Round-up: Back-to-School 101 for Drama Teachers

School’s back in session and it’s time to get your students excited about the play and focused on the process. Easier said than done? Not with the right planning and resources in place. We’ve tried to streamline the process by rounding up some of our best tips and guides to help get you started – from choosing the right play to the casting process, rehearsals and kicking off the production process.

Choosing a Play:

What Play Do I Do Now? Overwhelmed by the many play choices available to you or have specific criteria you’re looking for? We can help make your search a success!

5 Things to Consider When Selecting a Play for Production Mounting a school production is a wonderful learning opportunity for students and staff alike. It’s also a big challenge. Before auditions are scheduled and sets start to take shape, here are five things to consider when selecting the show that your school will produce.

The School Play Shopping List Before you start looking through mountains of scripts, check out our shopping list of ingredients and make your search for the ultimate production piece a recipe for success.

Auditions:

The Ultimate Auditions Guide: Teacher Edition These seven sections take you through the audition process and provide suggestions for some common issues and conerns. Auditions don’t have to be nerve wracking experiences!

How Do You Cast School Plays? In our travels to various conferences we’ve heard of a lot of different ways to cast school plays. Here are a few of the casting techniques we have encountered:

Rehearsals:

10 Questions to Ask During Rehearsal Questions are important in the theatre. They’re more important than answers. Here are ten of the most memorable questions we’ve been given in rehearsal.

Getting Excited: How to Get Buy-in At Your First Rehearsal As drama educators, it’s your responsibility to get your students to “buy into” the show–to agree with and accept the show. Think of it in terms of selling your show to your students. Let them know the show’s “selling features.” Demonstrate what’s in it for them. Here are five suggestions to help get students enthused about your show from the get-go.

Production Process:

Approaching Your Script: What Directors Need to Think About Before Beginning the Production Process Here’s a jumping off point for approaching your script, inspired by the ever-useful “5 W’s” – who, what, where, when and why.

How to Solve Common Beginning Actors Mistakes Beginning actors make mistakes. Mostly it’s because, well, they’re beginners! I prefer thinking of them is missteps rather than mistakes – they are things the beginning actor hasn’t considered. And it’s always a great time to change that!

Warm-up Round Table: Warm Ups for Different Types of Plays Whether you’re rehearsing Shakespeare or devising an original work, there’s a warm-up just for you.

Producing a Show: How a Great Process Will Lead to a Great Product The experience of working on a show is a multifaceted experience, but it can really be broken down into two main parts: the product and the process.