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Instructor Matt Webster guides this tutorial on Old Age Makeup. Old age is the number one special effect makeup you will do and it’s a great process to teach in your class. This video series takes you visually step by step through everything you need to know about creating old age makeup, from the subtle to the extreme. You can view each step individually so they can be practiced one at a time in the classroom. The first part is the temple and the forehead. The second part are the cheeks and the jaw. Third will be lips, chin, and nose. Fourth is a section on the face called the nasolabial fold. Fifth, the eyes. And the sixth section will be looking at wrinkles, stippling and finishing the makeup look. These sections are designed to be seen one at a time and to teach within a 90-minute class between instruction, setup, practice, and cleanup. When you put them all together, you will have the parts and pieces to make a full old age makeup.

Holly Beardsley is a do-it-all director. She started directing middle and high school students in her early college years and since then has written over ten shows and directed twice as many. Do-it-all directors are responsible for everything it seems – the direction, the costuming, the choreography and of course, the set too. And though directors are ready to direct, to costume and even dance, there is something intimidating about designing and building a set. The Do-it-All Director’s Introduction to Set Design will give you the director, who must do-it-all, the confidence and skills to not only direct but build your own set as well - no matter your experience or budget. This course will teach you set design basics, construction tips, budget tricks, and how to tackle your precious performance space armed with a hammer, and most importantly, without fear.

Instructor Matt Webster believes that Story Theatre is one of the most creative, most imaginative, most unique forms of theatre ever to make its way to the stage. His course introduces the style of theatre called story theatre, explores the steps needed to choose the best stories to perform, explains how to adapt a story into a script, and demonstrates a variety of story theatre styles from simple and contained to complex and crazy and everything in between. When you are finished with this course, you’ll be able to bring nearly any story to any stage and present it to any audience. That is the power and promise of story theatre. Learn how to bring the page to the stage.

This course is a mix of individual and group activities requiring students to use both their analytical and creative mind. It gives students an overview on the Anti-Realism movement of the late-19th and early-20th century, and introduces them to some key theorists, playwrights, and theater makers involved in this movement. Together we will guide students through the wild world of the “isms,” more specifically Symbolism, Dadaism, Surrealism, Expressionism and Absurdism. We will introduce students to various manifestos and theories as we track the characteristics of each of our five “isms.” As we combine analysis and creative exercises, students bring their entire self to process and prepare to design an ISM Theme Park project, which they will share with the class at the end of the course.

Concept-Based Design is a method of design that allows the director and production team to create a unified world based on the ideas, perceptions and images extracted from an in-depth analysis of the play. Matt Webster designed this course for theatre teachers in a typical school setting with limited budgets, space and materials to use towards the design of their shows. Many theatre teachers feel most unsure about their design and tech skills and Matt wanted to help those teachers look at design differently, and make designing a show a little less scary and a little more fun!

Karen Loftus instructs this second course in stage management - a companion to Introduction to Stage Management Part One. This course will review the major concepts covered in Introduction to Stage Management, and discuss the different types of technical rehearsals and how student stage managers prepare for and run them. You’ll learn how to teach your students to notate and call cues for a show. The course will also introduce strategies for student stage managers who work with student crews. It will discuss how you can provide the support your student stage managers need to be effective, and how that support helps to strengthen your overall program and theatre community. Student stage managers start in the classroom, train during school productions, and can take these newly discovered and acquired skills on with them to colleges and careers and theatre (and beyond)!

Join drama teacher Claire Broome and explore the basics of lighting, including lighting systems and instruments, lighting plots, how to record a lighting cue, and alternative sources of lighting. You’ll learn some practical, hands-on ways of using lighting in your classroom or theatre, whether you have a lighting system or not. This course is packed with hands-on examples, activities for your students, and videos to develop your students’ understanding. Find out why lighting is such an important character in a production.

In this course, instructor Joshua Hatt shows you how to unpack your drama standards, articulate what you want your students to know and be able to do. The material explores how to incorporate lights, sound, makeup, staging, and costuming into your drama class at any grade level regardless of your school resources or unit structure. Bells and whistles? Awesome! Barely a classroom? We’ve still got you covered. This 9 lesson series works from the basics and standards, though lighting, sound, costuming, staging, and makeup design, and culminates with a final project including rubrics, resources, and handouts. A wise theatre technician once said: “the theatre mirrors life but technical theatre teachers us how to live.” Try to keep that statement in mind as you work through this course and see if we can make you a believer in all things technical theatre.

In Preventing Pandemonium Part 02, instructor Maria Smith shares a classroom management strategy that transformed her class from a discipline zone to a thriving environment. It’s called positive incentives (or rewards) that make your students want to behave and participate positively in the drama classroom. This course includes straightforward “this is how you do it” information, as well as posters, passes and rewards for teachers to print out and use in your classroom. Learn how positive incentives cut down the need for discipline,and find the joy in teaching.

