We’re going back to school… or maybe we’re not going back in-person, it’s all online… or maybe we’re in school but we are social distancing…
This is not an easy time to plan if you are a theater teacher. As you begin to develop your plans for in-school, home-school and everything in between, Stage Partners wants to be a resource to you. Using a play from our catalogue as a starting point and developing lessons around it can help keep the love of theater alive until we can all congregate for a live performance once again.
Tackle The classics and create something new
Playwright Ian McWethy’s hilarious one-act Every Novel You Read in High School (In 25 Minutes or Less) not only entertains, it encourages literacy and may even help you bond with the English department!
When developing your curriculum, working with Every Novel makes creating lessons for distance learning a little simpler. Even if your students have not read each novel mentioned in this play, it will most certainly pique their interest.
In his notes for the play, McWethy suggests having the students create their own scene based on a book they all read together for school. We thought that was a great idea and put the lesson together for you.
flexible Activities to fit your schedule
- If you have a block schedule, this lesson could definitely fill the time!
- If you meet once a week, break up this lesson and spread out the activities over a few meetings.
We hope you find the lesson a helpful starting point and we know you will make it your very own. Continue to stay safe as we weather this time together.
About the Play:
Every Novel You Read in High School (In 25 Minutes or Less)
By Ian McWethy
The one where a theater group attempts ATTEMPTS to present all those novels you read in high school before school lets out for the summer. Pray for them. They're gonna need it and so are you.
25-30 minutes. 10-30+ actors, gender flexible.
Ian McWethy’s (15 Minutes of YouTube Fame, Every Novel You Read in High School (in 25 Minutes or Less)) plays include Moral Values..., Actors are Stupid, Bad Auditions by Bad Actors, and 12 Incompetent Men (And Women!). Fifteen of his one-act plays have been published and have been performed in all fifty states as well as Canada, Australia, the United Arab Emirates, England, Cambodia, Philippines, Azerbaijan, South Korea, Pakistan, the Marshall Islands, Qatar, Portugal, Brazil, Italy and Saudia Arabia. He's also written several screenplays, sitcom pilots, short films, and a webseries. He's happily married to Carrie McCrossen and splits his time between California and New York. Mr. McWethy is represented by Kersey Management and Bricken Entertainment.
Maria McConville has been a NYC Public School teaching artist since 2005. In the past she has worked with the Theatre Development Fund, LeAP! Onstage, and Periwinkle Theater for Youth, and as a Shakespeare and Playwriting teaching artist with Theatre For A New Audience. Her students have performed and adapted the work of Shakespeare, written their own plays, devised ensemble performance pieces, sang and danced in musical productions, and performed their peers work on a Broadway stage. Maria is also the playwright of #Censored and #Viral (Stage Partners) and other plays.
