Wicked

This highly imaginative musical features a fine book by Winnie Holzman and music and lyrics by one of Broadway’s most accomplished composers, Stephen Schwartz. Based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, Wicked will fill you with wonder as it takes

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Lighting the Stage When Using Projections

This video is not an official part of the Projections on Stage sequence, but it is an excellent additional resource.  It is intended to help people who are working their way into the use of scenic projections and might have only

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Theatre Hierarchy Handout 2021

In 2013, I posted a Theatre Hierarchy Handout.  It has been very popular because in addition to showing lines of reporting (like a tree), it also shows lines of communication.   It is also arranged to demonstrate performance vs. running

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Visual-Based Ice-Breakers

We use a lot of ice-breaker activities in theatre classrooms. These often included revealing information about one’s self or emoting in some way. You can surprise your students with either of the following two activities that do not require any

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Dancing Feet and Other Bad Habits

Dancing Feet and Other Bad Habits

Whether they’re tap dancing, doing a move across the floor, or able to do a million pirouettes in a row, dancing feet are a beautiful thing. As long as they’re doing the right choreography and the student understands their weight

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Teaching Students to “Look It Up”9

Teaching Students to “Look It Up”

How much do you remember of your high school vocabulary lessons? You would write down your word lists, find the parts of speech, the definitions, and put each word into a sentence. This educational tool would help young students to

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Browser-Based Light Labs

Demonstrating theatrical lighting in an educational environment takes a lot of setup.  I have some standard lectures where I take my entire class down to one of our theatres and spend the class powering different instruments on and off while

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Using Improvisation to Teach: It Is Okay to be Wrong! Part Two

In Part One, I wrote about the reasons why improvisation is a beneficial lesson supplement in the classroom as it helps students overcome barriers. For instance, a child who feels timid and typically does not volunteer to participate or speak

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Using Improvisation to Teach: It Is Okay to be Wrong! Part One

I am currently working long-term as an English Language Learner teacher for first grade. I find myself constantly repeating my mantra, “It’s okay to be wrong!” These first-graders are so eager to learn, and with that drive comes the eagerness

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Teaching Abstract Concepts Through Theatre, Part 1

Teaching Abstract Concepts Through Theatre, Part 1

I recently was faced with the challenge of teaching a classroom of second graders how to measure time. They were at a level in their learning where they were expected to know how to tell time by reading a clock,

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Spreading the Acting Bug to Scriptwriting!

Spreading the Acting Bug to Scriptwriting!

In my blog series, Spreading the Acting Bug, I’ve talked about my experiences working as a theatre teacher for young ones, marketing theatre classes in a non-profit atmosphere, and helping teachers find the right monologue books for actively auditioning kids.

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Dealing With Students with Performance Anxiety

Dealing With Students with Performance Anxiety

As a voice teacher, I work with pretty young kids. Sometimes I have to play the role of “Pretty Princess” and sing Disney songs with 5 year olds. Other times, I’m working with middle and high school students on repertoire

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Creative Drama For The Classroom: Line Games

Pocket Lines: Pulled it Right Out of Their… Pocket The first lines acting game requires a great deal of preparation from the teacher beforehand. As the teacher, you must compile a variety of numerous different brief lines that might be

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Teaching Commedia dell’ Arte, Part II

Character Walks Since Commedia Dell’ Arte is a physical theatrical art form, it is essential and fun to have students experiment with various ways of moving their bodies. Have the students walk around the classroom as a character of their

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Acting: Mask Work Lesson Plan For Kids

Paper Masks This particular lesson plan can be used in various classroom settings. Some teachers may opt to use it in an elementary Social Studies class when teaching a unit on Ancient Greece as actors in Greek Theatre wore masks.

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Viewpoints of Space

In utilizing this exercise be sure to read this post. Shape This is literally how you shape your body, as well as the shapes you create onstage using the environment around you and other bodies. At this point, I will

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Creative Drama for the Classroom: Side Coaching Actors

Why Side Coaching? Side coaching is the process of giving directions to actors while they are playing a scene. Acting students love side coaching, becomes it forces them to think on their toes. They have to instantly take on whatever

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Reader’s Theatre in the Classroom: Part 2, Reading Rock Stars

I found inspiration for the following Reader’s Theatre activity at www.readwritethink.org. Visit this site to discover ways in which you can expand the following activity, for links, and even more Reader’s Theatre ideas to use in the classroom! Reading Rock

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Reader’s Theatre in the Classroom: Part I, The Basics

What It Is Reader’s Theatre is a fun approach for developing reading confidence in children. It engages kids to engage in oral reading by reading characters in scripts that has been developed from a short story or novel. It is

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Creative Drama for the Classroom: Life & Three Entrances Activity

  Many solid acting exercises are simply an extension of or associated with everyday life. That’s certainly the case with the Three Entrances activity in this blog which was inspired by Uta Hagen’s Three Entrances acting exercise. Here’s a considered

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Playwriting Exercise: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

It’s not uncommon for writers to observe people in everyday life and get ideas for characters and even entire plays. This playwriting exercise offers 30 pictures of 30 different people. The assignment is to create a play creating and using

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Basic Playwriting Exercise: Character Conflict

This is a simple playwriting exercise designed to get students writing dialogue and creating conflict on stage. As it is with all exercises, there are rules for this one. Sometimes students will protest the fact that there are rules for

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Creative Drama for The Classroom: Acting Through Animals

This acting exercise gets students focused on doing rather than thinking. This is useful and fun for every age, from pre-school through college. Get out of your head and into your body! As an acting teacher, one of the biggest

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