Search options for shows include:

• show title
• excursions and incursions
• curriculum area
• year level
• school term
• kilometres from your postcode

For school incursions (the show comes to you), teachers enter information that generates a booking inquiry, which is passed on to the show presenter who gets back to you. For excursions (you go to the venue), either a booking enquiry is made (as per above) or the actual seats to the show are sold on the Shows For Schools website if the show presenter has opted for this to occur. Could it be any easier?

Plus, the Shows for Schools website has shows to be booked K-12 in all curriculum areas, not just Drama. The website is informative, clean-cut and easy to navigate, with images of the various shows and all the details teachers need to know. A welcome initiative!

The New York Times has an excellent article on Hilferty’s current work designing costumes for the new Broadway musical Wonderland, a contemporary look at Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass.

Susan Hilferty won a Tony Award for her amazing costume designs in Wicked on Broadway and this interview looks at the her creative processes in the various stages of costume design and construction for the character Queen of Hearts in Wonderland.

Wonderland is currently in previews and opens at the Marquis Theatre, Broadway, on 17 April.

What concerns me with studies in drama and theatre, is that like learning a musical instrument, studying the craft of acting can take years of tuition learning the necessary skills. In senior drama classes it is often the subtleties and nuances of a student actor that make the difference between an average performer and a stunning one. These advanced skills, along with more basic performance skills, aren’t learned in the final year of high school … they are taught and carefully nurtured in junior drama classes years before.

Using a high school drama or theatre program as an example, one can create several years of curriculum from the ground up. Here in Melbourne, Australia, I start with a foundation Year 7 Drama course, keeping in mind the wide range of skills in this discipline students possess from various primary feeder schools. The Year 8 Drama curriculum builds on the skills learned in Year 7, with a few more challenges, but nothing extraordinarily difficult or threatening. These two year levels are broad teaching and learning programs, skimming the surface of many topics areas, most covered fairly briefly. Year 9 Drama starts to specialise, because in my school, this is where Drama becomes a non-compulsory elective subject for the first time. Once Year 10 Drama rolls in, as the teacher I am acutely aware of preparing many of my students for senior Drama courses, so the activities and skill sets of my Year 10 pupils must reflect this.

But you can also build six years of Drama curriculum from the top down. Starting with the end results needed in final-year internal and external assessment in Drama, each year below Year 12 can have activities in the program that prepare students for the work in their final year. If a student must perform a monologue for examination assessment in Year 12, then a monologue in a Year 11 course the year before is a “must” and probably in Year 10 as well if you can squeeze it in.

Bu the skills for any form of final year performance assessment in a drama or theatre program at high school should stem from activities in junior drama classes. No student arrives at Year 12 with amazing skills out of nowhere. Every one of my Year 12 Drama students each year have gained their skills many years before, enjoying the fun of junior drama classes, participating in more challenging and specific activities and performances in middle school drama programs in the intermediate years, then striving for success and the refinement of their skills in senior high school drama classes.

Finally, continuity is paramount. Ask any teacher who has a haphazard teaching program in drama, sometimes through no fault of their own, and you’ll hear all about frustration. Wherever possible, schools need to have the availability of some form of drama or theatre program at all levels. Students who study drama at Years 7 and 8, but have no choice to undertake it at Years 9 or 10, but then find it available to them again in Years 11 or 12, suffer from an inconsistency in skills because they have to pick up from one or two years prior with their studies in this discipline.

Whatever the teaching program, over the years I have been left with no doubt about the importance of junior drama in a high school curriculum. My experience has told me a strong junior drama program is essential for success at the senior end of high school and that a good junior drama teacher is gold!

• Dramatix: 34 Christmas play scripts of varying lengths
• Tony Palermo: Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol adaptation (script and score)
• LNW Hymns.com: A couple of free Christmas musicals
• Scruffy Plume Press: Another Christmas musical
• Sunday School Network: 27 short Christmas skits

On the eve of my senior Drama students receiving their official grades for the year (for locals in Victoria, that’s the VCE Year 12 Drama course), I have a contradiction worth sharing. I spend most of my year pushing my students to achieve the best possible grades they are capable of, and yet I openly say to them that there’s more to school than grades!

Data in my case will show over the past five or six years, I have a near 100% record of my students achieving grades above what was predicted of them in Year 12 Drama by the curriculum authority mid-year. Hey, this is one of my major aims and I’m the first to be proud of that and many of my students and their parents appreciate this also. It means as an educator I have been able, as many of you reading this blog have been too I’m sure, to suck out of my students more than what everyone believed they were capable of in their senior Drama studies.

But then you get those students who are so obsessed with grades. There’s a difference between getting 13/15 on a written task and querying afterwards ”where can I improve?” and stressing about what those 2 little marks are going to do to your end of year study score and overall Year 12 score. Students need to hear wisdom from their teachers that even if they don’t get accepted into their university course of choice, they will fall on their feet eventually … and most importantly … be happy in life.

As Drama/Theatre teachers, we know the most rewarding things our students receive from studying our courses are very rarely the grades, but rather the:

• self-confidence in everyday situations
• socialisation skills
• problem-solving and negotiation skills
• increased self-esteem and personal development
• ability to articulate to others with confidence

And then there’s memories many students cherish for years:

• their first public performance
• the high school musicals or plays
• the musical cast parties!
• the sense of achievement after a successful show

As I reflect on some of the words in ‘thank you’ cards I have received recently, it is not the grades that our students and their parents remember from Drama at school … it is the life skills Drama gave our students in and outside the classroom that helped them through high school and prepared them better for the outside world.

This serves as a reminder to us about the power of Drama and Theatre in education and the profound impact it can truly have on the lives of young teenagers. With this comes our responsibility as Drama teachers.

