349 stories by "Kerry Hishon"
Between the actors, stage management, technical crew, design teams, publicity team, and front-of-house staff, you're going to need a veritable army of people to make your upcoming school sho…
What does it mean to focus on "ensemble thinking"? Ensemble thinking focuses on a whole-show mentality. Rather than an "us versus them" mentality for leading actors versus ensemble/chorus me…
Dramatic events are absolutely fantastic for reaching out into the community, fundraising, raising awareness for various causes, and having a great time while you're at it. If your school ha…
Theatre and drama class are hugely collaborative. Students are always engaged in group work and scene work with others, which helps students gain skills in teamwork, problem-solving, and col…
Countless hours are spent in rehearsal: learning, reviewing, and practicing material. Let's focus on the first aspect: learning. At the beginning of the rehearsal process, everything is new.…
Everyone is familiar with the term "practice makes perfect," right? But in the theatre, there's really no such thing as a perfect performance, and there is especially no such thing as a perf…
Acting is supposed to be real, right? We talk with our students about bringing honesty and realness to the stage when they are performing. With that in mind, however, how often have you hear…
Theatre is a funny thing, isn't it? Teachers and students spend hours upon hours rehearsing, exploring, practicing, and reviewing. And that's not even counting the hours spent working on the…
This is a simple and fun improvised game that is great to use in your show rehearsals. I've found it's especially useful for younger, newer, or shyer students, who might be afraid of looking…
An assumption is when someone accepts something as true about a person, place, thing, or idea without proof. People do this all the time, often without thinking. We assume all sorts of thing…
A "digital footprint" is the information about a particular person or company that exists on the Internet as a result of their online activity. This goes hand-in-hand with the concept of "di…
In our last blog post, we talked about what digital citizenship in the drama classroom is. Teachers, let's now take a look at your own digital citizenship skills and knowledge with this quiz…
Digital citizenship is all about the confident, positive, and safe use of digital technology both within and outside of the classroom for communication, collaboration, education, and enterta…
It's easy for students to get hyper-focused on their lines when they're working on a scene or on a show " counting how many lines they have, memorizing the lines, knowing what order the line…
Student-led warm-up games are a great way for students to demonstrate what they've learned in drama class and apply it in a practical setting, as well as to develop their leadership skills. …
After every run-through of a show, directors will have a notebook or word document packed to the brim with notes " praise, corrections, problems, solutions, changes and adjustments that need…
So you've selected the show you are producing this year and you have come up with an incredible vision for the show. This is going to be awesome! Obviously, you want your students to share i…
Encouraging students to work together is often a challenge. Some students worry that they'll be saddled with peers who won't pull their weight. Some students are super-shy and the idea of ap…
In education, inclusion refers to students with disabilities or special needs (whether their needs are medical, mental, physical, or psychological) spending most or all of their class time w…
Being aware of your surroundings is a vital part of being an actor. Students must know what's going on around them at all times. This is important from a theatrical standpoint " unless other…
Here is a brainstorming exercise that you can use with your students when they have selected a broad topic and are trying to narrow it down or flesh out their ideas. For example, they may ha…
Group work is an enormous part of drama class. Students are always working in groups, whether for warm-ups, improvisation, scene work, playwriting, working backstage, and more. Even if your …
Starting your drama class with a Question of the Day is a great way to get your students into the "drama class" mindset. It's a way to help create a routine for your students " they know tha…
Students will frequently be cast into roles that are vastly different from their real-life personalities. This is a good thing " it's a great opportunity for students to grow their skills as…
In Script Analysis for Directors, Part 1: Scanning the Script, we started our pre-rehearsal planning process with a simple scan of the script to get our early thoughts and ideas out on pa…
