Reflects on the relations between deans and theater heads. Suggests skills and values that a dean might reasonably expect in a chair of theater. (MS)

Provides guidelines for promotion and tenure deliberations. (PD)

This paper presents tips on scripting, staging, and reading Reader's Theater. The first section of the paper discusses tips on scripting--script roles, cuts and changes, narration, script format, and team scripting (children working in teams to write scripts). The second section presents tips on staging, such as equipment, script handling, the…

Argues that good criticism of school dramatic productions requires an open mind and sensitive observation, not preconceived notions and extreme language. (HOD)

The article reviews approaches used in several states to identify students gifted in the performing arts. Specific instruments, such as C. Seashore's Measures of Musical Talents, as well as locally created instruments, peer nomination, and product evaluation are considered. (CL)

Discusses the experiences of a professional and academic dramaturg as she learns how to respond to non-realist plays. Proposes that non-realism is not simply the absence of realism but is a form in itself. Presents a vocabulary for non-realist texts. Notes that to create this vocabulary the features of its style should be defined. Discusses the…

Reviews attempts of the academic theater community to develop a system to assess creative activity as a legitimate component for promotion and tenure decisions. (MM)

Reproduces, in outline form, the National Standards for Arts Education in Theater, as developed by the Consortium of National Arts Education Associations. Notes that the standards are intended to be used as curriculum planning guidelines by K-12 educators, school districts, and states. (RS)

Suggests a framework of six steps that can be used as a starting point to improve a secondary theater program to meet mandated standards: define motivation, study the standards, analyze the present program, create a planning team, determine student goals, and revise the curriculum. (PA)

Conducts an informal inquiry into the early influences on the careers of various theatre professionals. Suggests the role of those in secondary school theatre education is to honor all students' dreams and passions. (NH)

Suggests that stories are a survival mechanism--they are the way people make sense of their lives. Notes the author has made it her personal mission to encourage people to tell their own stories, the stories that will die with people if they do not pass them on. Includes excerpts from the author's readers theater scripts to illustrate the…

Presents excerpts from a workshop that actively explores four instructional activities to illuminate the let's-put-on-a-show myth. Notes that the workshop illustrates the National Theatre Standards in action by integrating several aspects of the art form: script writing, acting, designing, directing, researching, comparing art forms, analyzing and…

To prepare student stage managers for the world of theater outside the university, faculty directors should endow them with full authority. Using the Actors Equity Association rules book as a guide, faculty directors should make stage managers aware of their duties and then leave them to perform them without close supervision. Unfortunately, in…

Introduces and includes "The Ritz Bar or ABD: In Defense of the MFA," in which Peter Garvie defends the professionalism of the MFA degree in theatre, and "The PhD in Theatre--A Vanishing Degree?" Richard Hornby's discussion of the importance of the doctoral degree as the standard teaching degree. (PD)

Describes the design elements and functions of a new creative and performing arts building in a private preparatory school in Michigan. (MD)