The Production Proposal is the much-loved child of the Director's Notebook from the legacy course. Featuring as the Internal Assessment in the new DP Theatre course (first teaching 2022), it is the organic evolution of what was "the most fun task in DP Theatre" and strips away some of the complexity of the DN criteria. This new task is really clear, really simple, and still really powerful at unlocking creativity without imposing artificial ceilings.
I have been teaching the 2022 guide since 2018, as a teacher piloting the new guide before public release, and was involved in the curriculum review team shaping the new course even earlier than that. Now the guide has been published on My IB, I am delighted to start sharing the resources and advice I picked up from the whole process of taking two cohorts through the two year course and their graduation. I made mistakes along the way, and refined my advice to my own students so that now, I can hopefully help you hit the ground running on this task. This booklet is a companion to the Subject Guide - you will need that to refer to the task instructions and criteria.
Has this resource been useful for you? It's free to use, but if you want to show a small gesture of thanks, I'd really appreciate any amount you want to give.
Here is the first of the Student Information Booklets, this time for the Production Proposal (PP). There is one for each of the assessment tasks for the new DP Theatre course, with the first students starting the course in Autumn 2022 and the first assessment in May 2024. These booklets break down the requirements of each task, de-mystify the criteria, and ask prompt questions to get you thinking right away at 'Explain' level (which is the top band of marks). Tips on what kind of images and structures could be used are packed in, so the student or teacher who is lost on where to start can create a focused and detailed PP with ease.
I'd love to talk to you about coaching, mentoring or running a workshop at your school - for teachers, students or both - but if you're not in a position to do that yet, these resources are all free!
All the juicy pearls of wisdom are in the booklet, but in a nutshell here is the PP:
Your understanding of the text and intentions for your own take
Explain the ideas in your chosen play text, as presented by the playwright. Do your research! What themes, messages or opinions are present, and how does the playwright communicate these?
Then, tell the reader how you intend to stage this (hypothetical) production. What themes will you choose to spotlight? Why is this relevant to an audience today? What style and space will you utilise?
Visual Designs
Convey your ideas for using production design to fulfil your intentions for the whole play. So, think about set, light, costume, props, sound and more: how will you utilise these elements to enhance your audience's understanding of your intentions?
The key to this criterion is visuals. This is a significant change in emphasis from the old Director's Notebook. Make sure you use both text and images to express how production elements will contribute towards meeting your intentions.
Zoom in to ONE moment
Intricate detail about one concentrated moment of Tension, Emotion, Atmosphere and/or Meaning (TEAM) is needed here. Give specifics about how performance and production elements will be used to create this TEAM, and how doing so in this way will enhance the intentions you have for this moment, and achieve the impact on the audience you want.
And finally...
This task is asking you to propose how you would stage your chosen play. It is not asking you to actually stage it. So you really do not have to be limited to only the school stage. In this hypothetical world, you have the finances you need, the space you want, and the crew and cast to make your exact wishes happen. As long as it is physically possible, and feasible (whilst it is physically possible, with the resources and permissions, to stage your play on a revolving stage atop the summit of Mount Everest, it certainly is not feasible), you can do it.
Oh, and one more thing. Remember that this is the only task that is not worth 24 marks. Instead it is worth 20 marks. So don't panic if you score 19!
Has this resource been useful for you? It's free to use, but if you want to show a small gesture of thanks, I'd really appreciate any amount you want to give.