Theater and plays Teacher Resources
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Lesson Planet Curated
Crash Course Theater and Drama
Forsooth! Here’s a collection that has everything you ever wanted to know about the theater and drama—everyone from Aristotle to Chikamatsu, from Moliere to Shakespeare to Williams. From Banraku to Zaju, every type from comedy to...
Lesson Planet Curated
The Glass Menagerie and Expressionist Theater
Who says a play must be realistic? Certainly not Tennessee Williams, who chose to use expressionistic techniques to tell his tale of Tom, Amanda, and Laura Wingfield. A three-lesson unit module has readers examine how Williams uses these...
Candace Fleming
A Reader's Theater Script for Clever Jack Takes the Cake
Breathe life into a reading of the children's story Clever Jack Takes the Cake with this Reader's Theater script. Offering speaking roles for nine students plus a sound effects chorus, this is a great activity that engages the whole...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Fluency: Connected Text, Readers' Theater
Readers' theater is a fun way to get kids reading with expression and improve their fluency! There is a full script here for The Three Bears with five characters to assign.
American Battlefield Trust
Civil War Play
Everyone has a role to play. Young scholars step into history by taking on the roles of soldiers—both male and female—during the Civil War using a fictionalized play of what life was like on the battlefield. Pupils also examine the roles...
Activated Story Theatre
Orpheus- A Greek Myth: Reader's Theatre Script
Is this any way to treat a Greek Myth? By all means, turn the tale of Orpheus into a reader's theatre exercise.
Crash Course
Rules, Rule-Breaking, and French Neoclassicism: Crash Course Theater #20
School children are not the only ones who have rules to follow! During the neoclassical period, the French established five main rules for plays. A video on theater history outlines those guidelines, as well as other elements of theater...
Crash Course
Zola, France, Realism, and Naturalism: Crash Course Theater #31
Using an informative video about French theater and drama, scholars learn about the idea of realism in the theater before taking a look at naturalism. Viewers hear about writing styles from Victor Hugo in his works Cromwell and Hernani,...
Crash Course
Just Say Noh. But Also Say Kyogen: Crash Course Theater #11
Wigs, masks, demons, and Buddhism—what's not to love? All of these elements play a role in Japanese theater during the Middle Ages, a topic the informational video covers in depth. An engaging host shares an exhaustive overview of the...
Crash Course
Roman Theater with Plautus, Terence, and Seneca: Crash Course Theater #6
Thank you, Greek and Roman theater, for providing the dramatic arts with a host of stock characters. A video about Roman theater, the sixth in the Crash Course Theater series, begins by introducing the character types found on stage in...
Candace Fleming
A Reader's Theater Script for Oh, No!
If you are reading Judy Freeman's Oh No! or your class loves animals, use a reader's theater exercise to bring the story to life. After assigning 12 parts to your young actors, have them act out the story with a script that will be...
Crash Course
The Spanish Golden Age: Crash Course Theater #19
Heads up! In the Golden Age, women threw cucumbers at other audience members. This detail is just one of many fun facts a video about Spanish theater during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries covers. Other information the resource...
Crash Course
Symbolism, Realism, and a Nordic Playwright Grudge Match: Crash Course Theater #33
Two European playwrights of the nineteenth century shared a love of theater—but also happened to be enemies. Viewers learn of the differences between Henrik Isben of Norway and August Strindberg of Sweden and how their rivalry changed...
Crash Course
Comedies, Romances, and Shakespeare's Heroines: Crash Course Theater #16
As a writer, Shakespeare took the genre of comedy to a new level. An informational video outlines the characteristics of Shakespeare's comedies and romances and explains how the plays differed from others during the period. Additionally,...
Crash Course
Broadway, Seriously: Crash Course Theater #46
Not all Broadway shows feature exciting kick lines and jaw-dropping ballads. The 46th video from the Crash Course Drama and Theater Playlist talks about the serious side of Broadway. Part of the video covers the work of Tennessee...
Curated OER
Introduction to Greek Theatre and Antigone
Learners compare and contrast a website layout and the layout of a Greek theatre. In this Greek theatre lesson, students research the Greek theatre and produce a bulleted list of five facts about the Greek theatre. Learners complete a...
Shakespeare Uncovered
All the Globe’s a Stage: Shakespeare’s Theatre
“All the world’s a stage,” exclaims Jaques in As You Like It, but it is the structure of the Globe stage and how that structure influenced Shakespeare’s plays that is the focus of an on-line research project. Class members visit a series...
Civil War Trust
Civil War Reader's Theater
Encourage class members to add expression and put themselves back in time during the Civil War with a reader's theater activity. The scripts include dialogue on what it was like for the Union and Confederate sides during this time.
PBS
Career Connections | Senior Vice President of Theatre Operations
What's involved in making sure the show does go on? Go behind the curtain with Gina Vernaci, the senior vice president of theatre operations for the second largest theatre district in the United States. Vernaci details all the roles she...
Shakespeare Globe Trust
Fact Sheet: Indoor Theatres
Pull up a cushion, grab an apple or some nuts, light a candle, and get ready to explore indoor theatres from Elizabethan England. Readers use a handout to distinguish between indoor and outdoor theatres and the types of actors who...
National Endowment for the Humanities
The Glass Menagerie as Expressionist Theatre
The first activity in a three-part unit has high schoolers examine The Glass Menagerie as an example of expressionist theatre. After reading a short article about expressionism, scholars list expressionist techniques in Tennessee...
Civil War Trust
Civil War Play
Raise the curtain to a class play that depicts the Civil War through both factual information and literary devices. The performance showcases the Battle of Antietam (Battle of Sharpsburg) and brings attention to women's roles,...
Crash Course
Federal Theatre and Group Theatre: Crash Course Theater #42
Method acting got its start in the 1930s. A video, the 42nd video in the Crash Course Theater and Drama playlist, describes the theater scene during the 1930s, including the introduction of method acting. Information on Waiting for...
Crash Course
Antonin Artaud and the Theatre of Cruelty: Crash Course Theater #43
Despite spending many years in a sanatorium, Antonin Artaud became a well-known playwright. Video 43 from the Crash Course Drama and Theater playlist describes the life work of the French playwright with a focus on the theater of...
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