How to Teach a Play: Essential Exercises for Popular Plays - Practical

In this review of How to Teach a Play: Essential Exercises for Popular Plays, the bottom line is simple: this is a practical, classroom-ready resource for teachers and theatre practitioners who want to bring dramatic texts to life. Developed by Miriam Chirico and Kelly Younger with contributions across disciplines, the book emphasizes the performative aspects of drama and supplies over 80 targeted exercises that connect performance practice to close reading. For instructors who want concrete, play-specific activities rather than abstract theory, this guide is immediately useful.

Key Features

• Play-specific exercises: More than 80 exercises focus directly on commonly taught plays to make textual meaning visible through performance.
• Practical teaching strategies: Exercises are designed for classroom use so teachers can move quickly from reading to embodied exploration.
• Range of plays: Coverage spans classical through contemporary drama, offering adaptable approaches for varied curricula.
• Interdisciplinary contributors: Activities reflect a variety of theatrical practices and perspectives to enrich lesson planning.
• Focus on performative imagination: Exercises prioritize students developing imaginative, embodied engagement with text rather than only analytical reading.

Who It's For

This book is best for secondary and post-secondary teachers, theatre directors working with novice ensembles, and theatre education specialists who need ready-made classroom activities that link performance and close reading. It is particularly helpful for instructors who face students accustomed to treating plays as literature on the page rather than as scripts to be enacted.

Those looking for exhaustive theoretical treatments of theatre history or a play-by-play textual commentary should look elsewhere; this volume is a practical exercises manual rather than a critical anthology or comprehensive theoretical textbook.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Abundant, concrete exercises make it simple to implement performative practice in a lesson plan.
• Exercises tailored to commonly taught plays help teachers select activities that match course texts.
• Contributors from diverse theatrical disciplines broaden the range of pedagogical approaches available.

Cons

• As a practical guide, it offers limited theoretical background or extended textual analysis for every play.

Specifications

Title	How to Teach a Play: Essential Exercises for Popular Plays
Authors	Miriam Chirico, Kelly Younger
Content focus	Practical exercises linking performance and close reading
Number of exercises	More than 80 exercises
Play coverage	Classical through contemporary drama
Audience	Teachers, theatre professionals, students

Our Verdict

How to Teach a Play is a strong value for educators and theatre practitioners who want immediate, actionable activities to animate dramatic texts. Its exercise-based format fills a persistent gap between literary study and performance practice, making it a recommended classroom resource for those aiming to develop students' performative imagination without wading through dense theory.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this book provide exercises for specific plays?
Yes, it offers play-specific exercises covering commonly taught classical and contemporary works to support classroom enactment and close reading.

Who contributed the exercises?
Exercises were developed by contributors from a range of disciplines, bringing varied theatrical practices to the teaching strategies.

Is this book suitable for beginners?
Yes; the practical exercises are geared toward teachers and students at secondary and post-secondary levels and are accessible to those new to performance methods.