In dealing with a small college theater production program the first thing to consider is the aim and purpose of the program and how this fits in with the goals and mission of the department and the college. The main goal of the program should be the education of students--both those involved in the production, and those who will see…

Just as all perceptions are of figures differentiated from a larger background, a play takes place against the background of the audience's knowledge and feelings. While audience members generally bring to a performance a large body of background information--they evaluate the storyline, for example, using a lifetime of personal experience--at…

Responds to "Toward Civilization, A Report on Arts Education" by the National Endowment for the Arts, published in May, 1988. Examines implications of the report for drama education as part of the curriculum in elementary school, focusing on the purposes of understanding civilization and developing aesthetic literacy in drama. (MM)

This paper makes six assertions concerning the artist as experimenter and the means by which artists progress from experiment to experiment. (1) The family resemblances typically cited between the arts and the sciences are trivial, tend to be wish-fulfilling analyses of the common logic of art and science, and promise more than they can deliver.…

In theatrical production, skillful design is effective communication. A study of audience response to nine drama settings gives positive evidence that the successful designer creates "signposts and symbols" that communicate instantaneously to the observer. The setting is a message. All of the scenic elements must be unified in a clear and concise…

Middle school and junior high school language arts students can receive a basic background in the elements of theatrical production and an appreciation of the theatre arts by producing and performing one act plays. A six- or seven-week unit can progress from the basics of pantomime, reading and vocabulary, and characterization with make-up,…

The publication recounts two symposiums on Arts Education that took place in Hong Kong and New Delhi, India in January 2004 and March 2005 respectively. Two sections include papers covering the current situation of arts education in Asia and plans for the future. The first part has an introduction to culture and arts education in Asia, the vision…