Curriculum & Lesson Planning

Drama class is a fantastic place to learn transferrable skills and work towards applying them to real-life situations. No matter what the exercise is, there is always a transferable skill to...

“I don’t want to be an actor!” is one reason why students may not want to take drama class. However, there are a whole host of careers in the theatre that aren’t acting. The following individual...

Here is a group project that is a great complement to our last blog post, Theatre in the Real World: Theatre Company Profile. Your students have been introduced to various theatre companies, all...

We recently discussed how to help students who are rushing their lines and movements. Now we’re solving the opposite problem: what to do when the scenes are dragging and putting the audience to...

A director friend recently sent me a message asking for advice about how to help her students with their upcoming show. _Hi Kerry, _ Any tips on helping my students to slow down and stop rushing?...

Stage combat is more than simply memorizing choreography and learning proper technique. Yes, those are extremely important for ensuring that the stage combat is safely and properly executed. But...

A fight captain is a vital part of the artistic team. They are a member of the cast who assists the fight director and helps to maintain the stage combat choreography during the run of the show....

So, you’ve decided to produce a show at your school that requires some stage combat. Awesome! Now, it’s time to reach out to a qualified and experienced fight director (FD) to choreograph the...

This month, we are diving into the world of stage combat. If you dream of directing an action-packed show like The Three Musketeers, Robin Hood, or Treasure Island, then you’ll have to deal with...

The following exercise is a large-scale culminating project for your entire class. Students will form small groups and work together to create design concepts for a play in six areas of technical...

“Bigger! Louder! More, more, more!” We always want our drama students to push themselves to be larger than life onstage and in class. How can we help our students raise the stakes and bring more...

Students often come to drama class with big goals: Get the lead in the show! Become a performing star! And while some students might make great steps towards achieving those big goals, most don’t...

Can you tell a great story in six minutes? How about in six seconds? You definitely can. Prior to TikTok, there was Vine — a short-form video hosting app where users created and shared...

It’s a new school year and in the hustle and bustle of getting classrooms organized, learning students’ names, and completing all the start-of-term tasks, please take a moment to pause, breathe,...

If you’re riding the struggle bus at rehearsals and scenes are looking stagnant, dull, or flat-out boring, you and your students may be suffering from a case of rehearsal rut. Rehearsal rut tends...

Want to give your students some fantastic acting material that they can really sink their dramatic chops into? Consider doing an issue play for your next production. Issue plays explore problems...

Consent can be a touchy subject in the classroom. Many students immediately think that consent refers to intimacy, such as embraces or stage kisses. While that is an important part of consent in...

The rehearsal process is often exciting and often frustrating. The frustrations are the worst when they have nothing to do with the play itself. What do you do when… The cast doesn’t get alongIt’s...