The High School Theatre Teachers Survival Guide

A reference for high school theatre teachers covering both curricular and extracurricular problems – everything from how to craft a syllabus for a theatre class to what to say to parents about a student's participation in a school play.

High school theatre programs are vigorous and growing. But theatre teachers - often drawn from English, speech, or other departments - don't always get all the training, and help, they need to be effective. For them, as well as for the seasoned teaching veteran, Raina Ames provides an indispensable companion. A High School Theatre Teacher's Survival Guide is a handy reference for high school theatre teachers covering both curricular and extracurricular problems - everything from how to craft a syllabus for a theatre class to what to say to parents about a student's participation in a school play. In ten concise chapters, Raina Ames lays out a range of issues and situations, and offers practical suggestions for handling them professionally and humanely. The Guide fields specific questions about structuring classes, provides the text of overheads or PowerPoint presentations for classroom instruction, and makes useful suggestions - such as a 'contract' between the student and the theatre program - for building students' confidence and sense of responsibility within the group effort.

Written specifically for the middle school or high school drama director, this book tells everything you need to know to produce a play, from administrative detail and play selection to the actual performance before an audience.

Success assured -- for every show YOLI direct or produce! Written from 37 years of drama teaching experience, this book provides detailed, step-by-step information, examples and suggestions about how to direct a school drama program without mistakes, trouble or delay. The nineteen chapters cover everything: play selection, tryouts, rehearsals, costuming, props, lighting, publicity and final performance. To further clarify each step, examples are provided with illustrations, photos and proven ideas. Reproducible handouts and forms are also included together with a list of many additional resources. Whether you are a seasoned drama director or a beginner, you will find this book to be an invaluable aid. It will banish your stress and guarantee your success!

This book is an incredible resource both to new drama teachers searching for inspiration and experienced drama teachers looking to spice up their lesson plans, and reproducible forms, tests, and handouts add even more value to this survival kit.

"This is a terrific and instructive book, and an essential reminder of how inspiring and empowering a good drama teacher can be. I hope it's read widely and that new generations of pupils and teachers benefit from its wisdom and its verve." Nick Hytner Drama teaching is at a critical juncture. With new qualifications in the market, changes in government approach to the arts in education and hundreds of thousands of students wanting to be part of the country's hugely successful performing arts industry, the pressures on drama teachers are enormous. Many don't have a specialist background in drama and theatre and end up taking on the role of drama teacher; others feel disconnected from current theatre practice because of the time-demands of teaching; plenty of drama teachers feel they could be serving their students better, if only they had the resources and the support. For all of those teachers, this book will come as welcome relief. The Drama Teacher's Survival Guide provides support, inspirational ideas and rock-solid guidance for secondary drama teachers. It outlines the fundamental principles of a creative drama curriculum, and looks at how teachers can facilitate this and deliver inspiring lessons to fulfill the potential of their learners. It addresses head-on the common and numerous challenges that drama teachers face, from having to design their own creative curriculum to understanding how students learn. The author's own advice and expertise is supplemented by case studies, thereby collating and offering up the best advice and experience available. Written by Matthew Nichols, drama teacher for 12 years, this book offers a range of strategies, case studies and methods that really work.

A handbook of detailed step-by-step information, examples, and suggestions for directing a school theatre program.

"Drama teaching is at a critical juncture. With new qualifications in the market, changes in government approach to the arts in education and hundreds of thousands of students wanting to be part of the country's hugely successful performing arts industry, the pressures on drama teachers are enormous. Many don't have a specialist background in drama and theatre and end up taking on the role of drama teacher; others feel disconnected from current theatre practice because of the time-demands of teaching; plenty of drama teachers feel they could be serving their students better, if only they had the resources and the support. For all of those teachers, this book will come as welcome relief. The Drama Teacher's Survival Guide provides support, inspirational ideas and rock-solid guidance for secondary drama teachers. It outlines the fundamental principles of a creative drama curriculum, and looks at how teachers can facilitate this and deliver inspiring lessons to fulfill the potential of their learners. It addresses head-on the common and numerous challenges that drama teachers face, from having to design their own creative curriculum to understanding how students learn. The author's own advice and expertise is supplemented by case studies, thereby collating and offering up the best advice and experience available. Written by Matthew Nichols, drama teacher for 12 years, this book offers a range of strategies, case studies and methods that really work"--

This book is the introduction to all high school theatre. A comprehensive overview of the following units is included: Unit 1: Theatre HistoryUnit 2: The Actor PreparesUnit 3: ActingUnit 4: Creating a CharacterUnit 5: DirectingUnit 6: Technical TheatreUnit 7: Next Steps

Issues of identity have always been central to the American musical in all its guises. Who appears in musicals, who or what they are meant to represent, and how, over time, those representations have been understood and interpreted, provide the very basis for our engagement with the genre. In this third volume of the reissued Oxford Handbook of the American Musical, chapters focus on race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality, regional vs. national identity, and the cultural and class significance of the musical itself. As important as the question of who appears in musicals are the questions of who watches and listens to them, and of how specific cultures of reception attend differently to the musical. Chapters thus address cultural codes inherent to the genre, in particular those found in traditional school theater programs.