Discusses ethnographic performance texts (sometimes called ethnotheatre or ethnodrama), which employ traditional techniques to mount a performance event as an alternative mode of research representation, with actors portraying actual research participants. Discusses ethnodrama's rationale, content and structure, participants and characters,…

Ponders what students might learn from a course in playwriting: the ability to think in vivid instances and moments; the habit of close observation of the details of human behavior; the ability to think through and see through cliches; making hard choices; sympathy; dreaming within limits; and concision. (SR)

Reproduces a conversation among playwrights, directors, and dramaturges participating in the Bonderman/IUPUI (Indiana University Purdue University at Indianapolis) experience. Features their answers to six questions regarding new play development, its focus, and influence on the world of theater for young audiences. (PA)

Involvement with the Wrinkle Writing Program at the University of New Mexico led Dupre to encourage playwriting in her classroom as a means to understand and respect differences.

The author decided to minimize the stressful emphasis on assessments in learning in his 11th grade American History and Government classes and put the fun back into teaching. Tired of the repetitive aspects of teaching the required state standards related to the U.S. Constitution and Supreme Court cases, the author switched gears from simply…

Organized along broadly historical lines, this comprehensive collection of outstanding plays includes 41 works from the classical Greek period to the contemporary. As an introduction to the theater, the collection is unmatched for its theatrical variety and cultural diversity. It provides: (1) a general introduction on reading and witnessing a…

In a celebration of the expansiveness and inclusiveness of farce, this book describes the art form rather than defines it. Part 1 illustrates the nature of farce and its relationship to tragedy, comedy, and melodrama. Part 2 is a cumulative biography of farce, beginning with Greek and Roman writers and continuing through Shakespeare, Moliere, and…

When teachers experience the process of playwriting, it focuses their attention on the significant problems of form, voice, and audience that will confront their students. Teachers were assigned to overhear and record an argument, then use that argument as the basis for a one-act radio, television, or stage play. An argument can supply conflict, a…

The ideas and techniques of post-modernist art and the imagist theatre represent an important preparatory stage in the revival of poetic drama. During the 1960s and early 1970s, a number of experimental companies rebelled against the realism of the American theatre and began to produce works that stressed emotional authenticity in acting, active…

To provide both an enriching theatre experience for students and faculty and new opportunities for women artists, the Department of Theatre Arts and Speech at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey at Newark held a competition for new plays by New Jersey women playwrights. The winning play, Leni Hamilton's "The Fortress," a story of…

Author tackled the problems that children have in understanding Shakespeares plays. (RK)

The playwrights-directors workshop at the University of Wisconsin (Madison) allows students of directing and playwriting to meet jointly to explore and solve problems in the creation and production of original one-act scripts. At the heart of the program is the belief that both playwriting and directing students profit from producing their efforts…

Four books are discussed as being helpful in the teaching of playwriting at the college level: Kenneth Macgowan's "A Primer of Playwriting" (1951); Walter Kerr's "How Not to Write a Play" (1955); Bernard Grebanier's "Playwriting" (1961); and Sam Smiley's "Playwriting: The Structure of Action" (1971). The books are discussed individually and are…

This paper discusses generally Neil Simon's plays; specifically examines "God's Favorite,""Plaza Suite,""Barefoot in The Park,""Star Spangled Girl,""Come Blow Your Horn," and "Last of the Red Hot Lovers"; and quotes reviews of the plays. An examination of the composition of the plays…

Author talks to Nigel Williams, whose play about classroom life in the raw has been widely acclaimed by teachers and critics. (Editor/RK)