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Teaching Theatre Journal

Winter 2012

Table of Contents

Theatre teachers matter
Theatre educators are passionate, inspiring, and nurturing, according to a recent survey

A new survey confirms their lifelong impact on students.

Web Extra: Theatre teachers matter
McCammon and Saldaña's complete study
Going deep
Rehearsal strategies to help young actors explore and live in the truth of a scene
By Tracey Moore

Rehearsal is an important part of any performance. In this follow up to her article “Pairing up,” the author offers strategies to help young actors use scene work as a process of discovery and exploration that truly informs their performance. The PDF of “Going deep,” available here for download, includes the PDF of Tracey Moore's Scene Study handout.

Web Extra: Going deep

Read Tracey Moore’s “Pairing Up” article from the fall 2011 issue of Teaching Theatre.

Patterning for movement
The self-gusseted sleeve
By Laurie Kurutz

Shows that required movement, whether comedies or musicals, place extra demands on costumes. A gusset—an extra bit of length to a sleeve sewn into a garment—can help. This article shows you how to add the gusset into a sleeve before the garment is cut and sewn.

American speech
Honoring the authentic voices of your students
By Rena Cook

Voice is both a personal and public expression. The author and voice coach asserts that it is no longer acceptable to expect students to adopt General American speech, explaining that she has come to understand the value of other voices and cultures. Towards that understanding, she offers a series of short voice exercises designed to help students celebrate diversity and use his or her unique sound to find a deeper truth in stage work.

 

Web Extra: American speech
Breaking with realism, part 3: When worlds collide
Anthropomorphism, re-contextualization, bricolage
By Michael Dixon

In this third article introducing students to non-realistic theatre, the author explores playwriting that includes anthropomorphism—plays that ascribe human characteristics to non-human fauna, flora, and material objects; and bricolage, plays constructed from whatever materials happen to be available. He also discusses re-contextualization—plays in which the narrator becomes an active participant in the story.

Web Extra: Breaking with realism, part 3

A few examples, found on YouTube, of how playwrights break with realism.

News and notes: Ben Cameron to open the 2012 EdTA conference; arts standards revision project chooses a theatre writing team.