This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 31 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) American drama between the world wars; (2) an emotion theory of stage fright; (3) the female androgyne in tragic drama; (4) creating and directing a musical…

If dramatic characters are to be rendered "three dimensional" in performance, both the dramatist and the actor/interpreter must create them with proper attention to the physical, sociological, and psychological aspects of character. If oral interpreters understand these dimensions of a particular character, they can analyze such elements as…

Fourteen plays were designed to evaluate fourth grade children's abilities to respond to reading plays both with and without oral accompaniment. The study involved 378 children, representing a cross section of socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds, each of whom read half of each play silently and the other half while listening to a taped…

The 12 articles in this issue of "Indiana English Journal" are concerned with drama and oral interpretation in the classroom. Titles of articles are: "Up in the Tree, Down in the Cave, and Back to Reading: Creative Dramatics"; "Pantomime: The Stepping Stone to Drama"; "The Living Literature of Readers' Theatre"; "Do-It-Yourself Drama"; "Drama for…

Examines the current practices and possibilities of using the teaching-in-role strategy (where the teacher takes on a fictional role for educational purposes) through a survey of professional youth theaters. Finds that, of 38 programs that responded, all indicated having an educational program with several characteristics compatible with…

Drama in the classroom is the theme of the 14 articles in this issue, which can be used as resource material for teachers concerned with incorporating drama into the English curriculum. Titles and authors are as follows: "All the World is a Stage--Except the American Classroom" (Charles R. Duke); "A Drama Program for All Seasons" (Paul Cervoni and…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 18 titles are as follows: (1) Physical and Oral Behaviors of the Solo Interpretive Performer; (2) Music in English Children's Drama; (3) Playwriting in the Maritime Provinces: 1845-1903; (4) Dance in Denver's Pioneer Theatres:…

Three performance problems encountered in storytelling are: subordinating the perspective of individual characters to that of the storyteller; the role of the audience; and the undefined boundary between reader and audience. The concept of "Gestus" as espoused in the dramatic theory of Bertolt Brecht offers an approach to the performance…

This study assesses the role of oral interpretation in a comprehensive theory of discourse and suggests how oral interpretation may be integrated with the study of literature. Oral interpretation is thought to be useful to the student of literature because: (1) the analysis may lead to a valid interpretation of the work; (2) focus is placed on the…

Based on Homer's "Odyssey," this lesson plan presents activities designed to help students understand literature originally presented in one genre can, with care, be adapted to another genre; and adapters of a literary work into drama must consider dialogue and stage directions. The main activity of the lesson involves students converting a scene…

Each hemisphere of the brain has several primary functions that are interesting to explore in terms of all areas of creative endeavor, particularly those involving both speech/language and imagery. Therefore in preparing students to interpret and share the artisitc expression of the poet, the writer, the storyteller, or the dramatist, the teacher…

American theatre history should include a study of Native American performances, since these performances are rich with "American" symbolic materials such as imagery, symbols, and heraldic visions of animals and landscapes. Indian cultures understood the importance of performance for both the visionary and the community at large. Even the pow-wow…

The eight articles in this booklet suggest activities designed to help students see drama as an active, engaging pursuit. The first article uses excerpts from Harold Pinter's "The Caretaker" to illustrate how improvisation can be used to help students discover meaning in a play. The second and third articles provide suggestions for…

This performance guide is the result of work conducted at the University of Virginia's National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute, 1989, on "Spanish Literature in Performance," in which 25 secondary school Spanish teachers studied Spanish texts from the perspective of classroom performance to deepen knowledge of the texts and…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 15 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) creative dramatics and theatre arts among socially and emotionally handicapped inner-city adolescents; (2) The Toone Marionette Theater of Brussels; (3)…