Pursuing a career in the theater can seem intimidating and overwhelming. In …
Pursuing a career in the theater can seem intimidating and overwhelming. In this video from Treasures of New York: The Drama League, students receive advice from successful theater professionals like director Diane Paulus and actress Judith Light. From practical suggestions like staying informed by reading the newspaper, to more general advice like finding one’s passion, students hear from and are inspired by the words of experienced artists.
African-American theatre has a rich long history that is part of the …
African-American theatre has a rich long history that is part of the heritage of this art form. This assignment gives students the opportunity to take a deeper dive into one topic personally, and benefit from other student's work in broadening their knowledge of this art form.Student will choose a topic from the choices provided, conduct research, and prepare & present their findings in a 5-minute presentation. The presentation may be done live in a face-to-face class, live in a synchronous virtual class, or recorded for an asynchronous class.
Al-Bab is a portal website designed to introduce non-Arabs to Arab culture …
Al-Bab is a portal website designed to introduce non-Arabs to Arab culture by providing links to news sources, country profiles, articles, and a blog on Middle East current events. There are also specific links related to learning Arabic: dictionaries, language classes, textbooks, and other information pertaining to the study of Arabic. A free e-book, The Birth of Modern Yemen, is available for download.
This booklet about teaching through art education integrates topics such as peace, …
This booklet about teaching through art education integrates topics such as peace, tolerance and interpersonal communication as well the treatment of psychological aspects in a post conflict environment through creativity and artistic language.
In this video from August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand …
In this video from August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand the playwright discusses the influence that the blues has had on his writing. The clip also features a performance from Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and commentary from several theater scholars.
“No Hablo Español” explores the conflicted cultural identity of a Latina high …
“No Hablo Español” explores the conflicted cultural identity of a Latina high school student who can’t speak Spanish. Playwright Rosa Estevez explains why parents born in a Spanish-speaking country might prefer English for their children. People behind the scenes describe the play’s fresh pathways for discussing cultural identity, the importance of authenticity and language, and the role of the dramaturg in advocating for the playwright. The play was part of the New Voices Young Playwrights Festival at Actors Theatre of Louisville.
With a behind the scenes look at the production of Mary Poppins, …
With a behind the scenes look at the production of Mary Poppins, Jeromy Smith and Lyndy Franklin Smith, founders of the Lexington Theatre Company, describe their partnership, goals, and how they put a show together. Jeromy explains the factors that affect their choice of plays to perform. Lyndy details how a production comes together over the course of three weeks. The collegiate ensemble rehearses music and choreography in a four-day boot camp, then the professional actors join the cast. After almost two weeks of rehearsals, costume fittings, set design, and technical adjustments, the production is ready for opening night.
Noh, the oldest surviving Japanese dramatic form, combines elements of dance, drama, …
Noh, the oldest surviving Japanese dramatic form, combines elements of dance, drama, music, and poetry into a highly stylized, aesthetic retelling of a well-known story from Japanese literature, such as The Tale of Genji or The Tale of the Heike. This lesson provides an introduction to the elements of Noh plays and to the text of two plays, and provides opportunities for students to compare the conventions of the Noh play with other dramatic forms with which they may already be familiar, such as the ancient Greek dramas of Sophocles. By reading classic examples of Noh plays, such as Atsumori, students will learn to identify the structure, characters, style, and stories typical to this form of drama. Students will expand their grasp of these conventions by using them to write the introduction to a Noh play of their own.
Andrew Branca, a high school student from Central Academy of Technology and …
Andrew Branca, a high school student from Central Academy of Technology and Arts, in North Carolina talks about how he was inspired to write Boal after attending a summer theater workshop on Brazilian theater activist Augusto Boal. Cast members discuss what it was like to collaborate on the playwriting process and why they felt it was important to start a serious discussion on racism and Islamophobia.
Sensitive: This resource contains material that may be sensitive for some students. Teachers should exercise discretion in evaluating whether this resource is suitable for their class.
Boal is a play written and performed by high school students from …
Boal is a play written and performed by high school students from the Central Academy of Technology and Arts in Monroe, North Carolina. Boal brings a variety of social issues to the stage, focusing on racism and Islamophobia.
