Acting
5 Props Challenges and How to Overcome Them
Props can add so much to a production, but they can also be challenging to work with. Here are five common props challenges, rapid-fire style, with suggestions about how to deal with them! 1....
Directing
Bring your vision to life.
Explore practical directing tips, rehearsal strategies, and creative approaches for both student and teacher directors. From first read to final performance, find what you need to shape strong, confident productions.
Acting
Rehearsing in Layers
Creating a theatrical piece is a bit like baking a cake – choose your recipe (the show), add ingredients (cast and crew), stir together and bake (practice and rehearse). At the end, you’ve got a...
Acting
The Curtain Call… Already?!
A colleague of mine once told me that he always waits until the technical or dress rehearsal to choreograph the curtain call. His reasoning was that the curtain call should be the absolute last...
Acting
Addressing Scheduling Conflicts with Show & Student Commitments
We asked drama teachers: How do you address scheduling conflicts? Between sports and students’ activities, how do you ensure that your rehearsals are attended and your students are prepared? Let’s...
Acting
All About Transitions: 5 Tips for Success
In theatre, a transition refers to the process of moving from one scene or set to the next. It seems simple enough–grab “all the stuff” at the end of one scene and take it offstage, while the rest...
Directing
How to Recruit Crew Members
It takes a community to create a great production, and theatrical performances would not exist without the time, skills, and talents of dedicated crew members. From costumes and props to sound and...
Acting
Keeping Up Morale (or, Dealing With “Rehearsal Blahs”)
There comes a point in every rehearsal process when the dreaded “rehearsal blahs” start to set in. This tends to be mid-way through the rehearsal process, when the initial excitement of casting and...
Acting
Bringing Shy Students out of their Shells in the Drama Classroom
We asked drama teachers: What are your tips for bringing shy or hesitant students out of their shells? Do you let them have the time they need to get comfortable participating, or does it work...
Acting
Round-Up: 5 Rehearsal Problems… and Solutions!
From Kingston to California, drama teachers everywhere deal with similar concerns with their drama students and their theatrical productions. Here are five common rehearsal problems, rapid-fire...
Acting
Working With Stage Blood
From Shakespearean tragedies to zombie thrillers, stage blood can be an exciting addition to a show–it adds a sinister realism to dramatic moments, and really makes the audience gasp with surprise...
Acting
Theatre and Autism: How do you include students on the spectrum?
How do Theatre and Autism fit together? Do you have students on the spectrum in your classrooms? Have you ever put on a sensory friendly performance? All of these questions and more were answered...
Acting
When an Actor Leaves: How to Deal with Losing an Actor
It’s a situation that directors hope never to have to face, but unfortunately it happens: an actor, for whatever reason, has to drop out of the show at some point during the rehearsal process....
Acting
Five Tips for Dealing with Scheduling Policies & Conflicts, For Directors
Recently we shared a post about theatrical time management for students . However, it’s not just students who need to plan ahead and consider their schedules. Teachers and directors need to be even...
Acting
The Rehearsal Mid-way Blues: Feeling Stuck? Go Back to the Basics
If you were to make a graph of emotions throughout a rehearsal process of a show, I think it would take on a U-shape. The process starts on a high note, with everyone excited about the show and...
Acting
You Want Me to Do WHAT Onstage?
Students, imagine this: You’ve been cast into a show that you know is going to be awesome. You’re in the middle of rehearsal, and your director has just asked you to do something really...
Acting
Drama Teachers Directing Shakespeare for the First Time
If you’re a drama teacher, Shakespeare should make it onto your stage at some point. But what if you’ve avoided The Bard at all costs and have no idea where to start? Shakespeare is a great...
Acting
Rehearsals You Need to Include in Your Schedule (That You May Not Have Thought Of)
Creating a rehearsal schedule is one of the most challenging parts of producing a show, but it makes theatrical life so much easier. Teachers and directors: When making your rehearsal schedule, I’m...
Acting
Theatrical Time Management for Students
Students are busy people. Drama students are no exception! They’re constantly juggling rehearsals, learning lines, working backstage, preparing for auditions, performing in shows (often all at the...