Presents criteria for selecting plays for secondary school theater programs to be presented to the public as well as to be studied or produced within the curriculum. Includes consideration of student needs and abilities, appropriateness, budget, and community standards. (JMF)

Examines the content of daytime serial dramas to determine how the narrative structure promotes a sense of involvement in viewers. Competing plot lines, the lack of a concrete sense of resolution, the pattern of episodes, and the audience's awareness of information kept secret from characters all contribute to audience involvement. (JMF)

Describes a storytelling unit that offers a unique opportunity for students to develop skills in telling and writing stories while enhancing their Internet research skills. Notes that these stories require writers to conduct research and use their imaginations to create a story plot and characters that hold the reader's and listener's interest.…

A writing instructor's quest in a screenwriting course was to convince her students to get in touch with their inner voices. Her male students are mostly Tarantino clones who write scripts that could star Robert DeNiro or Harvey Keitel. The instructor wanted them to create characters that are believable and that the audience can attach to in a…

Discusses and appraises the work of Nobel Prize winning black author Toni Morrison. Locates thematic and stylistic antecedents in the works of Fyodor Dostoevsky and Ernest Hemingway. Compares and contrasts Morrison's work with Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man" and discusses the critical reception of black authors. (MJP)