Drama …. is there another subject at school that gives students so many skills? I doubt it.

My definition of sound:

Modern theatrical practice relies on sound to assist in a number of ways. It can be useful in creating atmosphere or mood. Actors and their bodies can construct effective sound in performance. Small props can also create sound effects that can be used live during a show. Other uses of sound involve the implementation of technology, such as instrumental recordings, soundscapes and sound effects on CD.

My Year 11 Drama class explored sound in performance in a classroom setting via workshopping a brief skit. Their findings below refer to any use of sound in a dramatic performance that does not rely on the use of technology:

• sound can be created via exaggerated breathing or sighing
• sound can be created via a performer interacting with objects or props
• sound can be created by using the voice to create a myriad of sounds (eg. whoosh)
• sound can be created by using the body (limbs, feet etc.) for stomping, dragging feet and more
• sound can assist in the creation of tension, mood and changes in rhythm in a performance
• sound can be used to create a setting and develop character (eg. the typical teenage yawn)
• sound can assist in the visualisation of imaginary objects and props in a performance
• a complete lack of sound (silence) can also be very effective in a drama

My definition of tension:

Tension can sometimes be used as an interchangeable term with conflict.  But where it differs, lies in the development of suspense in a performance.  As the audience anticipates certain outcomes in the plot, the tension builds.  An obvious example of rising tension is in a mystery or whodunit.  The development of tension usually parallels the advancement of the plot, leading to a crisis or climax. Tension is closely linked with timing.

After a bit of workshopiing and analytical discussion, my Drama students concluded:

• tension should preferably have the opportunity to build in the drama
• if tension builds too slowly, it will die in the middle of a scene
• if tension builds too quickly, it may appear ineffective or artificial
• pace now becomes a key factor in the development of tension
• tension can occur when performers raise their voice > shouting
• the opposite is also true, as tension can also occur with stillness and silence in the drama
• tension can be created by the unknown
• tension can be created simply by the audience following where characters look on (or off) stage
• tension can be created via heavy use of emotion/s with and between characters
• blocking (positioning of actors) can also create tension

In this case, it was in the classroom with a simple skit devised by my Year 11 Drama students.

My definition of contrast:

Without the careful use of contrast a performance is boring and lacks tension.  An obvious example of contrast is a sad scene followed by a happy one. But contrast can be created in more subtle and sophisticated ways, such as manipulating the drama to create a change in setting, use of space or rhythm. The pace of scenes can also be altered, as can various dramatic elements within one small section of a performance.

My students’ found out about contrast themselves by manipulating their drama skit to include contrast. Their conclusions follow….

Examples of Contrast

• contrast between characters
• contrast in emotions
• contrast in pace
• contrast in the use of sound
• contrast between plots and subplots
• contrast in the use of space
• contrast in movement between characters
• contrast in facial expressions used by characters
• contrast in the use of voice by characters
• contrast in mood

This is the first in a series of posts about the elements of drama. These elements are essential to all effective theatre performances, from the multi-million dollar spectacular to the classroom skit with a table, a chair and two rostrum blocks.

In recent weeks I have been workshopping various “dramatic elements” with my Year 11 Drama students, who, at the end of each workshop, discuss and record their findings … the first of which is in this post. Their discoveries, however, are just as relevant for a junior or middle school Drama class because the elements of drama are universal … crossing all cultures, skill levels and age groups.

My definition of rhythm:

Rhythm refers to the timing and pace of the drama.  It also means the beat or tempo of the performance.  As a rule, rhythm should never be the same throughout the drama, regardless of its length.  Rhythm can follow the emotional state of one or more characters or the atmosphere of the performance at particular moments.

Examples of Rhythm

• rhythm in exchanges of dialogue between characters
• rhythm in the walk of a character
• rhythm in the reactions of characters to events in the drama
• rhythm in the speech of a character
• rhythm in the repetition of words and phrases
• rhythm in stylised or synchronised character movements
• rhythm in the changes of pace in scenes
• rhythm in non-vocal sound made by an actor

Dramatic Elements

• focus
• tension
• timing
• rhythm
• contrast
• mood
• space
• language
• sound
• symbol
• conflict
• climax

Expressive Skills

• voice
• movement
• facial expression
• gesture

Performance Skills

• presence
• energy

Why is FOCUS one of the “dramatic elements” and not one of the “expressive skills”???

One might argue it’s all semantics and why worry? But, if like me, you’re in the middle of a prescribed curriculum that mandates terminology in the course, questions such as this I believe, are important. It seems to me FOCUS would belong more happily as a fifth expressive skill in our Drama course….you know…focus, voice, movement, facial expression and gesture.

I understand a student actor is not necessarily “expressing” his/her focus in performance, but without focus, the quality of his/her four expressive skills is very poor indeed! On the flip side, strong focus will allow the four expressive skills of voice, movement, facial expressions and gesture to be powerful, believable and convincing in performance.  So why doesn’t focus belong in this category?

Here is my definition of focus I give my students:

Focus is often used interchangeably with the terms concentration and engagement, assisting the performer in the portrayal of believable characters. This also implies memorisation of text (including word, moves and gestures).  Furthermore, focus requires the channeling (focusing) of all the performer’s energies into achieving the given goals or objectives of a character in a scene (otherwise known as ‘wants’).

Now to me, not only does focus appear to lie awkwardly among its other cousins under the “dramatic elements” category of terms, but it also belongs more comfortably in the family of “expressive skills”. The “dramatic elements” are not necessarily linked to the student actor. They are elements of theatre that, when manipulated, create effective drama – such as contrast and mood in performance. But focus, on the other hand, seems to be directly associated with the individual performer, and should therefore be an “expressive skill”, not a “dramatic element”.

I’d be interested in hearing other people’s thoughts on this……