Every year the author and his colleagues take their grade 12 English students to see four plays at one of Canada's major theaters. Chatting about the series on the last day of class, his students asked him if he had seen "the blue glow from the back row." Laughing at his bewilderment, they told him that during the performances so many…

Discusses performance art and how it explores traces of emotions, objects, place, and memory in a collage involving all of the arts. Argues that its impact depends upon performers rather than actors and things rather than plots. Discusses performance art as an educational theater activity with young people. (SR)

Enumerates justifications for the teaching of dramatics to adolescents. (CH)

This book presents 16 original scripts that have been adapted from classic works of literature for use for readers theatre with young adults and ESL (English as a Second Language) students. Adaptations of the following works are included: "Little Women" (Louisa May Alcott); episodes from "Don Quixote" (Miguel de Cervantes; "The Necklace" (Guy de…

Describes a project in Missoula, Montana, where participants create shows based on personal experiences and issues for educational purposes. Notes that although the project has an educational specialist and drama coordinator, the project belongs to the adolescents, who create policy. States that drama sessions include improvisation, role playing,…

Describes how the Honolulu Theatre for Youth and Very Special Arts Hawaii developed the annual THEATREFEST, a successful program celebrating the work of young playwrights and performers. Discusses how the project came about and how it is yearly put together. (SR)

Describes the Orange Summer Shakespeare Festival, which offers teenagers from New Jersey (most of them African American) the opportunity to perform Shakespeare for their community and to cocreate an exemplary piece of theater that serves as a forum for the cast to transmute their stories and express their dreams, fears, rage, and joy. (SR)

Notes that assessment and evaluation models, even portfolios, measure impact over fairly short periods of time. Discusses how transformative moments happen out of educators' line of vision and sometimes long after these students have left the classrooms and rehearsal halls. Discusses instances when teens isolated the content of the play they were…

Argues that the physical and emotional experience of performing on stage is an opportunity for young female performers to gain knowledge about their gender identities. Maintains that physical learning of gendered "acts" may be part of the crisis many young women encounter in adolescence and that such "acts" can take place on…

Intended to aid teachers in charge of implementing drama programs, this guide (in French) is to be employed in conjunction with the "1992 Second Cycle Secondary Drama Program of Studies" (Alberta, Canada). The guide's sections are as follows: (1) Introduction; (2) L'Adolescent; (3) Securite (discussing both emotional and physical…

Describes an experimental project to infuse performing arts into the curriculum of a North Yorkshire residential school for emotionally and behaviorally disturbed boys, 11-16. The project involved artists in applying the Royal Opera House model, in which children take responsibility for the creation of their own musical production. (SK)

Those interested in critical, feminist, and anti-racist pedagogy are on a search for means to counter dominant ways of speaking about stigmatized groups. Some see promise in popular theater, which starts from the experience of those on the margins. This ethnographic study followed 12 teen mothers, a highly stereotyped group, as they wrote and…

Discusses three issues relevant to adolescent heroines in high school theater productions: the need to consider the role model presented by the character being portrayed; the need to focus on the sociodramatic issues of the production; and the need for consciousness-raising among teachers. (JMF)

Describes the City at Peace program originated in Washington, DC, by Creative Response, a nonprofit group that promotes international peace and cross-cultural understanding through the performing arts. The Washington program staged an original musical in January 1993, written and performed by local teenagers, about the problems of racism, drug…

Interactive theater typically involves the presentation of a short skit tied to a socially relevant issue such as teenage pregnancy or the use of illegal substances. Interactive theater, with some cautions considered, holds much promise as an educational tool to be used by a school counselor. Cautions requiring consideration include: thorough…