About
These resources have been created for the online learning world. You may know some of the selected plays and some may be new. It’s always great to make discoveries. Whichever is the case, Australian Plays recommends that teachers access and read a script before selecting it for their students.
Each script and the accompanying activities are designed as a mini unit of work or series of lessons for students to do solo, in pairs and in collaboration and take place over several days or spread across two or more weeks. It all depends on your students and the learning context.
For each selected play there are activities that include:
- Suggested ways to jump into the script – individually, in pairs, in breakout groups, as a class, ‘live’ in the online space OR to prepare and bring back
- Monologues, Duologues and Scenes to read, learn, present and ‘perform’ and that can be assessed ‘live’ or recorded by students and then submitted for assessment
- Ways for students to consider the design elements of theatre; set, properties, costume, sound, make-up. From reading the script they can make some creative decisions – what would this play look like and sound like? (Without sneaking looks at the productions shots first!)
- Suggestions for analysing and evaluating the script by reading professional reviews of previous productions and comparing
- Listening to interviews with playwrights about their play, why they wrote it, and the stories they want to tell
- See production trailers or highlights that offer glimpses into the world of the play
- Access Education/Teachers notes prepared especially for the show that contain a whole stack of other activities for teachers to use with students!
Links to the curriculum: at the end of each resource there are two tables that offer ideas about how the resources and the study of the plays link to the Australian Curriculum in the Arts, Drama and to aspects of each of the senior curriculum in Drama/Theatre. They are suggestions only but may offer educators way to consider why and how these scripts can address learning.
If you aren’t able to have a school production this term, consider how one of these plays can be your ‘production’ in the online space – please be aware you need to gain performance rights for any online performances which you can request from the Australian Plays website.
So, consider your students, what are they into? Which script might offer them some new learning about plays and theatre?
Over to you…and them.
Meg Upton
Education Curator
Australian Plays Transform
Scripts and Resources
Clicking any of the images below will open the pdf education resource