The play was inspired by Augusto Boal, a Brazilian theater director, writer, and politician. Boal was the founder of the Theatre of the Oppressed, a theatrical group dedicated to creating political change.
The performance was taped as part of the High School Theatre Festival during the Southeastern Theatre Conference.
Sensitive: This resource contains material that may be sensitive for some students. Teachers should exercise discretion in evaluating whether this resource is suitable for their class.
Diversity in theatre has come a long way, and it has a …
Diversity in theatre has come a long way, and it has a long way to go. This industry has been dominated for far too long by one sector of the population and other stories have not been told. This project encourages the students to tell their stories from their varied and unique backgrounds and share that with their classmates and community. Playwriting is a unique way to tell a story, and this is an avenue that many may not have considered. This project will broaden the scope of the students view on theatre and encourage them to step up and make their voice heard.
When the news story broke that Virginia Governor Ralph Northam and other …
When the news story broke that Virginia Governor Ralph Northam and other politicians wore blackface and Klan regalia while in school, institutions across the nation suddenly were confronted with their all too recent blackface past. Princeton Professor Rhae Lynn Barnes, the foremost expert on amateur blackface minstrelsy, has spent over a decade cataloging 10,000 minstrel plays and uncovered their prolific use on Broadway, in schools, the military, churches, political organizations, and even the White House. This webinar will help educators master the basic history of blackface in America, strategies to discuss this difficult topic with students, and ways to think about the incredible social, political, and economic power blackface held as America’s most pervasive entertainment form in the American North and West between the American Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement. By the end of this webinar, educators will be able to teach what a minstrel show was, how the genre developed, who participated in this form, how it was central to mass popular entertainment globally, they will be able to teach the construction of key stereotypes for minorities and women, and how it was pushed underground through a coordinated Civil Rights campaign after being openly celebrated for over a century.
Jeromy and Lyndy Franklin Smith describe their roles in the Lexington Theatre …
Jeromy and Lyndy Franklin Smith describe their roles in the Lexington Theatre Company. Jeromy, the producing director, focuses on logistics, contracts, and budgets. Lyndy, the artistic director, concentrates on auditions and casting, public relations, and marketing. When a show is in production, the two share directing duties. Collaboration with each other and their staff makes for a successful show.
In this activity from Commonwealth Theatre Center in Louisville, Kentucky, students can …
In this activity from Commonwealth Theatre Center in Louisville, Kentucky, students can write and perform a monologue addressed to a selected emotion describing their experiences with the emotion and why they would like to spend more or less time together. Students will better understand their relationship with their emotions and communicate complex ideas.
Exploring the American Dream: "A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry.The …
Exploring the American Dream: "A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry.The American Dream means different things to different people. By viewing Hansberry's work, "A Raisin in the Sun", students will have the opportunity to identify the different dreams held by the characters in the play and how they are both similar and different.Reflect on the play and fill in the response sheet regarding each character's "dream." Please use full sentences and proper grammar. There is no minimum word count.
In the sections of Chapter 1, we’ve included interactive learning content to …
In the sections of Chapter 1, we’ve included interactive learning content to test your knowledge over Theater history and production, with many knowledge checks over Theatrical Worlds, Edited by Charles Mitchell, as well as Playhouse Square theaters and productions, and other theater content. This content can be used by Theater students anywhere in the world, but will be helpful to those reading Theatrical Worlds.
In Chapter 2, there are analyses of local live performance, written by CSU Theater students and Heather Caprette. They serve as examples of exemplary work for the open assignment 2, as well as provide information about performances of interest to the public theater goers. * A Note of Caution: These analyses can not be copied by other Theater students to satisfy the requirement for an assignment in a course, but will give an idea of what a well written analysis paper looks like. Copying of these assignments to turn in as your own assignment constitutes plagiarism and academic misconduct.
Chapter 3, is an example of how a group of students working together on the recreation of a scene or small part of a play can share their ideas. The part should be less than 10% of a play. The example is being produced by Heather Caprette, MFA, but in the assignment, different students would work on various aspects of the theater production. Elements recreated include: dialogue, character design, set design, stage lighting, costume design, and sound design.
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