Theatre Games for Young Performers

by Maria C. Novelly

Book Overview

Any classroom teacher or group leader who wants to incorporate drama into an educational program will find this book concise and comprehensive. It tells the how, when, what, and why of theatre games for young performers. Not a textbook for performers, this book serves as a resource for drama teachers and coaches. All the basics of pantomime, improvisations, voice control, monologues, and dialogues are presented in game formats with exercises and...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0916260313
• ISBN13: 9780916260316
• Release Date: June 1985
• Publisher: Meriwether Publishing
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.62 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.9" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Indispensible

Maria Novelly's book was one of the first I purchased as a new drama teacher, and I'm very grateful to have had such an excellent resource so early on. Most of the the theater game compendiums I've read before or since have been hit-or-miss; I'd get use out of some suggested activities, but the others lacked depth or educational merit. Not so with Novelly's book--I've used every activity outlined in her book, and I continue to use them with great results. Children love these exercises--especially "Walking Through," "Imaginative Journeys," and pretty much everything in the Improv chapter--and importantly, they learn a lot about what it means to be a performer through their engagement with them. Highly recommended!

Fabulous for middle school

I love this book. I use something from it at least once a week in my classroom. It's wonderful for teaching the basics. Pantomime, expression, scene building, creative thinking... As other reviews state, it doesn't get into playing objectives, but you can cover that in other lessons and activities. That's simply not the scope of this book and that's fine by me. The activities are especially good for sixth graders. Seventh and Eighth, you'll have to play it by ear depending on your group. Most of mine are "too cool" for some of the activities, but a lot of the games are pretty adaptable for that age group if you get creative.

Excellent Classroom Resource!

After nearly fifteen years of being away from the classroom, I was a bit nervous about teaching drama again. In searching for a resource that would get me back in the swing of things, I debated between this book and the classic Viola Spolin books. I finally decided on this one, and I couldn't be happier! The lessons in this book are easy to follow, easy to prepare (there's not much to preparation at all!), and, best of all, fun for the kids in class! The lessons are also easily adaptable to different circumstances, such as short class periods, environmental concerns (like needing a quieter activity), or needing a quick activity to warm the kids up. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in integrating drama into a classroom, or as a stand-alone resource in a full-fledged drama curriculum.

Better than SPOLIN

Viola Spolin's works tend to be the benchmark for theater students, and after reading this one, I am a convert to Novelly. Her ideas are useful, concrete, creative, and apply DIRECTLY to working onstage, not to hocus-pocus theater jargon. As a professional actress and drama instructor, I recommend this highly.

Excellent book for the middle school drama classroom!

This book contains many challenging exercises which are right on track for the middle-level student of drama. The students enjoy the cooperative nature of most activities contained in the book. Teachers will find it easy to use and assess students' work thanks to the clear, concise directions and the included worksheets students use to plan the activities.The index in the back also is extremely helpful in locating just the right type of exercise; entries are listed in categories such as "no preparation," "noisy rehearsal," "beginner level," and many other cross-references. When I started teaching drama five years ago, this book was my lifesaver in planning classroom activities!