Reaffirms the position of directors (Peter Brook, Tyrone Guthrie, Peter Hall, and others) concerning the "balance of power" between director and playwright in transforming a playscript into a theatrical performance. (PD)

Presents a rhetorical perspective for examining Shakespearean dramatic texts and an instructional framework for translating that perspective into the teaching of solo performance of Shakespearean dramatic literature. Describes techniques for implementing classroom performance that will develop and demonstrate student understanding of the text.…

Most performer-writers accept the writing process simply as a means to an end: the shared performance event with a live audience. While writer-performers regard a script as more important than the performance, a solo performance is, however, a showcase of the artist's talent, and creating one's own text offers the performer artistic control. Some…

One of the rhetorical dimensions on which theatre exists is the rhetoric of production. This implies that the production, through examples, takes and urges an attitude toward the text. This argument provides a foundation for both the nature and the implications of interpreters theatre productions that advocate social issues. Theatrical…

From the beginning, readers theatre performances generally have been held in academic or theatrical settings and have relied heavily on literary scripts. Now, readers theatre performers are finding a wider range of audiences and materials for their use. Among these special audiences are elementary and secondary schools, schools for the physically…

Mark Twain was a strong proponent of the superiority of the spoken word. Realizing the importance of conversational style, Twain derived from and acted in accordance with the principles of communication effectiveness which subsequently formed theoretical bases for communication instruction by such scholars as James Winans and Charles Woolbert. An…

This introductory article discusses the development of oral interpretation skills to promote literature in the classroom as part of the whole language curriculum. Benefits of listening to adults read aloud and telling stories are discussed, and the importance of listening skills and audience etiquette is described. (LRW)