Online Readers Theatre Lessons Learned – Tips and Tricks

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Update 5/7/2020

First of all, let’s be honest, was it perfect? Not even close! Was it a blast to do and did it give us a similar feel as performing? Absolutely! Most importantly, this was EASY. We did a Zoom recording of ‘Hamlet for Kids Reader’s Theatre – the Teachers Edition‘, based on the play: Hamlet for Kids. We knew it was going to be fun but didn’t realize how engaging it would be, nor how much we would really get to know each other. (most of us had never met before)

You can also watch our … Continue reading →

Summer Drama Camp in 1-week – a Simple How-To Guide

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summer drama camp fun

Recently I have been contacted multiple times on how to run a 1-week summer drama camp and questions around it. So, I figured I would write a post on how to do it and hopefully help any others who want to get kids excited about Shakespeare and drama!

First of all, YES, yes you can do it. It’s easier than you think. Secondly, YES, yes the kids CAN MEMORIZE all their lines by the end of the week. I’ve taught a summer drama camp over 20 times and haven’t found a kid who couldn’t be successful yet!

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Teaching in-person Drama in Uncertain Times

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If you are one of the many theatre teachers that have to go out and teach drama in-person, it can be stressful and full of anxiety. For both you, your kids, and their parents. Data shows less than 20% of parents want to go back to full-time right now. But, if you are going back, here are some ideas that might help and relieve some of that stress.

I recently posed the question to a group of theatre teachers (from the FB group: Theatre Teacher Lesson Lending (awesome group BTW!)) who are struggling with the facts and thoughts of going … Continue reading →

Sofa Shakespeare for Kids

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Online drama classes with your kids can come with some challenges. We did a Zoom of our Hamlet for Kids for teachers by teachers, and it was fantastic and a great way to engage your kids back into performances. However, time, access to technology, lack of bandwidth, and a variety of other reasons can hinder you and your kids for doing a Zoom type presentation. Well, Sofa Shakespeare for Kids is a great solution that can get you and your kids back to performing, without having to deal with these difficulties.

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Awesome Online Macbeth Backgrounds

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OK, this is really cool. For those of you doing Zoom online recordings of Macbeth for Kids. I had a teacher (thank you Gerald Murray!) find the correct tartans for each family. And, it is very simple to drop them into the backdrops in Zoom. Brilliant! And what a great learning opportunity!

You can see the backdrops below. Download, import into Zoom, and make it the backdrop! Awesome! Oh, and you can do this for a creepy forest for the witches as well! Check out the kids onscreen doing the Scottish Play below!

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How to do an Online Reader’s Theatre

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Was it perfect… no way. Was it fun, oh yeah! A group of theatre educators, drama teachers, and I got together, via zoom, to perform our Hamlet for Kids.  We were from all over… Houston, Seattle, Chicago, Anaheim, and San Luis Obispo. We did this to inspire other teachers to do remote online performances. We wanted to see if it could be done and how it would feel. I can tell you this, it was fun, exciting, engaging, and a great learning experience! And I was even a bit nervous before showtime! (I LOVE that feeling!)

Was it easy, yes!!!  … Continue reading →