For new and veteran play directors, here is a comprehensive guide to producing student theater packed with tested tips, timesavers and problem-solvers gleaned form the authors' experience in directing over 120 full-length plays or musical!

Step by step, the Kit takes you through every phase of play selection and production in six sections. Each section is complete with ready-to-use checklists, diagrams, and samples. And, as an added enhancement, each carries a subtitle that's also a song title form a musical and includes interesting facts about its Broadway opening, original cast, and number of performances.

The following identifies the six sections of the Kit along with some of the specific topics and reproducible aids included in each major part:

PROLOGUE: What kind of help can you expect from this resource

ACT ONE: PLAY SELECTION — Your role as play director ... Getting started ... A Director's Checklist of Responsibilities ... Production options ... Stage Manager's Checklist for Touring Productions ... How to select the right play

ACT TWO: PRE-PRODUCTION CONSIDERATIONS — How to unravel a play's meaning ... How to lay out a rehearsal schedule ... Layout for a Typical Rehearsal Schedule ... What you need to know about stage properties, lighting, sound and special effects, costumes and makeup ... Property Inventory List ... Director's Costume Notes ... How to conduct auditions ... Sample of Audition Form ... Layout Form for Call Backs ... How to make intelligent casting decisions ... Sample of Cast Announcement

ACT THREE: REHEARSALS &PERFORMANCES — How to get the most out of rehearsals ... Standard Set of Warm-up Exercises ... How to help actors develop character ... Working with actors ... How to direct period plays ... A Selected List of Standard Period Pieces ... How to direct your first musical ... Where to Obtain the Rights for Musicals ... How to run a smooth productions ... Backstage Etiquette

ACT FOUR: AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT — What you need to know about tickets ... A Box Office Checklist ... How to sell your production ... Preparing posters, press releases, and programs ... Checklist for Program Copy ... Sample Program layouts ... What you need to know about audiences

EPILOGUE: DIRECTORY — Acting/Directing Terms ... Odd Names for Technical Terms ... Stages of Production Process ... A List of Theatrical Forms ... List of Contemporary Play for Beginning Directors ... Players in Commercial Theater Organization ... A Selected Reading List for Beginning Directors

Included are over 55 full-page checklists, diagrams, forms, fact sheets, samples and other aids you can use as is or easily adapt to your particular needs. And all material is printed in a handy 8 ?" x 11" format for easy photocopying!

Whether you're directing a first play or your25th, at the planning stage or in the midst of the production process, you'll find PLAY DIRECTOR'S SURVIVAL KIT invaluable. It will not only relieve you of some of the stress in producing a play but, at he same time, give you greater confidence and enjoyment in your theatrical endeavors.

This expansive guide covers the where, when, and how for every step of school play production, including play selection and adaptation, auditions, casting and dealing with disappointed students, budgeting, coaching actors, setting up a production team, rehearsals, publicity, and promotion.

James W. Rodgers, Ph.D., teacher, director, and published playwright, has taught for more than 35 years and serves as a department chair in colleges and universities in Ohio, Michigan, New Jersey, and Kentucky. He is currently a full professor at the University of Kentucky.

Wanda C. Rodgers has taught in five states and in a variety of schools. She is currently teaching Drama, English, and Communications at Woodford County High School in Versailles, Kentucky, where she has been names Outstanding Teacher of the Year for Woodford County.

About the Authors.

PROLOGUE.

"Welcome to the Theater".

What You Can Expect from This Resource.

ACT ONE: PLAY SELECTION.

1. "Magic to Do" Understanding Your Role as Director.

2. "One Brick at a Time" How to Get Started.

3. "Open a New Window" Other Options.

4. "Something Sort of Grandish" How to Select the Right Play

ACT TWO: PRE-PRODUCTION CONSIDERATIONS.

5. "A Puzzlement" How to Unravel a Play s Meaning.

6. "Putting It Together" How to Lay Out a Rehearsal Schedule.

7. "Pick-a-little;

Talk-a-little" How to Work With a Set Designer.

8. "Pretty Little Picture"What You Need to Know About Stage Properties.

9. "Let the Sunshine In" What You Need to Know About Stage Lighting.

10. "The Sound of Music" What You Need to Know About Sound and Special Effects.

11. "Put in Your Sunday Clothes"What You Need to Know About Costuming.

12. "Put on a Happy Face"What You Need to Know About Makeup.

13. "A Little Brains, A Little Talent" What Your Stage Manager Needs to Know.

14. "I Hope I Get It" How to Conduct Auditions.

15. "Matchmaker, Matchmaker" How to Make Intelligent Casting Decisions

ACT THREE: REHEARSALS &PERFORMANCES.

16. "It's a Simple Little System" How to Get the Most Out of Rehearsals.

17. "Every Little Movement" How to Stage, or Block Your Play.

18. "Happy to Make Your Acquaintance" How to Help Actors Develop Characters.

19. "You've Got to Have Heart" How to Work with Actors.

20. "Agony" How to Direct Period Plays.

21. "With a Little Bit of Luck" How to Direct Your First Musical.

22. "Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat"How to Run a Smooth Production

ACT FOUR: AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT.

23. "Who Will Buy?" What You Need to Know About tickets.

24. "You've Got to Have a Gimmick" What You Need to Know to Sell Your Production.

25. "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught" What You Need to Know About the Media.

26. "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee" What You Need to Know About Programs.

27. "Bea-u-ti-ful People of Denver" What You Need to Know About Audiences

EPILOGUE: DIRECTORY.

28. "Life on the Wicked Stage" Acting/Directing Terms.

29. "Drop That Name" Odd Names for Technical Things.

30. "There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This" Theater Spaces.

31. "Perpetual Anticipation" Stages of the Production Process.

32. "Try to Remember" A List of Theatrical Forms.

33. "Let Me Entertain You" A List of Contemporary Plays for Beginning Directors.

34. "Losing My Mind" More Terms About Parts of Plays.

35. "The Little Things We Do Together" Players in a commercial Theater Organization.

36. "Who Can I Turn To?" A Selected Reading List for Beginning Directors.