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Friendly Shakespeare teaches a simple and effective method of script analysis for Shakespeare. It uses punctuation and keywords in the text to help students understand the characters' needs, make specific acting choices, and get them on their feet immediately. This is not dry, sitting in a classroom discussion. It’s physicalizing the text, focusing on the character’s needs and tactics (something every drama student should know full well) and bringing Shakespeare to life. At the end of the class you will be able to demystify Shakespeare's text and understand how to help your actors make clear, active and emotionally connected choices in Shakespeare's plays.

Learn about the Laban system to teach your students to physically and vocally discover character. This is an advanced course, which means that the course goes deep into exploring character and exploring character work through the work of Rudolph Laban.

Todd Espeland has the experience to know that having more tools in your toolbox makes you a better actor. This is especially important when teaching students how to approach Shakespeare. They need help breaking through the language barrier and into the character’s needs and into the character’s thoughts. The tools that you’ll receive in this course will do just that. The course looks at scansion as a tool for breaking down Shakespeare’s verse, the importance of end of lines, and caesura. Caesura is an inner-line pause which is a lot of fun to play with and really, helps us provide insight to the character’s thoughts and into their needs. The course provides numerous examples and handouts, and culminates in a performance assignment to use with your students.

Students apply this guidelines through the games “Yes and…” “Yes Let’s,” and Low Risk Experts.

Students learn the 5 ways we learn about a character in a script.

Students continue their exploration with script analysis by learning about objective, obstacle, stakes, and tactics and applying it to an exercise.

You need Emergency Lesson Plans. The unexpected comes up all the time. This Emergency Lesson Plan Collection (30 lessons) will address all of your concerns and take into account all of your sub’s questions. Every Emergency Lesson Plan includes substitute instructions, handouts, and assessment suggestions.

In this introductory lesson, students will be able to define “script” and “dialogue.” They will begin to brainstorm characters/relationships, setting, and conflicts to add content to a contentless scene that they will work on for the rest of the unit. Students will use a variety of methods they’ve learned in the previous unit to communicate meaning: setting, pantomime, relationship clues, objectives, stakes, and tactics.

Students will be able to brainstorm fitting characters, setting, and conflict for a contentless scene. Students will use a variety of methods they’ve learned in the previous unit to communicate meaning: setting, pantomime, relationship clues, objectives, stakes, and tactics.

Technical Theatre Tips Tips for set design, costuming, lighting, and more! Dealing with small budgets, overcoming obstacles, and making the most of what you have. BONUS material at the end of the PLC! Hosted by DTA instructors Holly Beardsley, Matt Webster, and Lindsay Price. Recorded on September 15, 2015 at 8pm.

Join us for tips and tricks on getting your students to make bold physical choices in their work.

The spring production season is upon us and shows are starting the rehearsal process. The cornerstone of any good production is good blocking, because good blocking makes good stage pictures. But are you using blocking to its maximum effect? Join us for a conversation about blocking and staging that is sure to spark your imagination.

Assessing students is always a challenge, but in the Drama classroom it's a challenge on top of a challenge! We assess knowledge, of course, but we also assess commitment, skill and performance. Assessment is fundamental to education, but the how and why of assessment differs from classroom to classroom, and lesson to lesson. Join us as we navigate the twists and turns of Assessment in the Drama Classroom.

As teachers return to their classrooms, they are desperate to rebuild the collaborative and supportive environments that are so vital to a well functioning Drama class.  Thankfully, there is a resource in the DTA created just for such a task. The Empathy Project is one of the most popular resources in the entire DTA library. Based off the Empathetic Classroom course by Steven Stack, the project focuses on these essential questions:   • How can theatre evoke empathy?  • How can we apply empathy outside the drama classroom?  Join teachers who have used, adapted, and successfully led the Empathy Project with their students, and add this powerful tool to your classroom management toolkit.

Artificial Intelligence is here. In the past few years it has found its way into almost every corner of modern life - including the classroom.  However, important questions remain. Questions like: "Is there a place for AI in the classroom?" "Does that include the Drama classroom?"  and "What does AI in the Drama classroom look like?" These are just some of the questions we will tackle when you join us in this forward thinking PLC.  

What do you do when you have to be unexpectedly absent from class? DTA members to the rescue with their ideas.

We know that you’re always on the lookout for monologues. We also know you’ve no time to search for monologues. Enjoy the material in this packet. Use them in your classes. Give them to your students for their next IE’s. The full scripts for all monologues can be found at theatrefolk.com.

Use these scenes in your classroom for character study, scene work, substitute teachers, performance, Individual Event competitions, and any other way you can imagine. Each scene comes from a published play (the complete play can be found on at theatrefolk.com) and is FREE for you to print, copy, and distribute. But wait there’s more! Each scene comes with: • Close Reading Questions • Staging Suggestions • Character Development 30 scenes in total within this eBook!

These story theatre scripts are ready for performance. Each story includes at least one narrator, and each one can be adapted further to meet your needs.

You need Emergency Lesson Plans. The unexpected comes up all the time. This Emergency Lesson Plan Collection (30 lessons) will address all of your concerns and take into account all of your sub’s questions. Every Emergency Lesson Plan includes substitute instructions, handouts, and assessment suggestions.

Do you have trouble rehearsing scenes in class because of absenteeism or school testing or any number of other events that pull students from your classroom? The rehearsal and performance of scenes are a key part of the drama curriculum, and all of these obstacles can bring scene work to a halt. The Group Scene Project is designed to help circumvent obstacles of missing scene partners and give those students who are in class the ability to continue working on their scenes.