Describes a theater for children and youth on the island of Aruba and the celebration of the project in a youth theater festival. Outlines the goals of the theater project. Discusses the development of the festival plays, the themes expressed in terms of metaphor, and the communication through objects used in the plays. (CR)

Uses a dialogue between two aspects of the same person (playwright/director) to answer the question posed in the title. States that initial productions of a new play are important for rewriting and reshaping the material and that performance confirms what is healthy and alive about the play. Concludes that the time for enjoying the performance…

Discusses the potential technology has for playwrights today, especially "technology as special effects" and "technology as subject matter." Finds it curious that very little science fantasy has found its way into the theater, and even less science fiction. Advocates exploring the world of technology through theater. (PA)

Reproduces a conversation among playwrights, directors, and dramaturges participating in the Bonderman/IUPUI (Indiana University Purdue University at Indianapolis) experience. Features their answers to six questions regarding new play development, its focus, and influence on the world of theater for young audiences. (PA)

Explains the creation of the New Visions/New Voices festival which focuses attention on developing new scripts for young audiences. Notes that unlike other playwriting programs, New Visions does not require a complete script for application. Outlines the selection, casting, rehearsal process, dramaturg involvement, and post-reading discussions of…

Describes the ongoing work of a teacher whose Summer Institute for Drama/Teacher Education at the University of Tennessee provides training for both theater and classroom teachers. Focuses on her teaching method--improvisational drama--which simultaneously addresses elements common to fiction and script writing, and now contained in the language…

Describes the creation of a theater-based program for eighth-grade students in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg (Georgia) Schools. Chronicles the efforts of playwright Ed Shockley to write a play focusing on teen violence and aimed at eighth-grade students. Concludes that the program and the play succeeded in accomplishing their goals. Relates three…

Discusses, in poetic form, the writing of the play "Salvador" from the perspective of the author. Explains her thoughts about writing for children, including didactic relationships with children, didactic functions of art, and how adults teachers try to create a sterilized, lifeless, good-thinking, and artificial world for children when they are…

Describes how Foster High School, Tukwila, Washington, joined forces with Walworth, a London secondary school, to write a play. Reports that, after some Walworth teachers visited Foster, the project got underway, with a group in each place writing part of the play, and another group revising. Notes that the play was finally performed at Foster…

Describes a four-hour drama session, held one hour for each of four weeks, in which 15 girls and one boy ages six through eight participated with 17 college participant observers in a 1991 Children and Drama course, during which a drama teacher came to a "different" playmaking process, guiding children to direct their own dramas, without…

Describes a three-week summer theater program for middle and high school students. Discusses the reconstructing of Shakespeare's play "Hamlet" by students in the class from prior viewings of movie versions of the play and from students' past experiences with the play. Includes the play script as rewritten by the students. (CR)

Presents an interview with Ruth Beall Heinig, author of "Creative Drama for the Classroom Teacher," about her role as a teacher of creative drama and as a teacher-educator preparing teachers to use creative drama. Describes the development of her career in creative drama. Offers information on books about the subject written by other authors. (CR)