In 2021 John Foreman retired after a long career as a drama teacher. StagePage invited John to share some of his stories about drama teaching and published them in a series of posts on the StagePage Blog.
This series was called A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Drama Room.
From those stories emerged a longer publication about writing your own plays for your students.
From John’s Introduction
The “Write Your Own” adventure books was a popular series of books favoured by English teachers.
There are many wonderful plays in the world for drama teachers that can help students learn about drama. There are the “classics” from the Literary Canon – Shakespeare to Sophocles. And they deserve a place in the curriculum. There are contemporary voices and local voices because students need to connect their own lives with their place and time. But there is also a place for students and teachers writing their own drama.
This book provides an overview of my approach to writing your own. It has been gleaned from 36 years teaching drama during which I managed 26 originals & 3 adaptations.
I explore why and how it’s a good idea to write your own plays
Examples are drawn from the varied approaches taken over the years.
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