Provides six classroom exercises to stimulate student awareness of the principles of Readers Theater. Emphasizes the use of scripts and space, flexibility of voice and body, staging, pantomime, and characterization. (PD)

Part of the New York City Board of Education's Early Stages program, and intended for elementary and secondary school teachers who wish to include a unit on theater in their classes, this guide offers suggestions for lessons and activities to accompany viewing a performance of "Wind in the Willows" at the Nederlander Theater. Part one of…

This performance guide is designed for teachers to use with students before and after a performance of "Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile," a musical based on the books by Bernard Waber, with book by Michael Slade, music by David Evans, and lyrics by Mindi Dickstein. The guide, called a "Cuesheet," contains four activity sheets for use in…

A part of the New York City Board of Education Early Stages educational program, this activity packet was developed to assist teachers in preparing students for viewing the American Ballet Theatre's production of "The Nutcracker." The guide begins with a section on preparing for the performance, and includes information on the Early…

Intended to complement the New York City communication arts curriculum, this packet introduces young students, guided by the classroom teacher, to a dress rehearsal performance of the Dance Theatre of Harlem ballet company. The packet is one of a series in the "Early Stages" program, a joint effort of the Mayor's Office of Film, Theater…

This performance guide is designed for teachers to use with students before and after a performance of the one-act musical based on Lucy Maud Montgomery's novel, "Anne of Green Gables," with music by Richard DeRosa and book and lyrics by Greg Gunning. The guide is designed to help teachers foster students' appreciation of theatre, dance,…

Describes a readers theatre approach to poetry in the classroom that involves all students. A readers theatre script of Earl Birney's poem "David" is appended. (HTH)

This article presents guidelines to the elementary teacher for producing a class play. The script for a short adaptation of "Alice in Wonderland" is appended on pages 47-49. (SJL)

Intended to help students develop into discerning and perceptive theater audience members, this curriculum guide seeks to promote a course of study in which each and every student becomes aware of the world around them and how the arts, and specifically theater, are a reflection of and a comment on the world. It includes goals, objectives,…

With five basic exercises presented in this paper as a guide, instructors and students can gain an immediate awareness of the performance and staging principles in Reader's Theatre which may be used creatively to visualize literature so that it becomes "alive" in the imagination of the readers as well as the listener. The paper begins…

Transcripts of two segments of CBS-TV's "Sunrise Semester" discuss the experiences of several participants in a production of Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya" by elementary school students. (RL)

Noting that myths are a powerful classroom tool, this book presents 8 short plays (in a readers' theater format) for grades 4-8. After an introduction that discusses getting started and using the book, plays in the book are: (1) "The Gods Must Be Crazy: The Story of Cupid and Psyche"; (2) "The Sound of Music Goes Underground: The…

The technique of Soundscripting, the addition of sound cues and sound effects to the canonical pages of any play, is flexible enough to be done at no cost or with all the advantages of modern media. In class, the use of Shakespearean radio dramas or comedies can be effective. The long-term process in class involves four major steps and may take…

This performance guide is designed for teachers to use with students before and after a performance of "The Nightingale," a dance-theater performance conceived and choreographed by Dana Tai Soon Burgess, written and directed by Mary Hall Surface, and adapted from the story by Hans Christian Andersen. The guide, called a…

This comprehensive guide for instructors and students is designed for both beginning and advanced courses in directing for the theater. The guide presents the basic concepts of directing progressively and is the only directing text that combines theory with "hands-on" participation units. The exercise-driven guide's approach is totally…