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Everything you need to know about...

Doing a Play

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Testimonial !!

"Thank U sooo much. I am doing theatre residencies at the greatest school. I am using your book a lot. My residencies range from scripts to improv's and creating their own scripts. Thank u for such a wonderful tool."

Heather Rosario, Teaching Artist
HeatherDanse@aol.com

If you've ever tried doing a play before, you are very well aware that Doing A Play is a Lot of Work! It can be full of hassles!

As you know...

You NEED a good script! You can either buy one (see our educational script collections) but it has to be a quality script which is appropriate in theme, with the right number of parts, and the right duration.
You may be better off writing your own, which can be a wonderful learning experience. But that requires a large investment of time with your group and if you don't have a foolproof step by step procedure, you could end up with less than a workable result. And there's nothing worse than a mediocre script to turn off your cast.
You have to find or write a script that fits with your course of study. God forbid you should be doing something that doesn't align with your curriculum. Horrors! :-)
You have to motivate your cast. Uncertainty and insecurity in directing them can doom the process before you are even underway!
You have to organize the entire production. With a large cast and a complex show, this can be a daunting task unless you have a good system.
You have to produce the play, that is to say, you have to come up with sets, costumes, props... even music, in some cases. You not only have to make the production materials, you have the time-consuming task of coming up with the design... and I'm sure you have enough to think about and plan already.
You have to help your cast to develop interesting characterization. Without interesting characters, the audience will find the play dull and uninteresting.
You have to rehearse. With a complex script, that takes a long time, and students have to remain motivated throughout the whole process.
You have to keep track of everything in addition to riding herd on your cast... and when they get excited, they can be a handful... as I'm sure you well know :-). And running the show can be a logistical nightmare, especially if the cast is large and the tech is complex.

But do you love the idea of doing a play with your youngsters? I'll just bet that...

You know the benefits of performing, including increased self confidence, better communication ability, increased focus and retention skills, among so many others.
You want to motivate them to love what they are learning by making it come alive.
You know you have some youngsters in your group, maybe most of them, who will learn better this way than any other.
You are fully aware that good theatre combines every one of the Multiple Intelligences learning modalities: linguistic, logical, visual, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal all in one activity.
You want to develop an ensemble feeling with your group.
You just love doing theatre, especially the feeling that comes from collective creation.

So How Can You Possibly Reap the Benefits of Doing Live Theatre and Avoid the Hassles?
After 40 years of doing theatre in schools, youth groups and profession theatres, we believe we can offer you the answers to this question.

To begin with, our ENTIRE STAFF of artist-educators comes from a background of professional theatre. We all know it like the back of our hand.

And for the balance of our careers, we have brought that expertise to schools and into the classroom. We've toured hundreds of shows to schools. We helped thousands of teachers to mount play productions in their schools. We've worked with tens of thousands of students.

Yep, we've made pretty much made all the mistakes it is possible to make already, and devised lots of short cuts and solutions to address the problems of creating theatre for young people. And that's what we want to share with you: Our 40 years of expertise of doing educational theatre.

"Producing the School Play" makes doing a play a real joy.

Doing a School Play cover

Practical, informative and entertaining, "Producing the School Play" is the most complete document ever assembled to both describe every aspect of play production in the school environment, and to relate each aspect to the academic curriculum. Think of the educational value of:

Scriptwriting as an innovative and effective approach to literacy.
Costume and scenic design and construction as educationally enriching activities.
The crafts of acting and directing explained simply and succinctly, supplemented with dozens of hands-on activities.
Illustrations and technical drawings.
A glossary of theatrical terms.
Practical lists of resources.
And an extensive bibliography.

Doing the play can be an educational, creative process!

"PRODUCING THE SCHOOL PLAY " includes:

How to Write a Play: a step-by-step process by which teachers and their students -- at any grade level -- can write a well-crafted script, which is both entertaining and meaningful. Theme, plot, character and setting are all thoroughly examined. Examples of synopses, scenarios and scripts are provided for easy reference and a 10-day playwrighting curriculum is included.
Characterization, for both the student playwright and the student actor is shown to be the key to effective dramatization and a wide variety of character exercises are provided to assure individualistic and compelling characters for any play.
Oral Interpretation: Reading Aloud with Meaning -- All four components of literacy (reading, writing, speaking and listening) are addressed when students create their own scripts and then read them aloud to an audience.
Characters, stories -- Even the words themselves -- come alive when the principles of proper emphasis, phrasing and vocal variety are used. Techniques used by professional actors are made simple enough to be used by any student.
How to Involve Students Who Don't Want to Perform: Research, design, construction, scriptwriting, design, production crews and stage management are among the exciting and crucial tasks of those who work backstage. Each is educationally viable and can be vitally important to the success of any production.
The Application of the Multiple Intelligences Theory to Playmaking and Arts-in-Education: The experience of theatre involves all the Intelligences simultaneously. This section breaks down the individual theatre tasks according to their appropriateness for each Intelligence.
Costume Design, Masks and Stage Make-up can all be learned easily by students of any age and can be as exciting and as educationally viable for them as can writing, directing or acting. Color, silhouette, fabric, trim, accessories and historical authenticity for period plays are all explained-with activities for the classroom -- as well as the various kinds of masks and how to make them, and the uses of theatrical make-up.
The Elements of Scene Design and Stage Lighting: Research, design, floor plans, working drawings, sketches, renderings and set models are addressed, with guidelines for young designers, and the designing of stage properties and the most effective use of theatrical lighting instruments are discussed.
The Rehearsal Process includes how to teach students basic stage conventions, how and why to block stage movement, the details of character business and stage business, how to make a prompt script, scheduling tech and dress rehearsals, performance etiquette and how to effectively bring closure onto the production process.
The last chapter, Expanding Your Horizons, shows how you can use your school and your community as a virtually endless resource of people and things to make every production you do -- whether in the classroom, for an assembly or as a community event an unqualified success for everyone involved.
Bibliography, Resource Lists, Glossary and Index and much, much more.
ISBN: 942345-12-6 (152 pages. Pbk. plastic comb binding) $25.00;

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You will receive a Zip file containing a Word document.

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P.P.S. If you feel you would benefit from working with a professional director as your mentor, you may click here to see how a Master Artist Teacher can work with your class on this story.

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The most enlightened Journal of Education on the Internet
is available FREE!
Click here to read about it!
And for a limited time only get this great
FREE BONUS
with your subscription:
"Seven All-Time Favorite Games for the Classroom or Theatre Ensemble."

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