Three teams of students competing in the Mirror Tableaux drama game

MIRROR TABLEAUX

CURTAINS UP ACTING STUDIO

MIRROR TABLEAUX: A DRAMA GAME for KIDS
Promoting Teamwork

Students test their observation and teamwork skills as they race to reproduce a frozen picture created by a leading team. This fast-paced game challenges groups to work together quickly and accurately.

 
 
 

Watch a Demonstration of
Mirror Tableaux:

Download Printable Instructions
 

Step-by-Step Instructions

  • This game works best with at least nine students. 

  • Place three chairs on the corners of a large triangle facing each other across the center of the triangle.  (Note: In the video, the chairs were placed for the best camera angle and are not exactly in the triangle formation shown below.)

 
 

  • Next, divide the class into teams of three to five students, and direct three teams–A, B, and C–to gather around the chairs with one team to a chair. 

  • Explain that you want teams B and C to turn their backs, as the members of team A form an interesting frozen picture or “tableau” around their chair. Stress that stage pictures are more interesting when actors are connected to each other in active poses and display a variety of levels. 

  • When team A is frozen in position, shout “Go!” Teams B and C must immediately flip to face team A and–as quickly as possible–arrange themselves as a mirror image of team A. The first team (B or C) to form the mirror image correctly wins the round. 

  • Play additional rounds, letting each group have an equal number of turns creating the tableau to be copied. 

NOTE: Larger classes can add chairs and teams, e.g., four chairs arranged on the four corners of a large square or five chairs arranged at equal distances around a circle.

MORE DRAMA GAMES AND THEATER ACTIVITIES YOU MIGHT ENJOY:
Body Scenery - Teams of actors work together to represent with their bodies an object named by the game leader.
Machine - Actors work together to create a single machine with mechanical movements and sounds.
Scene Setting - Actors work together to improvise a mimed scene, building it one actor at a time.

 
Browse Theater Games Encyclopedia
Curtains Up Creative Dramatics Curriculum
 

 
© 2023, Friends of the Groom Theater Company

 
 

Curtains Up Curriculum by Friends of the Groom Theater Co. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Curtains Up is a training program designed for young actors sponsored by Friends of the Groom Theater Company.
It is available to the general public for free under the terms of the Creative Commons License above.