Suggests that stories are a survival mechanism--they are the way people make sense of their lives. Notes the author has made it her personal mission to encourage people to tell their own stories, the stories that will die with people if they do not pass them on. Includes excerpts from the author's readers theater scripts to illustrate the…

Presents excerpts from a workshop that actively explores four instructional activities to illuminate the let's-put-on-a-show myth. Notes that the workshop illustrates the National Theatre Standards in action by integrating several aspects of the art form: script writing, acting, designing, directing, researching, comparing art forms, analyzing and…

Presents ideas for activities geared to children ages seven and up that revolve around the Harry Potter books, based on a Harry Potter Holiday Club developed at the Beverly Hills (California) Public Library. Includes costs, craft activities, theater performances, and games. (LRW)

Suggests that improvisation is an excellent catalyst for getting a scene jump-started or back on track. Presents two specific examples of how the author used improv in his own scene study classes. Notes the fundamental task teachers must master prior to improv work is how to isolate the essential dynamics of the scene. (RS)

Many contemporary artists, critical theorists, and educators challenge the cultural assumptions that are embedded in our understandings of technology and its relationship to art, the body, and human life. In this article, we discuss the performance artworks of osseus labyrint, Goat Island, and Guillermo Gomez-Pena, Roberto Sifuentes, and Juan…

This article presents contributions from teaching artists about Teaching Artist professional development across the country in theater programs and through museum programs. In the process, the authors have come to realize how much they still have to learn about what is available (how badly they need a funded research project to inventory the state…

Aesthetics, as a distinctively "philosophical" exercise, whether with respect to research or to teaching, is supposed to be about the "theory/theories" that underpin the works of art in these various fields. Given this, "applied aesthetics" demands a preliminary explanation. First of all, the phrase might refer to an analysis of a particular work…

History gets a really bad "rep" in school. History teachers seemed to do everything they could to suck the interesting out of history, leaving only names, dates, and battles to memorize until the test was over. History can be brought up on its feet and given room to play when it's combined with theater. They work so well together. In this article,…

The article discusses a community-based theatre project facilitated with a group of Jewish Ethiopian youth in a boarding school in Israel. The intention is to investigate how far a specific group of black immigrants are able to use theatre for their own needs in such a location. It begins with the presentation of the Jewish Ethiopians as a…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 26 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) military theatre; (2) drama as pedagogy; (3) visualization and actor training; (4) the discomfort-relief quotient as an indicator of theatrical genre; (5)…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 16 titles deal with the following topics: (1) children's theatre activities at Karamu House in Cleveland, Ohio; (2) the development, implementation, and significance of story theatre as a theatrical art form and performance…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 16 titles deal with the following topics: an examination of inexperienced actors performing the plays of William Shakespeare; an investigation of the philosophies and practices of a summer theatre producer and manager; the…

Recommends using "Readers' Theater" as an interdisciplinary approach to social studies. Maintains that the format lends itself to the examination of social issues and current events while it provides opportunities for a variety of learning styles. Briefly discusses Jan Truss' book, "A Very Small Rebellion." (MJP)

Theatre practitioners in Pakistan's southern city Karachi have seen a recent surge of interest in the past two decades by donor agencies from the Western world to fund theatre companies and employ various forms of theatre for development to service their agendas and areas of interest within their target communities. This trend may have lent a…

This article discusses a project established at the New Vic Borderlines by Sue Moffat in 1999 titled "Making Amends." It is an example of interventionist theatre undertaken with young offenders. The article draws on theories of restorative justice as well as ideas of learning development found in social constructivism in order to…