Playwriting Articles for Drama Teachers

The first day of a playwriting unit should not be the first day your students start writing. There are so many barriers and pre-conceived notions when it comes to writing that to dive in on day one...

Let’s talk about resistant students. They don’t want to be in your class, they don’t want to participate, they don’t want to do anything, except… write a play. Great! But is it? A resistant student...

Stories about cherished toys and stuffed animals (plush toys, stuffies, cuddly toys, soft toys, etc.) are abundant: Winnie the Pooh, The Velveteen Rabbit, Paddington, Corduroy, Calvin and Hobbes,...

It’s fascinating how many people can observe the same moment and have wildly different experiences, thoughts, opinions, and memories about what happened. In this exercise, students will write four...

Taylor Swift famously described categorizing her songs as having "fountain pen," "quill pen," or "glitter gel pen" lyrics, referring to how the songs were written and the feelings they were meant...

Free writing can be a great way to get your students into the drama class mindset. They have to pause, focus, and write for a specific amount of time without stopping or getting distracted. For...

Whodunnit? Murder mystery plays are a lot of fun for both performers and audiences. Audiences get to be detectives and discover throughout the show who committed the crime, while the actors get to...

In this article you’ll find instructions for a playwriting choice board exercise. For this exercise, students should bring in a photo of them as a baby or toddler. It needs to be a physical copy,...

A common acting exercise for students is to imagine what their character is doing next when they exit a scene, and what they’re doing when they aren’t onstage. We’re turning that exercise into a...

Adaptations are super fun to perform. It’s really cool to see a favourite book, film, or even board game come to life before your eyes onstage. On top of that, you can put many different spins on...

The following exercise is flexible. It can be completed via distance learning or live in class. If students are completing this exercise online, they do not need to turn on their cameras or...

Here’s a playwriting prompt exercise that takes advantage of something that’s frequently around us: advertisements! Ads are everywhere, and their main purpose is to sell us stuff. But we’re going...

Are your students feeling overwhelmed with possibilities for writing a new monologue? Do they need help focusing on one idea? Or are you simply looking for a way to get your students writing? For...

The exercises listed below can be adapted to distance and online learning opportunities. Students work individually (rather than with partners or in groups). Group work and discussions can be...

This month we’re focusing on helping different types of students in your drama class succeed. In Part 2 of this series, we’re focusing on the writer/composers. Going back to the High School Musical...

Radio plays are theatrical performances that are purely auditory; they’re meant to be performed on the radio, hence the name! There is no visual aspect, so performers must rely on their vocal...

One thing that often comes up in student writing is that characters only seem to exist from the first page to the last page. Students don’t think of their characters as having lives outside the...

Devising a brand-new piece of theatre from scratch can be exciting, overwhelming, or just plain scary for students. It can be challenging for students to narrow their focus when there are literally...