Exercise Articles for Drama Teachers

I was recently in Arizona and visited a most unique museum. It was out in the desert (I love its name – the Superstition Mountain Museum) and on the property there was a wedding chapel that had...

This post is the second of three posts about preparing for the typical high school competition. Part One looked at the most important question when choosing your competition piece, and in Part Two...

All of these pictures come from the Japan pavilion at Epcot in Disney World. The store at the pavilion is an experience, based on the Mitsukoshi Department Store. I adore wandering through and...

When I was in San Diego I found a lot of interesting plant life and a number of objects that just struck me as great inspiration for writing. So let’s get to it. Each picture contains a non-human...

I came across this most vivid sentence this week: ““They want you to fail so they won’t be alone.”” Who are they? Doesn’t matter. It’s anyone who beats you down. It’s anyone who sneers at you....

The Oscars are happening this weekend and celebrities are no-doubt cramming the gifting suites. Here’s a little drama/improv warm-up that makes everybody a celebrity! I call it… The Celebrity Gift...

I read an article about the 25 most used passwords. I looked at the title and had one of those mac truck moments – there’s something there. Something. What? A play? Who knows. Most definitely an...

““Music is the space between the notes” Claude Debussy” Translated for theatre: “ Acting is what you do when you’re not speaking. ” One of the most common issues I see (and easiest things to...

I was teaching at a private school last week during their playwriting unit. One of their pre-writing exercises was to create an “Inspiration File” the point of which was to find, create, give...

Oftentimes, we’re flying by the seat of our pants in the theatre. On opening night, the show… isn’t… quite… ready… yet… We need just one more week! Just one! Please! But what if you’re...

The stage can be a lonely place when you’re performing a monologue. It’s just you. Well, you and your wits. And your anxieties. Maybe your fears, too. Sure there’s an audience, or maybe a...

If you’re in the middle of a draft and you’re stuck. If you want to work on character development. If you want to work on the relationship between two characters. Time to sit right down and write...

Have you ever stood in line at the grocery store and found yourself casually glancing ahead in line, and then back in line to see what those fore and aft have in their carts? Do you ever try to...

Not sure where to start for your next play, or even your first play? A great way to create ideas is to explore a writing exercise. Try this picture study exercise and see what writing inspiration...

The most interesting characters come alive in the smallest details: a favourite food, a favourite type of music, a fear of spiders, an allergy to plums, a scar from a fall at two years of age, a...