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The aim of the Field Study Project was to evaluate the effectiveness of a package of curriculum materials ("Indian Wedding: an Integrated Study") designed by myself. At Melrose High School, three teachers and 90 students trialled the kit over one term. Drama tutors from the A.C.T. Children's Theatre were also co-opted to help with the drama aspects of the work. I acted as an active participant in the learning process and in organising aspects of the project, and also as an observer, interviewing, watching and administering tests. Results showed the kit to be generally effective. Degree of student and teacher satisfaction with its use was high. Modifications in the approach to be used with the kit in the classroom, and to the kit components have been detailed.

This is a written report of my experience on rehearsing and performing the production A Single Shard in Seattle Children’s Theatre from January to March of 2012. The essay documented my working process and the challenges I’ve faced throughout rehearsals and performances. This is also a reflection of my education from the graduate acting program in Department of Theatre and Dance. / text

Thesis (M.A.)--Dept. of Theatre. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2008. / "A thesis in theatre." Typescript. Advisor: Felicia Hardison Londreʹ Vita. Title from "catalog record" of the print edition Description based on contents viewed Sept. 12, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 118-120). Online version of the print edition.

Throughout the twentieth century, theatre for young audiences (TYA), or children's theatre, has been situated as something "other" or different than adult theatre, a kind of theatre--but not really theatre, a construct which opened the door to numerous "how to" philosophies geared specifically toward the theatre for young audiences practitioner. As a twenty-first century theatre practitioner, I am interested in how these philosophies are situated within or against current professional practices in the TYA field. This interest led me to the main question of this study: What are the predominant twentieth-century philosophies on acting, directing, and dramatic literature in the TYA field; and how do they compare to what is currently practiced on the professional American TYA stage? In order to explore current practice, I focused on three theatres, two of which are nationally recognized for their "quality" TYA work, the Seattle Children's Theatre and the Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis. The third company, the Orlando-UCF Shakespeare Festival, is one of the largest Shakespearean festivals in the country, and has a growing theatre for young audiences program. Between June and October of 2006, I conducted numerous interviews with professional managers, directors, and actors from these organizations. I also attended productions of Pippi Longstocking (Children's Theatre Company), Honus and Me (Seattle Children's Theatre), and Peter Rabbit (Orlando-UCF Shakespeare Festival). It was through these interviews and observations of these productions that I was able to gain data--methodology, techniques, and philosophy--on twenty-first century TYA acting, directing, and dramatic literature. My study has uncovered that although there are numerous twentieth-century "how to" philosophies, many current TYA practitioners are unfamiliar with them. Most of the twenty-first century TYA practice that I studied follows the trends of the adult theatre. This thesis serves as the culmination of my Master of Fine Arts in theatre for young audiences at the University of Central Florida. However, it is not a culmination of my study on the theatre for young audiences field. Past philosophies paired with current methodology, while providing models of quality, also open the door to numerous ideas for further study. This thesis challenges me in examining my own notions of quality acting, directing, and dramatic literature in the TYA field; and it is my hope that this challenge makes me a more informed, deliberate, and responsible theatre practitioner.

The Memory and The Legacy: The Whittlin' Whistlin' Brigade - The Young Company 1974-2001, is a history of the children's theatre of Brigham Young University. The Whittlin' Whistlin' Brigade - The Young Company acts as a training ground for graduate students working in theatre for young audiences. Then directing a production for The Whittlin' Whistlin' Brigade - The Young Company, students are instructed to perform all functions required of a professional company. As the The Whittlin' Whistlin' Brigade - The Young Company (WWB-TYC) spends much of its performance time on tour, those responsibilities are relegated to the students. Developed and headed by Dr. Harold R. Oaks of Brigham Young University, WWB-TYC produced children's theatre for local, regional, national and international audiences. The history includes production photos, budgets and business plans. A survey of former company members was conducted assessing the long-term affect on participants in relationship to their personal and professional life. This thesis is also in electronic form using animation, musical and narrative audio, an interactive menu and a photo-gallery. Text is available in HTML and PDF format with 'print' capability. A tutorial is included to aid in possible navigational concerns. Working within an electronic medium has facilitated the accessibility of a considerable collection of material highly diverse in nature. Twenty-seven years of production notes, performance programs, production photos, music, scripts, budgets, permissions, required licensing, travel arrangements and itineraries, performance schedules, educational/clientele data and historical developmental notes of the children's theater program itself presented not only volumes of material but also brought specific inclusion needs. In addition, the results of a program survey of the program will be presented in graph and chart format. Determined needs include: 1. A history of children's theater both nationally and at Brigham Young University. 2. Supporting documentation of program development and implementation. 3. Survey results of WWB-TYC participants.

