Since performance is the main difference between drama and fiction, it should be included in drama instruction in order to give students a complete view of what drama really is. Accordingly, a series of theatrical techniques to teach four elements of drama--plot, character, setting, and mood--were elaborated. Improvisations, pantomimes,…

Akira Kurosawa, the most popular Asian film maker with audiences in the United States, has found in William Shakespeare's plays themes and plots that resonate within Japanese culture. While the translations of "Macbeth" into "Throne of Blood" and "King Lear" into "Ran" are quite direct and literal with only…

This article tries to understand, by using some poststructural tools, practices with children that were performed by a Left action group in Sweden in the 1960s and 1970s. Modernist resistance discourses of enlightenment and liberation from obedience, silence and innocence can be seen as being produced, together with postmodern acts of unfolding…

In this article, Natalie Schmitt recalls her teaching experiences with morning exercise programs, beginning with her first teaching job as assistant Morning Exercise teacher at the Francis W. Parker School in Chicago. In the Morning Exercises, students were encouraged to employ all means of expression: speaking, drawing, dancing, singing, acting.…

During discussions about planning, Tim Kemp and Charlotte Bickmore recently concluded that despite the name they give to their major Year 8 unit (The Making of the United Kingdom), they tend mainly to focus on England, and even more especially, on London. They have a good point. Ask an average Year 8 student to describe Britain in, say, 1700, and…

Five actors were videotaped and audiotaped during 12 performances, in order to identify variables and to observe actors' behaviors and attitudes in positive, negative, and "unclaqued" audience response conditions. Audience response was effected by actors trained in nonverbal cues and placed in the audience as "claquers," to…

This booklet, containing eight instructional modules on works by major British writers, can be used either within a lower-level literature course for non-English majors or in a survey course for English majors. The first four modules focus on works from the early English period through the Elizabethan Age: "Beowulf,""Sir Gawain and the Green…

This annotated library guide to theater materials is divided into several separate sections. The first part, dealing with the subject as a whole, includes bibliographies; periodicals; indexes and abstracts; encyclopedias and dictionaries; yearbooks; directories; histories, biographies, and reviews; and dramatic literature. The second part lists…

The Sunseed Repertory Collective, a touring theatre company, was formed to deal seriously with contemporary--often controversial--social and political issues. The group uses unconventional production techniques, plays in a variety of settings to a wide range of audiences, charges no admission (relying on donations after performances), and prefers…

Explores the techniques used by the author in developing and teaching a course in Interpretation of Black Drama. Suggestions for syllabus composition, critique sessions and reading materials are included. (MH)

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 25 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) ensemble as a process of actor training; (2) perspectives on the verbal performance of jest, abuse, and contest; (3) a course design for teaching black drama;…

Expressing the imagination dramatically is a step toward refining and shaping thought and behavior. Imagination is a part of the complex interaction of thought and action and has a place in the knowledge base. Drama is a direct expression of the imagination in action. In drama, the thought--the imaginings--are expressed in action and that action…

Intended for use by instructors of college level interpersonal communication courses, this paper offers examples of theoretical concepts of interpersonal communication that can be illustrated through literature and popular film. The first part of the paper discusses the criteria on which the selection of novels, plays, and films for the study of…