Play Directing in the School: A Drama Director's Survival Guide [Paperback]

David Grote (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1998

Directing plays in schools requires knowledge and talents far different than directing for community or professional theatre. In ten comprehensive chapters the author explains the 'real world' of producing effective theatricals in the school environment. He details the pitfalls and the problems while providing ideas for consistently successful shows.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David Grote

Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: Meriwether Publishing; 1st edition (May 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566080363
• ISBN-13: 978-1566080361
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #931,154 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars David Grote is My Theater God!, July 6, 2001

By 

"megoconnor" (Charlotte, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Play Directing in the School: A Drama Director's Survival Guide (Paperback)

I bought this book the minute I read "The 7 Myths about Musicals. Myth #1: Musicals are fun." (He goes on the qualify that they are fun to watch and be in, but hard hard hard to direct.) I knew then I had found a kindred spirit, someone who loved theater with all his soul but wasn't sugar-coating all of the pettyness and brouhaha that accompany running a program in a high school. This guy is straight forward, no nonsense, and he believes that high school theater directors are real directors and should behave and be treated as such. His advice is smart, sharp, and on the mark. He includes very useful chapters on how to run and maintain a theater program and how to select plays. It is above and beyond better than any other "how to direct a high school play" book. Buy it, then tell all the theater teachers you know to buy it. This is the real thing.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Number One Title for High School Theatre Directors, June 5, 2001

By 

Rick Morse "Professional Puppeteer" (Flushing, Michigan USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Play Directing in the School: A Drama Director's Survival Guide (Paperback)

Despite performing in professional productions from the age of 11, despite a great high school theatre experience (thanks, JMO!), and despite a university degree in theatre, I suddenly realized how much I needed to know (but didn't!) when faced with my first high school directing job! I learned the director's craft and art from hard experience, from consultations with my own high school director (JMO again), and from reading everything I could get my hands on. This book would have saved me YEARS of trouble had it been available 'way back in the late 1970s!

David Grote knows his stuff. He has worked with actors of all ages and appreciates the special problems confronting the high school theatre director. His advice is solid, practical, and workable. He is, in short, eminently qualified to write on this subject.

If you can buy only one book on directing, buy this one. It's great--and a heck of a lot better than the textbook we used in my university-level directing course!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent reference, August 22, 2000

By 

Katherine Pincus (Modesto, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Play Directing in the School: A Drama Director's Survival Guide (Paperback)

I recently student produced the play Little Women at my high school for my senior project, and I wish that I had read this book before I put on the play. In it there are great suggestions for choosing a play, analyzing the script, prepairing for production, blocking, casting, rehearsal, acting and student actors, recurrent problems, directing the musical, and building a theater program. Everything Grote said I could identify with, and I nearly always agreed. In one section he gives great specific ideas for helping students understand how to portray their part, and I found this section particularly helpful. The only negative thing that I could say about the book is that in the chapter on "recurrent problems" he didn't metion the number one recurrent problem: personality conflicts between cast members! Which anyone ever involved in a drama program would know is nearly always a problem. Overall, however, this book was insiteful, and quite useful. I recommend it for anyone who will be directing a play in a school situation.