Describes a project to help student actors "get into character" thoroughly and empathetically. Notes that 10th, 11th, and 12th graders interviewed many people in a conflict-ridden school community, recorded and transcribed the interviews, took notes on interviewees' gestures and characteristics, and represented those people as faithfully…

Discusses the potential technology has for playwrights today, especially "technology as special effects" and "technology as subject matter." Finds it curious that very little science fantasy has found its way into the theater, and even less science fiction. Advocates exploring the world of technology through theater. (PA)

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 that theatre's capacity to educate is often overstated. Notes theatre created by and for teenagers is especially guilty of proselytizing. Argues the real danger is that the cumulative, subliminal message is that theater is medicine. Suggests that playwrights, directors, and artistic directors leave the education for the classroom and take…

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.…

Explores why flexibility is an essential component in the design of multipurpose performing-arts centers for schools. Discusses stage size and shape, seating configuration, and design considerations for improving lighting and sound. (GR)

Describes the author's experiences directing a play translated and acted in Korean. Notes that she had to get familiar with the sound of the language spoken fluently, to see how an actor's thought is discerned when the verbal language is not understood. Concludes that so much of understanding and communication unfolds in ways other than with…

Describes the author's experiences in Santa Cruz, Bolivia creating a theater program in an orphanage. Notes how Gueddy, a deaf boy, worked his way into the drama program and was very successful finding his "voice" in theater. Concludes that Gueddy is now the star of the orphanage, the talk of the town, and front page news in Bolivia. (SG)

This essay draws on the contemporary aesthetic theories of four writers -Hans-Georg Gadamer, Paul Ricoeur, Paul Thom, and James O. Young-who represent both the continental and analytic contemporary philosophical schools of thought. Each writer offers valuable perspectives on issues in aesthetic education pertaining to a key question in my…

It is widely assumed that the theatre, particularly theatre for children, can and should teach. It is also widely assumed that the theatre can and does do harm, real harm, especially to children. And it is universally assumed that even if the theatre does not teach, it should do no harm. This author believes that these assumptions are true: that…

"Who We Are" is among the exhibitions that premiered in September 2004 during the opening of the Smithsonian National Museum of American Indian in the U.S. capital. It is a multimedia-formatted film being shown in the distinctive circular Lelawi Theater located on the fourth floor in the museum. "Lelawi" is a Lenape (Delaware)…

A shadow puppet is basically a two-dimensional cut-out form with moving parts. When light is projected behind a screen, the puppet appears as a silhouette, or an opaque drawing in profile. A puppet is successful if it seems to take on a life of its own. Although India is the general source of puppetry that spread throughout Europe through gypsy…

In contrast to research in which an individual leader is assigned or expected to emerge, musical theater productions provide an opportunity to explore how leadership is shared among the director, assistant director, music director, choreographer, and stage manager in a naturally occurring group. This ethnographic study explores how one community…

A leading TA and writer speaks to the human importance of art making in schools, prisons, and beyond. This article attempts to demonstrate that, as human beings and as artists, we should speak up for nourishing the art-making instinct at its core, and not only for placing this gift in the service of other laudable goals.

Physics students spend the early part of their training attending physics and mathematics lectures, solving problem sets, and experimenting in laboratory courses. The program is typically intensive and fairly rigid. They have little opportunity to follow their own curiosity or apply their knowledge. There have been many attempts to address this…