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By Mike Lawler A reliable way to determine what theatre professionals actually do is to ask them how they respond when their second cousin from Peoria approaches them at a
By Mike Lawler “The title technical director,” says Drew Campbell, head of the M.F.A. program in theatrical technology at the University of Texas at Austin, “is a very squirrelly term.
The actor’s homework: marking and naming the beats By Jon Jory I know your secret. You did a great job in the audition. You got the part. Then you went
Teaching stage violence to student actors By Elizabeth Cobbe For as long as you’ve been teaching, you’ve had in your mind that perfect play to direct—a Shakespearean tragedy, say. Maybe
There are many reasons for this. Sometimes it’s because nobody in the school really understands the rigging system. Or maybe we trust that the system seems to work okay and
By Mike Lawler In many ways, the theatrical scene designer is much like a conventional architect. Like the architect, the designer must be adept at visualizing that which does not
The hot-button titles in the school repertory Here’s a list of plays and musicals that have been the subjects of community challenges or official prior restraint actions in American high
Sorting out the differences among undergraduate theatre programs If you’re a high school senior who expects to be studying theatre in college at this time a year from now, you
by Steve Nelson Design and Production students who have their sights set on A-list theatre schools or scholarship dollars have to audition, too. But their audition is more like show-and-tell.
A musical theatre exercise By Maureen Johnson Last year, by the end of the first quarter, my theatre classes had completed their first major project—an evening of short plays. They
By Jennifer Womack and Steve Nelson If you and your students work in a modern, well-equipped theatre, lighting is probably as much a part of a production as any other
Telling a story through actions By Bruce Miller No matter how often I tell my students that acting is about telling the story of the play, too many of them
Taking care of young voices By Wendy DeLeo LeBorgne and Rocco Dal Vera Imagine this scenario for a minute: tech week for the spring musical is in full swing and
By Mike Lawler The actors might wear their own clothes and put on a show in an existing space with no modification. They might shout at the top of their
Stand better, sound better By Antonio Ocampo-Guzman “I can’t hear you!” the director is saying. “You’re mumbling!” And later, “Send your voice to the back of the house!” If you’ve
By Mike Lawler Take a moment to think about the last time you visited a theatre to see a show. How did the adventure unfold? First, you probably phoned the
By Judylee Vivier We inhale our first breath the moment we are born and embrace life; we exhale our last breath in the moment of death. Breathing is the source
Setting the stage in a new theatre classroom By Gai Jones In my forty years of teaching theatre, I’ve discovered that the first few weeks of any class really set
An acting game that teaches lying for the stage By Bruce Miller Harold Clurman, the great director and theatre critic, once referred to good acting as “lies like truth.” He
By Mike Lawler In one sense props is a shortened version of the slang noun propers—which means, basically, respect. For a classic example of its use, just have a listen
Sam-I-am in acting class By Bruce Miller The students in my B.F.A. acting program spend hours every day for four years developing their craft. Yet I still find that many
The third is a series on how to use the tools of acting By Bruce Miller During the course of your education you’ve probably heard your teachers say countless times,
Working with a cast that has two left feet By Lisa Mulcahy Picture this: you’ve finally chosen the perfect musical for your drama department’s spring show. You have it all
In an article in our January 2009 issue, Scott C. Parker described the fundamental objectives of the lighting designer’s work and guided readers through the designer’s process of script analysis
By Mike Lawler When you walk into the wig shop of American Players Theatre in Spring Green, Wisconsin, Ralph Holcomb seems out of place. If it weren’t for the intent
