

Simplicity in Set and Props: Keep the set design minimal and portable.

Costume Design: Choose costumes that are easy to maintain. Consider using versatile pieces that can be layered or adapted for different characters and scenes.

Technical Requirements: Limit the technical needs to what is absolutely necessary. This includes lighting, sound, and special effects.

Performance Space Adaptability: Design the performance to be flexible enough to fit various types of spaces.

Rehearsal and Scheduling: Ensure that the rehearsal schedule is manageable for all students involved, considering their other commitments.

Suggested process for the Collaborative Project task

Inquiring

• Students form ensembles and practically explore the chosen starting point collaboratively.
• Students collaboratively form theatre-maker intentions for the piece of theatre they want to create (200 words maximum).

Developing

• Students collaboratively create, generate and develop theatrical material.
• Students organize and structure the material into a piece of theatre, led by the theatre-maker intentions for the piece.
• Each student develops and applies their own individual performance skills.
• Each student contributes artistically to the development and/or staging of the piece during the process of creating to help achieve the ensemble’s intentions. These artistic contributions may be in terms of creating, designing and/or directing material and must directly contribute to effective moments that will be clearly visible in the final piece.

Presenting

• Students prepare and rehearse the piece of theatre for production.
• Students perform the final piece (lasting 7–10 minutes) to a live audience.

Evaluating

• Students gather feedback from the audience to guide their evaluation of the extent to which the piece fulfilled the ensemble’s intentions.
• Each student reflects on the process of collaboratively creating and performing the piece and considers the extent to which the ensemble’s intentions were achieved.
• Each student reflects on how they used their performance skills (body and/or voice) to effectively contribute to one specific and effective moment of tension, emotion, atmosphere and/or meaning ( “TEAM”) visible in the video recording. This moment must not exceed 2 minutes.
• Each student also reflects on how their own specific individual artistic contributions to the development and/or staging of the piece as creator, designer and/or director (outside of their performance moment described above) effectively supported the fulfillment of the ensemble’s intentions in one moment seen in the video recording. This moment must be a different moment in the piece to the one described above and must not exceed 2 minutes maximum.