Students, utilizing video clips and Web sites, compare specific passages from original texts to moments in Broadway musicals on which they were based, analyzing similarities and differences between them. They adapt literature into a...

On September 11, 2001, 38 international flights were diverted to Gander airport, a small Newfoundland town. The rest is the history, and the genesis of the musical that tells the heartwarming story of how the town's residents and the...

Students design theater programs which show their understanding of William Shakespeare's plays. They design original art to include in the programs.

Prepare your seventh through ninth graders for their first Shakespearean experience. This slide show provides a series of vocabulary words in context and a brief history of one of the world's most prolific playwrites, William...

Students study the work of Rodgers and Hammerstein in an historical context of the development of American musical theatre as an art form. Students explore "roots" of the genre as it evolves in last half of the 19th and first two decades...

Fifth graders examine excerpts from a diary of a Confederate soldier and his experiences in a Union prison camp. After receiving character cards, they write diary entries from the perspectives of their Civil War identity. As an...

Is this any way to treat a Greek Myth? By all means, turn the tale of Orpheus into a reader's theatre exercise.

Students perform Reader's Theater of the story of King Midas as they investigate how greed effects people. They look at a contemporary famous person who gave into greed what the effect was. They chose a creative activity from a list...

High schoolers study Romeo and Juliet. In this language arts lesson, students read the play and complete a series of activities. High schoolers choose the activities to complete. Students write a summary, draw a poster or compare and...

Students compare Noh drama to western drama and trace the influence of Japanese theater on modern western drama.  In this Noh drama lesson plan, students read the play Black Tomb (Kurozuko) defining the elements and conventions of...

Students produce a bulleted list of five facts about Greek Theater, complete the comparison graphic of Greek Theater Web sites, and create a bulleted list of four major themes.

Third graders identify the characteristics of fables, and read and compare/contrast various Aesop's fables. Using handheld computers, they read two fables with a partner, complete a Venn Diagram, develop a traits diagram using PiCo Map,...

Students investigate the concept of different words and how they are used in specific texts. They develop scripts based upon readings and then design props and costumes to act out the new text. Students read to one another using the...

Students analyze Arthur Miller's views about his works, characterizations as played out on the stage, and the role of theater in today's society. They act as casting directors for a

Engage and entertain young learners with this collection of readers theatre activities. With over 25 different scripts, a wide range of topics are covered from simple counting and rhyming exercises to adaptions of popular children's...

Second graders examine the life and times of mid-1800s England in Dicken's time. They compare/contrast Christmas today and during Dicken's day, discuss the book's characters, play a game from the 1800s, and read a Reader's Theater...

Students create storyboards based on Julius Caesar using the device of framing to convey character information. After examining framing techniques in photographs from the Folger Theater, they discuss how they influence character...

Students participate in reader's theatre. For this compare and contrast lesson, students read the book The Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza. This lesson promotes fluency and expression. Students also read the traditional story of...

Here are two great lessons that work together and are inspired by the Stephen Sondheim musical Into the Woods. Young writers and actors will retell the story of "The Frog Prince" through games, improvisational script writing, and...

Students read a chapter in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and define new words for their dictionaries. In this vocabulary lesson students choose two or three assignment from a list of projects and complete it using...

Looking for a good social media lesson for your class? Then, this lesson is for you! They study various written reviews, then must choose an item to review of their choice. They can choose from: a book, restaurant, CD/musical...

“There is nothing that becommeth a maid better than soberness, silence, shamefastness, and chastity, both of body & mind.” This line, from Thomas Bentley ‘s The Monument of Matrons published in 1582, typifies the way women were...

Fourth graders construct individual props. In this theatrical arts lesson, 4th graders use the elements of art to create various props using paper mache. Students construct objects such as logs, fruit, and a picture frame.

Students create and perform a dance or series of movements one to two minutes in length. Their dance supports and enhances the expressive qualities of the theater production and accompany the music students selected to perform.