The lessons I have included on this Wiki and that I use when talking about Injecting Drama! are free. They are free because they don't really belong to me or anyone - they belong to the theater and to theater education. I didn't originate them, but I have modified many of them, because that is what works for me and my students. Feel free to modify anything as you see fit. You don;t even have to credit me, but if someone asks you where you learned something - I would appreciate it if you told them that you learned it from me at the NESA conference (or wherever our paths have crossed).
There are theater practitioners who write books and often times these books contain lessons, improvisation exercises, or drama games. Sometimes they present the material as if they have originated the idea - and sometimes maybe they have. However, having been around theater since I was in the sixth grade I have seen a lot of theater material and I have been a part of teaching a lot of theater curriculum, I can assure you that many times the content of their book are exercises that have been around for years. Most of the stuff that I use in my classroom is not "original". Does that make it wrong to use it? No more than it makes it wrong to copy the fancy footwork of Messi when you are teaching the kids how to play soccer. The reason the exercises keep getting used is because they are good, they are effective, and they get you to where you want to be. Theater artists, directors, educators borrow from each other all the time - in many cases the exercise has been used so often and has been modified so many times that the no one really remembers who "created" it. They are passed down through the ages, because they work. Sometimes the exercise is so old hat they probably use it for training actors back in ancient Greece.
That said, there are those theater practitioners who have been theater innovators or theater education creators - whenever possible I give them their credit. You will find in the resources section the names of some practitioners and their seminal books or information. If I reference a particular style it is because it can clearly be traced back to the theater group or theater artist who developed it and it has become synonymous with their body of work (Think "method acting" and Stanislavsky). If I don't mention where it came from, it is because it has entered into the realm of "general theater exercises" and is just what theater people do when they are training.
Sometimes theater practitioners modify lessons or exercises just enough that they can put their stamp on them. For example, there is a site that is selling drama game lesson plans, which are clearly games that every theater artist has done and is continuing to use in theater education. What they are selling are the "lesson plans" formatted to be easy to understand and easily downloaded. Maybe they are selling their particular "style" of using the lessons. Who knows - and more power to them! There are very few things that I can claim are truly mine in their entirety - meaning I originated them, I developed the exercise, I created the format of delivery and I should be given credit for the innovation. That's why I offer this to you for free - because you signed up for the workshop or conference AND I want every kid to be engaged in your classroom.
I DO NOT ADVOCATE RIPPING OFF SOMEONE ELSE'S LIVELIHOOD by stealing their material, claiming it as your own and getting paid for it. That said, theater practitioners borrow from each other. And we borrow from the past, and we borrow from general education, and we borrow from music, nature, sports, and on and on and on. BTW - doesn't a section of Adele's hit Rolling in the Deep sound curiously like Danger Mouse's song Crazy? I encourage you to do the same when it comes to Injecting Drama! That is kind of the point - find what works for you and your students and modify or implement as needed. Be sure to credit if warranted
LANGUAGE: Links on this site and books I recommend may connect to monologues or exercises that are inappropriate to certain age levels or groups. I cannot shield the viewers from every inappropriate thing that is connected to here. it is theater after all and sometimes theater is inappropriate and naughty. PLEASE CHECK THINGS OUT FIRST before you hand them over to kids. Basic common sense, because I cannot be held responsible if you give the kids a link to a monologue site that has a 1 minute monologue from Sexual Perversity in Chicago on it.
On a final note - stuff will be coming and going on this Wiki. Please make sure to write down or copy things wen you want them, because the next time you visit they may not be here.
I DO NOT ADVOCATE RIPPING OFF SOMEONE ELSE'S LIVELIHOOD by stealing their material, claiming it as your own and getting paid for it. That said, theater practitioners borrow from each other. And we borrow from the past, and we borrow from general education, and we borrow from music, nature, sports, and on and on and on. BTW - doesn't a section of Adele's hit Rolling in the Deep sound curiously like Danger Mouse's song Crazy? I encourage you to do the same when it comes to Injecting Drama! That is kind of the point - find what works for you and your students and modify or implement as needed. Be sure to credit if warranted
COPYRIGHT LAW FOR THEATRE
LANGUAGE: Links on this site and books I recommend may connect to monologues or exercises that are inappropriate to certain age levels or groups. I cannot shield the viewers from every inappropriate thing that is connected to here. it is theater after all and sometimes theater is inappropriate and naughty. PLEASE CHECK THINGS OUT FIRST before you hand them over to kids. Basic common sense, because I cannot be held responsible if you give the kids a link to a monologue site that has a 1 minute monologue from Sexual Perversity in Chicago on it.
On a final note - stuff will be coming and going on this Wiki. Please make sure to write down or copy things wen you want them, because the next time you visit they may not be here.