Directing
10 Tips from Do-It-All Directors
We recorded a podcast featuring 9 teachers from all over the country, in both middle school and high school programs, to find out what makes them able to do it all when directing a play. Here are...
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.
Directing
Approaching Your Script: What Directors Need to Think About Before Beginning the Production Process
Choosing a show for your school to produce can be challenging. But once you have selected the show, the hard part is done, right? Well, it’s one thing crossed off your list, but your list is about...
Directing
Drama Teachers: Creating the Director’s Vision
Directors need to have a vision for the play. That means ALL directors: professional, community, high school, and middle school. Why is it important to have a vision? • A vision gives the play a...
Directing
Seven Tips for Student Directors in the Classroom
Do you include student directing in your program or are you thinking about introducing it this year? Tfolk playwright Clint Snyder reveals some tips for student directors. Directing can be...
Acting
The “Show Circle” and Why It’s Awesome
The “show circle” is one of my go-to theatre techniques, no matter whether I’m teaching a drama class or directing a production. Whenever it’s time for class or rehearsal to start, the first words...
Acting
6 Tips to Improve Enunciation
The actor’s job is to tell the story of the play to the audience. Proper enunciation is essential for the audience to have any idea of what the actor is saying or singing during a production....
Acting
The Ultimate Audition Guide: Teacher Edition
Auditions happen everywhere at every level, from middle school plays, to high school musicals, to college admissions. Audition styles range from prepared monologues, to cold readings, to group...
Directing
Directing Your Peers: A Student Director’s Toolkit
Directors have to be the ultimate communicators. Not only do they have to communicate a vision, but they also have to keep everyone on task during rehearsal. So if you’re a student director, how do...
Directing
Having an Effective Table Read: A Guide for Directors
In a professional setting, a table read is a common first rehearsal activity. The director, actors, and stage manager sit around a large table and read through the script. Oftentimes other...
Acting
Breaking the Romantic Starving Artist Misconception Starts with You
We have a guest post this week! Please welcome Mel Bondar of brokeGIRLrich Everything about the arts seems dramatic and romantic – especially to middle school and high school students (and let’s...
Directing
Dealing With Rehearsal Rut
It’s easy to get caught in a rhythm during the rehearsal process. Lines must be memorized, blocking must be learned, it’s the same rhythm over and over again. Before you know it, it’s opening night...
Directing
10 Questions to Ask During Rehearsal
Questions are important in the theatre. They’re more important than answers. Rehearsing is all about exploration – at no part in the process should the exploration stop. My favourite directors to...
Directing
Warm Up Round Table: Warm Ups For Different Types of Plays
Warm-up games are never a throwaway activity; they transition students from the outside world to rehearsal world. They can be used to encourage ensemble building in your group and help students...
Directing
How to request a cut or change to a script
“The play runs too long. We’ll get disqualified.” “My administration won’t let us say the word ‘cigarette’.” “I have more girls auditioned than guys.” In the professional world, changing the script...
Directing
What does Public Domain Mean? A Guide for Drama Teachers
I instruct a course on Copyright for the Drama Teacher Academy and I wanted to share what I’ve learned about Public Domain material – particularly how it applies to Drama Teachers. Before I get...
Acting
A Melodramatic Look at Melodramatic Comedies
This is a Guest Post from Alina Deveraux, famed author (or so she tells us). See the bottom of the post for a free printable PDF melodrama activity including two monologues and a scene from the...
Directing
Directing First Time Actors
Enjoy this replay of our January 2014 LIVE Drama Teacher Hangout. The topic was “Directing First Time Actors” with Forrest Musselman, a theatre teacher who shared some very valuable tips for...
Directing
Student Directing Series: Auditions
If you’ve acted in a play or musical, you’ve been through the audition process. But what is it like to be on the other side of the table? • What are the different types of auditions? • How do you...