Secondary Stages: Revitalizing High School Theatre [Paperback]

Jeff Bennett (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0325003130 | ISBN-13: 978-0325003139 | Publication Date: September 26, 2001

Secondary Stages combines in one volume everything a high school teacher needs to organize and implement a sucessful, dynamic theatre program. Bennett's approach is based on a simple premise: that exposure to theatre can be an utterly transforming experience for students - one that enables them to reach unimagined levels of personal, emotional, and intellectual growth. His book delivers hands-on techniques to make it all happen, illustrating how to:

• draw interested students into the program
• inspire students to act with truth and conviction
• establish the connection between good improvisation and good scene work
• carry passion for theatre outside the classroom and into the mainstream of school life
• choose material that's stimulating enough to attract a sizable student audience without creating unwanted controversy
• structure activities and lessons so that they encourage maximum sensitivity and awareness
• lay the basis for mounting memorable productions.

With these goals in mind and with more than three decades of experience, Bennett presents strategies that have consistently proven effective for the broadest possible range of students.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jeff Bennett has spent his professional life teaching theatre, English, vocal music, and public speaking. In addition to staging more than fifty high school shows, he has directed plays at Queens College, Port Jefferson's Theatre Three, and New York's Cafe La Mama.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Heinemann Drama (September 26, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0325003130
• ISBN-13: 978-0325003139
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #493,177 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Memorable Teachers, January 31, 2004

By 

Harold L. Ackerman (LosAngeles, Ca United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Secondary Stages: Revitalizing High School Theatre (Paperback)

How many teachers can you remember who have had a signficant influence on your life. You can probably count them on the fingers of one hand, which in itself says something about the math teachers we've all had. The one vital thing that most teachers never discover is that the greatest thing we can "teach"
is the excitement of learning, the thrill of discovery.

A great acting teacher is not one who can most effectively direct actors where on teh stage to stand and with what expression to recite their lines. A great teacher helps, directs, creates the environment wherein the students can make discoveries. And any discovery is part of self-discovery.

Jeff Bennet's book, SECONDARY STAGES is a roadmap to the process through which disovery becomes possible. It makes the journey dangerously safe, instructively fun. It methodically conducts us through the maze of adolescent psychology to the lovely place where spontaneity is possible.

It is able to be inspirational and simultaneously grounded in practical reality. It is pedagogical (in the best sense) and simultaneously personal. The book is logically organized. Its structure is a function not only of ideas but of the experiential progression of the teacher-student relationship.
It sets inspirational and practical goals, it offers pathways to get there, it identifies problem areas and offers incisive and practical ways of understanding them and solving them.

It is a great guidebook for any student or teacher of the craft of acting...and of teaching.

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An essential read for theater lovers: new and old., December 6, 2001

By 

ProgMasta (The 'Burgh, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Secondary Stages: Revitalizing High School Theatre (Paperback)

I have had the pleasure of being a former student of Jeff Bennett's classes in high school. Mr Bennett has shared a wealth of knowledge about the theater industry with me, but I believe he has taught me much more than just the theater.

Jeff Bennett is a sage of wisdom, and through our countless conversations he has guided me on the right paths, in life as well as my career goals. By being my mentor through the troubling years of high school woe, Mr. Bennett has been the most influential teacher I have ever had.

People who are involved in theater, or teaching theater at the secondary school level need to read this book.
Yet, life-long learners would benefit from reading Jeff's perceptiveness.

Jeff Bennett has the uncanny ability to connect with students of any age. Through this book, others can now share the privilege I have had for years.

5.0 out of 5 stars Secondary Stages is First Rate!, June 13, 2011

By 

Diana Brodie (Leslie, AR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Secondary Stages: Revitalizing High School Theatre (Paperback)

This is a great book for high school theatre teachers! It's all about doing theatre, rather than talking about it. Specific exercises and lesson plans make the whole year's curriculum easy to plan. Students will love the hands on nature of the exercises, and teachers will get much more from their students. The author not only deals with what to do, he also covers what not to do. Get this book- you will use it!