Responds to an article in the same issue of this journal which examines factors influencing longevity in the career of a particular high school theatre arts teacher. Notes responses of some jurors regarding methodological concerns and theoretical grounding, but appreciates the writer's personal affinity with her subject and welcomes the…

Discusses issues of qualitative research stimulated by Eileen Waldschmidt's work on bilingual teachers and creative drama including issues of the researcher's stance, primacy of voice, and thickness of data. (SR)

Responds to jurors' comments and questions regarding the author's study on bilingual teachers and creative drama. Argues that she did write four teacher stories, but questions whether they hold up to criteria often used to evaluate stories. Asks just whose story is being told in qualitative research. (SR)

Focuses on the historical discourse (a complex interaction of social, cultural, ideological, and esthetic forces) that constructed theatre for young audiences in the United States. Examines the real and potential impact of post modern and positivist theories in reexamining these traditional narratives, shedding light on how and why the field…

Examines the social construction of "childhood" and of "children" within two important theoretical texts published in the 1950s: Isabel Burger's "Creative Play Acting: Learning through Drama" and Charlotte Chorpenning's "Twenty-One Years with Children's Theatre." Finds several interrelated constructs,…

Examines the representation of gender and ethnicity in two female protagonists, Maria in "Simply Maria" and Alicia in "Alicia in Wonder Tierra." Demonstrates the cultural politics that direct how the protagonists negotiate gender identity within Mexican-American cultures. (SG)

Examines, through interviews with two prominent Israeli theatre teachers, the status of children's theatre in Israel at the present, and notes the problems with the types of children's theatre being produced, including the fact that children's plays are too didactic, and that there is little funding to produce them. (JC)

Presents the idea that playwrites adapting plays for children often simplify it so extensively that they do not serve the developmental needs of the child or the artistic conception of the play. Suggests that developing a thematic point of view for the play would help playwrites create fuller characters that are still understandable and enjoyable…

Addresses the need for educational drama to adjust to contemporary society. Examines the concept of drama as a "generic skill" and discusses the idea that drama underlies all aspects of existence, forming the basis of all learning and social interaction. Examines current research findings. (JD)

Synthesizes findings from three programs of theater education in three selected universities. Discusses faculty, curriculum, students, and program. Suggests ways of understanding this synthesis as a step toward building a model of theater education that could inform program development and program evaluation. (SR)

Argues that artists, educators, and researchers who love theater, children, and theater for children can help to secure a prominent place for theater and the other arts in the futures of children by engaging in arts-based educational research that is story-based, compelling, persuasive, and artful and that aims at a wide audience of fellow…

Discusses the interaction of culture and creative drama. Examines agricultural societies under three conditions: historically, from neolithic times; contemporary American Southwest Indian and Polynesian; and modern farming subcultures of European industrial societies. Asks how far agricultural life influences creative drama in agrarian societies.…

Examines the invisible incorporation of constructions from the Victorian and Progressive eras regarding children, women, and theatre art, into the field of child drama. Discusses child drama as a moral calling; women and the gendered status of child drama; child drama as an amateur field; child drama as education in democracy; and the construction…

Applies feminist dramatic criticism to the texts of 18 plays produced in the 1994-1995 season by three preeminent Theatre for Young Audiences companies. Finds a high proportion of characters who do not display typical gender-role stereotyping, but finds that most female characters are objects of adult exchange who rarely have power. Discusses four…

Responds to an article in the same issue of this journal describing a high school play director's use of "democratic" directing methods. Explores questions about methodology and study design and the role of the researcher in examining her own practice. Argues that the study makes a strong contribution to the field, especially for those involved in…