EdTA is launching a series of monthly webinars to help members make the most of their membership. Hosted by Executive Director Julie Cohen Theobald and featuring different guest speakers from the
According to the annual high school play survey conducted by EdTA, The Addams Family; Almost, Maine; and Check Please received top billing for the most produced musical, full-length play, and short play, respectively, during
This summer EdTA is introducing a series of six live professional development webinars. Education Manager Cory Wilkerson says, “While students are out of school for the summer is a good
By Rena Cook How do you know the difference between the sound of a violin, a cello, and a standing bass? What is it about the quality of the sound
Like a detective, an actor has to start with the facts By Jon Jory What’s going on here? If you’re interested in improving your acting, you’ll need to start by
EdTA is excited to announce the addition of an Education Manager to the staff, Cory Wilkerson, who will be supporting members with new educational resources. As a part of this effort,
Theatre Education Facts There are nearly 26,000 K-12 school-based theatre programs throughout the United States. 100% of school administrators agreed that theatre programs strengthen students’ creativity skills. Training in acting
Theatre students: Critically think and problem-solve artistic, academic, and life challenges in both conventional and unconventional ways. Communicate in a variety of playmaking contexts to convey their own ideas and
By Howard Sherman On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, Lin-Manuel Miranda—bookwriter, lyricist, composer, and star of the Broadway hit musical Hamilton—has already given a matinee performance and served as master of ceremonies
This series of short articles supplements the Fall 2012 Teaching Theatre (volume 24, number one) report…
How to make yourself look good If you’re planning a career as an actor, auditions are going to be a fact of your professional life. Might as well get used
Often your play or musical will require stage scenery that needs to look like a textural surface: a real plaster wall, cement, brick, dirt, tile, or rough barn wood, to
Some communications channels come and go (think MySpace and Vine) but theatre–and the tradition of the high school play–are both alive and well. According to EdTA’s annual high school play
A veteran’s guide to successful storytelling By Michael Daehn If you’re a relatively new theatre teacher and haven’t had much directorial experience, it might not be clear to you exactly
By Mike Lawler Years ago I was crewing a show in one of these big houses in Southern California—the kind with a maze of basement level service hallways and anonymous
The second of three articles on how to use the tools of acting By Bruce Miller Actors and playwrights have more in common than one might think. Both are charged
Friday night lights are for more than football From the 50-yard line to front-row center, high schools are a central aspect of community life. While the identity with sports may
Please pass the hot sauce By Jon Jory Allright, we’re getting to the good stuff now! This is the curry powder, the paprika, the hot sauce of acting. No more
BY SEAN O’SKEA If the thought of painting your scenery makes you shudder, don’t be ashamed. Many theatre educators have remarkably little training in scenic art. Most only get a
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
This article originally appeared in the October 2016 issue of Dramatics magazine. The Addams Family is on a roll, topping the list as most-produced high school musical for the second consecutive year
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