In Preventing Pandemonium Part 1, Maria Smith will share with you a classroom management tool critical to success. It’s called procedures. Procedures are daily classroom management routines that are the key to classroom management success. They are the essential element of classroom management. This course will give you straightforward, practical “this is how you do it” information, as well as procedures catered specifically to the drama classroom, to help you maintain order from start to finish, even during that chaotic group practice time. Imagine yourself in a classroom where you can spend most of your time teaching and keep students on track without the constant lecturing. If that sounds appealing, then start the first module.

This introductory course in Stage Makeup is brought to you by Matt Webster, and covers all the basics. You’ll learn the tools you can use to build a makeup kit, how to match skin tone, what are the shapes of the face and how those shapes affect everything you do with makeup. You’ll learn about highlight and shadow, blending, basic corrective makeup, safety and hygiene, and lastly, tips for teaching makeup. And throughout, sample exercises are included so you have the information you need to bring stage makeup into the drama classroom.

An in-depth and interactive look at copyright as it applies to school theatre programs. Learn about how works become copyrighted, how long it lasts, how to get permission to use copyrighted work, and more.

In this course, instructor Karen Loftus explores the responsibilities of a stage manager. You'll learn exercises that will help you demonstrate those responsibilities and the necessary skills of a stage manager to your students. You'll learn how to train your students to serve as stage managers for your school’s productions. The course takes you through what a stage manager does prior to rehearsal and throughout the rehearsal and performance process to have a smooth-running backstage. It includes learning about the paperwork required, including prompt scripts, rehearsal preparations, notating blocking, and a stage manager’s kit and checklist to wrap it all together.

Organized Chaos: Discipline in the Theatre Classroom will give you tools and strategies to prepare you for challenges you may face as you step up in front of a class of students and introduce them to the art of theatre. Whether you are a student teacher finishing college, a first-year teacher just starting out in the classroom, or an established teacher with a few years of experience under your belt, these lessons will provide insight and support as you establish discipline in your classroom. This is a revised, 2nd edition of a favourite original course in the DTA, brought to you by experienced theatre educator, Matt Webster.

Pacing is one of the invisible hands of good teaching. Pacing is a fundamental component of a well run classroom. Many challenging issues that teachers face in the classroom stem from undiagnosed pacing issues: From comprehension to classroom management, pacing can be identified as both the source, and the solution of these problems. This course covers the Definition of Pacing, Non-Standardized curriculum, Pacing and Authentic learning, Expanding and Contracting The Pace, Transitions, Rehearsals and Hidden Pacing.

Whether you're in a new school or have an existing program, you can use a Mission Statement to define your program, unify your students and let everyone know from administration, to parents, to the community why you do theatre, what you do and how you do it. Learn how to create this powerful and vital statement with your students. Mission Possible takes you through step by step from asking the right questions, to looking at your school culture and traditions, to writing and revising, to shouting your statement from the rooftops.

Instructor Kerry Hishon is an actor, director, writer, and stage combatant with years of experience in youth theatre. Her course, Theatre Etiquette 101, is designed to help students be successful in their theatrical journeys. When teaching students who are brand new to theatre, it’s important to discuss and apply the expectations of the drama classroom and the theatrical world. This course starts by explaining "what is theatre etiquette", and then moves through every step in the production process from audition to post-show recovery. Every module has tips for both you and your students, classroom exercises, rehearsal exercises, and reflections. There are also printable posters included to use in your classroom or backstage.

Instructor Ray Palasz leads this introductory course in using SketchUp in the classroom. This course is broken down into five easy modules. One, downloading the program. Two, getting started with using the program. Three, drawing two and three-dimensional objects. Four, using the 3D warehouse, which will save you and your students tons of time. And five, a sample assignment and assessment for your students. Each module also comes with a handout with visuals from SketchUp to guide you through the process. You will learn how SketchUp can add so much to your program.

Have you been wanting to find some new ways to enhance your classroom with technology? Have you been told you need to integrate technology in your classroom but don’t know where to start or what would even make sense to use in the drama classroom? Whether you want to find some new ways to diversify your instruction and assessment, provide new resources and opportunities for your students, or simply needs some help with organization and communication, Google Tools has a treasure trove of resources ready for you to use today. Instructor Anna Porter covers the tools of Google Forms, Photos, Calendar, Earth, Custom Search and Sites. Each lesson has video examples of how to use the tools as well as tips and resources for each module.

This tutorial, led by Linda Veneris, shows teachers and students how to make blood and gore with easy to find, everyday ingredients. Included are recipes, video demonstrations, and top 10 tips for working with students on blood and gore. This tutorial can be part of a stage makeup unit in your classroom as well as for productions.