3 minute read
Words, Words, Words
Words, words, words … [Hamlet II,ii] reviews books on theatre that have a connection to the Southeast or may be of special interest to SETC members. Sarah McCarroll, an associate professor of theatre at Georgia Southern University, edits this regular column. If you have a book for review, please send to: SETC, Book Editor, 5710 W. Gate City Blvd., Suite K, Box 186, Greensboro, NC 27407.
How to Teach a Play: Essential Exercises for Popular Plays
Edited by Miriam Chirico and Kelly Younger 2020, Methuen Drama, Bloomsbury Publishing, bloomsbury.com ISBN: 9781350017535 Pages: 302 Price: $31.45 (paperback); $25.16 (E-book); $90 (hardback)
by Thomas Chavira
With How To Teach A Play, English and theatre professors Miriam Chirico and Kelly Younger aim to recontextualize how dramatic literature is introduced and explored in academia. Acknowledging the gap between the sometimes dry approach to dramatic texts in English and Literature classes (that often hold to the sanctity of the text) and the performance-happy lens that can often be found in drama classes, this book exists to serve both rooms with equal amounts of critical thinking and vision.
The 80-plus lessons in the book were submitted by professors and theatre professionals from all over the world, who offer ideas for teaching dozens of highly produced plays ranging from ancient Greece’s classics to 21st century diverse texts such as Sweat and Vietgone. All lessons use a standard template aimed at highlighting the performance elements of a specific play while indicating how that element illuminates the play’s larger themes.
For example, in an entry about Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler, Professor Shadow David Zimmerman from the University of California Santa Cruz explores the domestic settings of the playwright’s world as both realistic and symbolic spaces. Students are asked to create on paper their dream homes, then write their hobbies and goals on strips of paper. Finally, they choose which hobbies and goals they would discard in order to keep their dream home or which ones they would keep in lieu of their dream home. Paired with a reading of the play, this activity encourages students to think about the role of women in 19th century marriages, the sacrifices that are made in pursuit of materialism, and the cost of conceding control, amongst the many more themes Ibsen presents.
The lessons all feature four standard headings that break down each one-totwo-page exercise: • “In Brief,” which gives a summary of the exercise. • “Purpose,” which specifies the goal of the exercise, how that goal is achieved and what methodologies will be used. • “Preparation,” which states what the students will need to have prepared or be familiar with in order to participate. • “Materials,” which lists any necessary physical instruments or supplies.
All entries also include a closing “Reflection,” which ties together dramaturgy and performance, addressing the themes coupled with the performing activities that were just completed.
Perhaps the most useful and studentfriendly component of this book is that the exercises don’t require actor training to participate and don’t demand a lot of resources or preparation. Rather, these entries serve as springboards for active engagement and can be elongated as an introduction to a playwright or an era.
The simple metric and framework also give space for teachers to modify the exercises to fit their classes’ needs.
This book would be helpful in Beginning Acting, Text Analysis, Dramaturgy, and English/Dramatic Literature classes. For classical texts by playwrights such as Shakespeare and Molière (both included in the book), the exercises offer many scene-specific prompts that can offset the density of the language for students just discovering these authors.
The final pages of the book are dedicated to encouraging readers to create their own exercises with a play of their choice using a blank template, providing a resource for the teacher and the students to continue reexamining classic stories in new, modern ways. n
Thomas Chavira (he/him) is an actor, producer and educator from Fort Worth, TX. He earned a BFA in theatre from Abilene Christian University and MFAs from the University of Southern California and Loyola Marymount University. He currently teaches at Texas Christian University.
inspiring faculty supportive community empowering opportunities