This thesis examines the various futures presented by the original children's theatre of the Federal Theatre Project. Combining original archival research and play analysis, I investigate four plays from the Federal Theatre's canon: The Emperor's New Clothes (1935) and A Letter to Santa Claus (1938) by Charlotte Chorpenning, Revolt of the Beavers (1937) by Oscar Saul and Lou Lantz, and Pinocchio (1938-9) by Yasha Frank. I posit that the futures presented by the four plays allowed the spectators to envision a new American future beyond the Great Depression: of prosperity, of class equality, of individual agency. These futures were in conversation with the larger unspoken political goal of the Project - to produce theatre relevant to its time and place, and thus to its audiences' time and place. By analyzing the plays and their reception by young, adult, and critical audiences, my thesis reveals a a critical genealogy, one that can be traced through conservative arts criticism in the 1930s through present-day attacks on national arts such as PBS and the NEA / text

The purpose of this study was to evaluate a Theatre For Young Audiences (TYA) paper and multimedia study guide and to investigate teachers' perceptions of study guides created for TYA. It used current literature surrounding TYA performances, supplemental materials for the elementary classroom, and multimedia in performance and education, to glean critical elements for creating a useful TYA study guide. These elements provided the framework for creating a rubric to evaluate a TYA study guide's potential success in the classroom. The mixed methods study then used the created rubric to evaluate etc . . .'s (Educational Theatre Company) 2005 Hey Diddle Diddle! The Rhymes and Rhythms of Mother Goose study guide. This data was combined with surveys administered to elementary teachers. The study guide rated high on the rubric and teachers' perceptions were generally positive. Overall the analysis yielded information useful for the creation of future guides and research.

abstract: The construction of the contemporary Taiwanese child and childhood has been under-researched. It is often understood solely in contrast to a Western context as a mysterious or even exotic existence. However, this understanding differs from what I discovered in my literary reviews, which reveal many similarities - not differences - with respect to the philosophical views of the child and childhood between the so-called "East" and "West." To gain a better understanding of the Taiwanese child and childhood, I chose the annual Taipei Children's Arts Festival (TCAF) as my main research subject and adopted grounded theory and dramatic analysis as my research methods to explore the following question: What are the representations of the Taiwanese child and childhood as reflected by the cultural artifacts of TCAF between 2000 and 2011? TCAF is the largest children's arts festival in Taiwan and theatre for young audiences (TYA) has been its main component. I therefore selected four award winning TCAF plays and their production videos as my main data. Additional data consists of forewords from the programs, which were written by mayors of Taipei City, commissioners of Taipei's Department of Cultural Affairs, and festival organizers. To provide context, I give a brief history of Taiwanese children's theatre before beginning the main analysis. My findings indicate a complex construction of the Taiwanese child and childhood. The central category states that Taiwanese children are constructed as adults' futures. This explains adults' desires to preserve children's positive qualities, and reflects adults' emphasis on learning and teaching, children's agency, and their happiness. Determining one central category/hypothesis proved to be difficult, due to the variety and complexity of my data. Missing categories include concepts of the unconscious child and children's relationships to religion, family, friendships, and gender issues. The distinctions between children and adults are both distinct and ambiguous. Although differences of the East/West binary exist, social constructions of the child and childhood become increasingly similar as the world becomes more fluid. My research highlights a variety of such elements. Future research is still needed, however, in order to broaden and deepen the understanding of the Taiwanese child and childhood. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Theatre 2012

Since its beginning in 1968, the Roberta Jones Junior Theatre, a children's theatre, connected to the Parks and Recreation Department of Santa Clara, California, has been creating child-centered performances for young audiences. This thesis will explore the history of the Santa Clara/Roberta Jones Junior Theatre and discuss the components that have contributed to its forty-year success. For a children's theatre to be successful it needs to be first centered on the learning of the children, in tune with the need of its community, and have a staff focused on the same goals. By examining the Roberta Jones Junior Theatre, the intension is to give a picture of its organizational structure, an analysis of its guiding principles, and how the author proposes to use it as a model for a children's theatre in the future.