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Acting Books / Technical Books / Additional Assignments

Books - Acting and Teaching Drama

Acting - The Creative Process. 3rd ed.(1980)
ISBN 0-534-00744-9
An acting text that covers periods in theatre very well. The presentational style is dry, but the content is valuable. The text is intended as a student resource.

An Actor's Handbook. Stanislavski, Conatantin. (various editions and publication dates).
An alphabetized summary of the teachings of Stanislavski. This book summarizes some of the content of An Actor Prepares, Building a Character, and Building a Role. It is translated from the original Russian. Probably the best of Stanislavski's work for the high school audience, this book introduces the reader to the technique that created a realistic acting style.

Basic Drama Projects, 6th ed. Averett Tanner, Fran. (1995)
ISBN 0-931054-39-7
This is an American text that is somewhat dry. It has lots of resources which are suitable for teacher research, and also has some ideas for games. (Contains both teacher and student editions.)

Character Building. Colborne, Garnet. Ramsden, Russ. (1997)
ISBN 0-17 605554 1
By far the best Saskatchewan resource for Drama teachers, the text contains many wonderful resources and useful tips. Buy it for yourself because you will use often enough to justify the purchase.

Drama Themes - A Practical Guide for Teaching Drama. Swartz, Larry. (1988)
ISBN 0-921217-21-8
This is a totally theme based approach to drama that could be a resources for a few lessons. The themes include monsters, bridging, folklore and the future.

Drama Form - A Practical Guide to Drama Techniques. Barlow, Steven. Skidmore, Steve. (1994)
ISBN 0 340 55626 9
Drama Form is ideal for a teacher in the first three years of Drama 10, 20 or 30. It covers being a drama teacher, starting a class, improvisation, development, reflection, presentation, scripting and thematic work. The authors express ideas in a way that avoids complex terminology or concepts.

Drama Structures. O'Neill, Cecily and Lambert, Alan. (1982)
ISBN 0 7487 0191 5
This text focus on dramatic activities used to explore a theme. Theme exploration can a useful way to introduce a collective.

Teaching Drama - A Mind Of Many Wonders. Morgan, Norah. Saxton, Juliana. (1987). ISBN 0-7487-0243-1
Teaching Drama deals with the relationship between Theatre and Drama exceptionally well, and focus on the aspects of drama that underpin the Drama 30 curriculum. The section on planning is valuable for first time Drama teachers.

Books - Technical Theatre

Create Your Own Stage Props. Govier, Jacquie. (1988)
ISBN 0-7136-3037-X
Containing simple props projects and techniques, this book is designed for high school students' skills and a high school theatre budget.

Create Your Own Stage Sets. Govier, Jacquie. (1985)
ISBN 0-7136-3038-8
Containing basic set projects and techniques, this book is designed for high school students' skills and a high school theatre budget. Because Create Your Own Stage Sets has a clear explanation of set styles and concepts, it should be used by teachers and students as a basis for set design.

Historic Costume For the Stage. Barton, Lucy. (1935)
An ancient (but useful) guide to costumes by time period, the text contains only black and white illustrations. This book is a fully indexed resource with 590 pages of details.

Scenic Design and Stage Lighting, 3rd ed. Parker, Oren and Smith, Harvey (1974)
ISBN 0-03-089446-8
Lighting, Set Design, and Design Concepts are all covered well. This text is designed for the university environment, but is very useful for the drama teacher. It is particularly useful for a drama coach who has no technical background but will be producing plays, and needs to know how to do technical things. The edition of this text should be chosen to match the age of your school's lighting instruments and board. That way, all the lighting information will be correct. Used editions of this text can be purchased easily.

Stagecraft 1, 2nd ed. Lord, William (1991)
ISBN 0-916260-76-3
Intended for high school productions, this book has many useful samples of theatre sheets such as rehearsal schedules and call sheets. Solutions to problems and new ideas are presented with a high school budget in mind.

Stage Lighting in the Boondocks, 4th ed. Hull Miller, James. (1995)
ISBN 1-56608-017-7
This book is generally valuable for creating lighting with no money. It contains a particularly good section on how to make your own lights, effects and control devices.

Stage Make-up. Buchman, Herman (1989)
ISBN 0-8230-4911-6
Stage Make-up includes lots of great diagrams and clear information about how to create effects from age to beatings, weight loss and weight gain. This book is a resource for students or teachers.

(Essential guide to) Stage Management, Lighting & Sound. Palmer, Scott. (2000)
ISBN 0-340-721138
This text is the best resource for stage management and has great information about lighting and sound. It is very useful when student stage managers are given lots of responsibility, or when the school is taking a play to competition (such as SDA festival).

The Theater Props Handbook. James, Thurston (1987)
ISBN 0-932620-86-8
The Theatre Props Handbook covers construction, effects, electricity, and a wide variety of set and hand props. It is useful for teachers, students and parents who are helping with a production - highly recommended. He also has other books on Mask and Set which are very useful.