Lists the top ten acting ailments often encountered in student actors, and offers advice to cure these ailments: the split personality, the beauty queen and the leading man, the comedian, the director in training, the moody one, the character-clueless, the loner, the mimic, the stage-frightened, and the opening night artist. (SR)

Argues that teachers need to reinforce the idea that the successful actor's first step in the process of finding and developing a character is to understand the script. Includes the script for a 10-minute play, Christopher Graybill's "Go Look." Presents a close study of the script. (RS)

Describes the day-by-day process of a high school drama production. Discusses the play, auditions, set construction, directing, student morale, costuming, blocking, dress rehearsals, performances, and other aspects of the production. (PRA)

Presents a series of warm-up stretching exercises for student actors to do in a seated position. (SG)

Outlines steps in casting a play: the group should choose a piece with the group in mind; people should be shown off to their best advantage; and ageism, sexism, or racism should not enter the casting process. Performance reality should be kept in mind. (PA)

Note that the exercise, Roll Call, is designed to demonstrate that character is most effectively and reliably created through a careful selection and execution of actions, not by magically inhabiting a character. Concludes that by the end of this sequence of exercises, students should have a better understanding of how character can be created…

Laments the narcissism that the author sees in too many contemporary approaches to acting and directing. Argues that actors must focus on the world outside themselves, where the play and the audience most need them to be. (SR)

Describes an exercise for a beginning acting class at the outset of a semester that demonstrates, reiterates, and clarifies some of the fundamental points of acting craft. (SR)

Discusses the "mirror game," a classic acting exercise that gets young actors to understand that connecting to their scene partners is a crucial part of acting. Describes the learning opportunities offered by the mirror game, describes how to initiate it in class, and how to add challenges to the exercise. (SR)

Describes the "As If" technique, a mnemonic device that reminds actors what the action they are doing means and feels to them personally. Discusses introducing As If to students, the As If "game," and applying it to scripted scenes. (RS)

Provides the rules for two theater games--Almost Silent Story, and Add an Action. Describes the first as a game in which the instructor reads a story and the students act it out. Describes Add an Action as a game in which a series of actions are performed in sequence. Emphasizes the importance of movement. (PA)

Argues that teachers and directors should teach their students how to audition. Offers tips, explanations, and observations regarding selection of material, preparation, appearance, making contact, and other advice. (SR)

Offer a strategy that can help make the work acting instructors do with their students as they prepare for college auditions as effective as possible. Looks at the process of finding an appropriate monologue. Established some ground rules for preparation and apply them to the monologue's development. Reviews suggestions to help students present…

Suggests site-specific theatrical productions can create innovative productions in nontraditional spaces. Discusses the experiences of the author as he directed a site-specific production (Wendy MacLeod's "The Shallow End," set at an indoor pool) and addresses the lessons he learned from it. Includes advice on creating site-specific productions.…

Describes "neutral scenes," a dialog exchange for which actors must supply the meaning. Contends the exercise provides young actors the opportunity to use all the basic tools they will need when they progress to more conventional scene work, such as finding conflict, using given circumstances, playing relationships. Advises analyzing the…