Customer Reviews

Scenes That Happen: Snapshot Dramatizations about Life in High School

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Krell-Oishi's book attempts to fill a much needed void in the world of high-school scene study: the need for brief, interesting scenes which teenagers can relate to and are interested in. Unfortunately, almost all of these scenes completely lack active dramatic conflict. Characters generally talk about problems they are having with offstage unseen characters; those on stage are almost all in agreement. As the subtitle states, these are mere "snapshots" of adolescent life. Accurate, but like the average snapshot, not very interesting. Yes, the writer has a good ear for teen dialogue, but she seems to lack a true affection for young people. The characters tend to be drawn as nothing more than charicatures with simplistic motives. High school kids are complex, and I've yet to meet one who was only shallow, or bitchy, or self-absorbed, as most of Krell-Oishi's characters are. As a drama teacher, I'd recommend others to look elsewhere for good scenes for teens.

No, this is not high drama. But, as slices of life, these scenes are good for young students who are new to the world of acting. As a drama teacher, I use these scenes in my beginning classes as simple scenes that inexperienced performers can tackle and in which they can perfrom well. I would not recommend this book for the advanced acting student, except for some scenes in this book and the sequal, that I actually think are very well written and include a lot of depth. This book also helps by providing some good 3 character scenes that are hard to find.

I agree with others about the blandness of the scenes in this book, but for me, a high school drama teacher (11 Years), that can be a strength at times. One of the most difficult things to get beginning actors to do is take risks. Most of these scenes don't require much of that,and because memorizing the lines, being loud enough, staying open, are still struggles for them, something safe is helpful to many of my students. I wish more of the scenes were comic, that helps bring more out of them as well. But, I have been working with this book for years and have not found anything else that has the right length and style for my students on a repeated basis. Of course I only use this for their first scene, after that we require much more. But has worked for me and they leave alot of room for creative students to expand on what's there, while not intimidating students who are more timid.

I had the unfortunate privilege of reading many of the skits in here, finding them very senseless. Not only do these scenes never happen, but by the end of each short we feel just as we did when it began. Nothing has been accomplished and there never has been that much of a conflict to begin with. The language is too mild, high schoolers do not talk like that. Words and phrases like "Oh my God" are overused, trust me, high schoolers do have a wider vocabulary than that. I have not read the sequel to this book and do not wish to unless for a good laugh, which is all the first book is good for.