Holding Court in the Telling of Tales

Lipman, Doug
Improving Your Storytelling: Beyond the Basics for All Who Tell Stories in Work or Play
Atlanta: August House, 1999
I wonder about the first story told on earth. Did it convey a dire need, an imminent danger, or was it intended to make another tribesman laugh? One of the most skilled storytellers I know is my [...]

Advice to Young Black Actors in the Time of Obama

Ward, Douglas Turner, with Gus Edwards
Advice to a Young Black Actor
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2004
“How can I get started in theater?” As a theater educator, this question always finds me somewhat unprepared. I never thought about art as something that happens because of good planning; for me it is more of a spontaneous happening. But [...]

Mixing Methodologies

Potter, Nicole (ed.)
Movement for Actors
New York: Allworth Press, 2002
The twentieth century gave birth to large scale inter-continental travel and with that came expanded exposure to a world of theatrical ideas, approaches, and methodologies. At a rate never before seen in human history, we were able to inquire and compare ideas on a global scale. This [...]

Folk and Fairies in Action

Zipes, Jack
Breaking the Magic Spell: Radical Theories of Folk and Fairy Tales
Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2002
“Again!” Is what I proclaimed as my weary eyed mother attempted to close Cinderella after she read it to me for the umpteenth time. It was clearly my favorite fairy tale. Since the beginning of time, young people all [...]

Presence in Contemporary Theater Practice

Power, Cormac
Presence in Play: A Critique of Theories of Presence in the Theatre
Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1988
I am a visual learner and am part of an ever increasing number of people heavily influenced by concepts and products transmitted purely through virtual means. As a stage director, I have been in situations with people outside of the industry [...]

Memory of How Puppets Function

Jurkowski, Henryk
Aspects of Puppet Theatre: A Collection of Essays
London: Puppet Centre Trust, 1988
One of the unique and challenging goals that I encounter as a Lincoln Center Institute teaching artist is creating lessons for each class with whom I work. Because LCI teaching artists partner with classroom teachers to plan an arts-focused curriculum that will suit [...]

Puppets: Manipulating the Past and Present

Bell, John
Strings, Hands, Shadows: A Modern Puppet History
Detroit: The Detroit Institute of Arts, 2000
Image: © 2000 Detroit Institute of Arts
From my perspective, nothing can ignite the spark of imagination in the mind of a young person quicker than the slight manipulation of a puppet. Rodeos and puppet shows were my first experiences with live performance. [...]

Magic in the Minds of Young People

Bettelheim, Bruno
The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales
New York: Vintage Books, 1976
Have you ever wondered why children want to hear certain stories over and over, why a specific childhood fairy tale stands out in your adult mind, or why your students respond particularly well to explorations and study of performances by [...]

Mind, Body, Expression in a Thinking World

Lecoq, Jacques
The Moving Body: Teaching Creative Theater
New York: Methuen Drama, 2002
I sometimes find it difficult in my work as a theater teaching artist to promote art, creativity, and movement to a population of students eager to say the right answer, where test prep and testing are ubiquitous. In The Moving Body, French movement, mime, and [...]