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Episode 132: Google Drive in the Drama ClassroomJoshua Hatt was a frustrated drama teacher. He put together an extensive curriculum booklet for his students only to have them lose it time and time again. Joshua had a problem which he solved using Google Drive. Listen to him explain his process...

Episode 78: Develop Your Critical Thinking Skills Craig and Lindsay get specific about why they didn’t like the shows they saw in New York and how you can develop your own critical thinking skills. What are the questions you need to ask? How can you avoid being swayed by others?...

Episode 76: Drama Teacher Guru Gai JonesGai Jones decided in the 5th grade that she wanted to be a theatre educator and she has been impacting teachers and students for over 40 years. She may be retired but she hasn’t slowed down. Gai travels on average to 20 states each...

Episode 70: Talking to a Playwright on SkypeWhat’s it like to talk to a playwright? In this episode Lindsay shares three different Skype sessions with three different groups. What do students want to know when they have a playwright in front of them? Listen to find out. Show Notes •...

Episode 167: Drama Teachers: Solving problems within play production Two drama teachers and co-directors talk about the process of putting on a play, the choices that have to be made and the problems that often have to be solved. Instead of saying “we can’t do this play” because of the...

Episode 133: The Right EnvironmentWhen you’re directing a show, it’s important to specify environment. Where does the play take place? How do the characters react to that environment? It’s also important to establish environment in your drama classroom. In this podcast teacher Chris Evans talks about about both worlds –...

Episode 107: Cross-Curricular in the Drama Classroom Teacher Jeff Pinsky will embark on a new cross-curricular journey with his drama curriculum this year. He’ll be incorporating the holocaust into drama exercises, reflections, projects, and more. How do you include such an intense subject into today’s classroom? How do you get...

Episode 140: These Kids Are Worth ItStacey Tirro works in a district with a negative reputation. There are threats of budget cuts all around her. People ask her all the time “do you feel safe teaching there?” (She’s never felt safer by the way) And none of this stopped her...

Episode 130: Connecting to a Challenging ScriptHeather Meeks is a middle school teacher who did not shy away from a challenging script. What can you do to meet a challenge head on? How do you deal with parents or administrators who feel middle school students should not step outside their...

Episode 174: Teaching, Performing, Directing, Shakespeare Chris Veneris hated Shakespeare in high school. He had a teacher who made it absolutely boring. Now he’s approaching Shakespeare from all angles – he teaches it in the classroom, he’s directed it and he’s performed it many times. In this conversation we look...

Use this exercise to practice creating titles based on a picture. • Find a photograph. A great source for public domain photos isflickr.com/commons. • Take a few moments and study the photograph. Look at it carefully, with the eye of a writer. What is going on? Who is in the...

Episode 108: Directing the Middle School Musical Brian Borowka teaches a grade 8 musical theatre class which culminates in a production. He passes on his tips for directing a middle school musical, the challenges for casting an entire class and, his favourite/least favourite experience. Show Notes • Roshambo by Brian...

Episode 191: Production Case Study: Peter and the Starcatcher Where do you start with a play? How do you come up with a vision that spans across character development, light, sound, set, costuming? How do you execute on that vision? If you’re one of the hundreds of schools putting on...

Lindsay and I had a great chat the other night with on the TheatreCast Podcast. Check out the video below. We talked about the origins of our company, how we found our niche, and where we get ideas for new stuff for our awesome customers. Thanks to Nick Cusumano and...

Episode 121: Middle School Play Mania: multiple plays with multiple classes Middle School Teacher Jessica Stafford isn’t just doing one play. She’s doing a play with multiple classes. And she’s not doing the same play, each class gets their own play. How do you produce multiple plays with multiple classes...

Episode 146: A Gender conversation….and PiratesSteven is a long time Theatrefolk playwright, and in his latest play The Dread Pirate Sadie, the majority of characters are girl pirates. And in the world of the play, this is the norm. In this podcast we talk gender and how we can create...

Episode 145: Theatre Beyond the StageJesse Wilson started life as an actor. Born in LA he started acting young and even went to Juilliard. But that traditional “actors” life is not the one he leads now. A one day novelty experience with at-risk teens turned into a two month monologue...

Episode 142: Theatre Safety How safe is your theatre? How safety conscious are you? Do you know how to properly use the power tools in your shop? Do you know how to properly secure flats? The theatre can be a world of the imagination with a bare stage, actors and...

Costumes are a fabulous part of theatre — they help tell the story, they help actors get into character, and they immediately tell the audience something about what’s going on. But whether they’re extravagant or simple and functional, sometimes it can seem overwhelming to know where to start. So we...

Need a quick creative exercise? Have your students analyze titles, write titles, and come up with titles based on descriptions. A title is an important part of an artistic product. It acts as a doorway into the piece, be it a movie, song, novel, play, or other artistic work. A...