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Teaching Guidelines

Distance Education Guidelines
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High School Drama Courses
Recommended Unit Areas
Introduction to the Theatre
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Class Activities
Why Am I Here?
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Looney Tunes
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The Object of the Game
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How Not to Monolgue
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Reviewing Play Productions
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New York Theatre Tour
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The Turning Point
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Vacation Mime
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The Hitchhiker
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Creating a Morality Play
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Stage Movement
Acting
Voice and Diction
Theatre History
Play Production

High School Oral Comm Courses

ASCA Oral Comm Position Statement
Addendum

Arkansas Guidelines

Department of Education Curriculums
Theatre
Communication - One Semester
Communication - Full Year

Drama Units and Activities

Planning a New York Theatre Tour Package

Unit(s): Introduction to the Theatre (events and audience)/Theatre History/
Twentieth Century/Contemporary American

Purpose:

To familiarize students about New York theatres (Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off Broadway), current plays, and reveal various audience preferences within their drama class.

Objective:

After studying information about New York City theatres and current plays, groups of students will create a theatre tour package and present or "sell" it to the class.

Materials:

  1. Maps of Manhattan which identify theatres, hotels, restaurants, and other interesting attractions
  2. Listings of currents plays which include brief descriptions (The New Yorker has one in every issue)
  3. Videos giving information about New York City (American Student Travel has a short promotional one which targets a theatre tour) or about New York theatres (such as the previous year's Tony Awards televised production)
  4. Pictures of New York theaters and attractions
  5. Reviews of current plays
  6. Poster board, markers, construction paper, scissors, glue, etc., for visual aids the students can make

Procedure:

  1. Create a bulletin board about New York theatres and current plays.
  2. Discuss variety of audience preferences within the class (a warm-up activity could be to compare responses to recent and current local movie offerings).
  3. Explain the general geography of Manhattan uptown, midtown, downtown, and identify places students may be familiar with, such as Rockefeller Center, Central Park, Greenwich Village, Wall Street, Statue of Liberty, Times Square, the Theatre District, Harlem, etc.
  4. Explain the differences between theaters found on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off Broadway and compare the types of plays usually produced by each.
  5. Review the list of current plays, helping students to interpret the brief descriptions.
  6. Divide students into groups of 3 or 4 and tell them to design a short theater tour trip to New York which will include a minimum of 3 plays and a maximum of 5 days in the Big Apple.
  7. Use attached hand-out to specify guidelines for their planning.
  8. Allow 2 class periods for groups to select plays, plan other details about their tours, and create visual aids, as well as plan their "sales pitch" to the class.
  9. Ask each group to present their tour package to the class.
  10. Have the class vote on which tour seems like the most fun.


Broadway Tour Presentation Instructions

GROUP WORK REQUIRES COOPERATION: DO NOT MAKE FUN OF OR REJECT ANYONE'S SINCERE CONTRIBUTION OF AN IDEA TO YOUR PLANNING . EVERYONE SHOULD LISTEN AND HELP GUIDE GROUP CHOICES BY ASKING POSITIVE QUESTIONS. KEEP YOUR GROUP GOALS IN MIND AS YOU FOLLOW THESE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE ASSIGNMENT:

  1. Give your group a name for your travel agency. You may also give the theatre tour a special name, which allows you to use more than one person's idea.
  2. Within your group, share your choices for plays to be seen: you must include a minimum of 3 plays during a maximum of 5 days on the trip. Agree upon which plays to see and plan how to describe those choices to the class, make the class want to attend the plays you've chosen.

    Include the following information: What type of play is each? What theatre is it playing in? Is it a Broadway, Off- Broadway, or Off-Off Broadway production? Does it include famous actors (are they named in descriptions or ads for the play)?

  3. Decide the accommodations (the hotel you'll have the tour stay in). Where is it located? Is it near the Broadway Theatre District? Or, is it near Central Park, 5th Avenue shopping, or something else interesting?
  4. Name one restaurant that you will take the tour to for a meal.
  5. List any other special activities (sights or museums) to see that your tour will include.
  6. Although you will estimate prices (Broadway orchestra seats $100, mezzanine $75, balcony $50), decide whether you'll go "first class" or "see the most as cheaply as possible." First class air fares on a regular scale might cost as much as $800 round trip; staying in a top hotel, even with 4 in a room, might cost $50 each, per night. A NYC student tour might run about $1100 total, not including extra food, gifts, etc.
  7. Make a visual aid (brochure or poster, etc.) to advertise your tour.
  8. All members of the group will participate in the oral presentation. Split up the information any way you choose so that each person has responsibility for "selling" your tour to the class.

GRADES: You will get both a group and individual grade.