Offers a reading of "The Music Man" that traces the ways its charm and humor are undergirded by a parodic stance toward American values as rooted in turn-of-the-century discourses of literacy, education, morality, and in the simultaneously burgeoning national obsessing with buying and selling. Considers sexual and textual anxieties in…

Discusses the benefits of producing theater for young audiences and some of the scripts available. Considers the value of theater for young audiences. Discusses where to look for scripts including several play anthologies. Presents a list of 13 publishers of plays for young audiences. (SC)

Reviews John Lithgow's career in theatre, his work in the television show "3rd Rock from the Sun," his family background, and his views concerning art in education. (NH)

Presents annotations of two books and five scholarly articles of interest to theater educators on out-of-field research. (NH)

Discusses the difficulties of costume construction for high school theater productions. Advances a plan (and provides a design) for a mobile costume shop which contains the basic needs of a functional costume facility, using only 60 square feet of space. Lists every element and implement needed. (PA)

Uses a dialogue between two aspects of the same person (playwright/director) to answer the question posed in the title. States that initial productions of a new play are important for rewriting and reshaping the material and that performance confirms what is healthy and alive about the play. Concludes that the time for enjoying the performance…

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)

Suggests a number of steps that can be taken to improve the aesthetic and technical quality of stage photography. Discusses finding a photographer, film choices, equipment, other technical considerations, the photo call, and digital photography. (RS)

Theatre in Education is a recognized form for exploring ethical issues in schools. Although the relationship between functional, didactic objectives and theatre artistry is recognized as complex and difficult, there has been little analytical work to elucidate its nature. This article takes the form of a case study intended to illuminate this…

The Blue Man Group began in 1988 when friends Matt Goldman, Phil Stanton, and Chris Wink all living in New York--voiced their increasing disgruntlement and boredom with urban life. With a gut feeling that creativity and a tribal-like community could prosper in their metropolitan environment, the friends decided to confront the issues rather than…

The acting out of personal experiences with bullying promotes compassion and allows all students, including bullies, victims and witnesses, to stand up for justice. Playback theaters interpret personal experiences in a creative, nonconfrontational and nonjudgmental way, demonstrating to students that the playback stage is a safe place where they…

Gender critics obsess over the boy actors who played female roles on the Elizabethan stage. But, in their far-fetched interpretation of Shakespearean drama as a spectacle of cross dressing, these new historicists lose sight of a fundamental principle of theater. Thomas Martin and Duke Pesta argue that with their prurient chatter of "the…

The goal of this study was to explore the longitudinal associations between youth activity participation and adjustment over the high school years by examining (a) correlations between participation and adjustment growth curves, and (b) bidirectional links between participation and adjustment from one year to the next. Participation was…

Test scores across the country show American students are far more able to read narrative than nonfiction text. Some research speculates this is due to a great lack in the background knowledge of many children. Librarians are beginning to realize that a unique fit for the school librarian is as a provider of background knowledge materials for…

This article focuses on the design and implementation of an interdisciplinary geriatric educational project at a small New England University. A novel, affective teaching approach of Readers Theater is highlighted as a beginning classroom instructional strategy for interdisciplinary students. The physical and psychosocial considerations for health…