Resources for Theatre Educators Teaching Online — The Latest
By Alex Ates
Published March 12, 2020
In the past few days, several schools have canceled in-person classes because of the coronavirus, COVID-19 pandemic. Using tools and platforms like Zoom or Google Meet, instructors are preparing to teach online. But, how will that work for theatre educators?
Below, Incite/Insight will compile the latest resources for theatre educators to utilize during this unprecedented time.
ATHE Resources for Online Teaching
⭐ ⭐ Editor’s Pick
Category:Online guide and resource links
The Association for Theatre in Higher Education, ATHE, offers links with resources for preexisting courses, theatre pedagogy sites, online theatre sites, online discussions, podcasts and livestreams, communication tools, guidelines, improv, online literacy training, scenic design, and journal articles.
EdTA’s Resources for Online Teaching
⭐ ⭐ Editor’s Pick
Category:Online guide and resource links
The Educational Theatre Association, EdTA, offers links with resources for streaming performances, lesson plan tips, learning content (play-reading, theatre history, technical theatre, Greek theatre, Renaissance), tech tips, and advice on tracking learning and student progress.
Lessons in Online Theatremaking from New Paradise Laboratories’ Whit MacLaughlin
⭐ ⭐ Editor’s Pick
Category:Interview
Full disclosure: this interview was conducted by yours truly. MacLaughlin — an experimental theatremaker who, early on, ventured into the online realm that was once novelty and is now, in a blink, our norm — is an ideal person to speak about the intersection between digital technology and live performance and pedagogy. In this conversation, he offers insights, practicalities, and perspective for this time we find ourselves in, which, he notes, is “not a normal time.”
Michael Rohd’s Advice for Online Teaching Strategies
⭐ ⭐ Editor’s Pick
Category:Unlisted YouTube video
Michael Rohd is a co-founder of the Center for Performance and Civic Practice, where he holds the position Lead Artist for Civic Imagination. He is also the founding artistic director of the ensemble-based Sojourn Theatre and is a professor at Arizona State University’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. In this 22-minute video lecture, Rohd offers advice, inspirations, and insights on teaching theatre online.
Resources for Freelances
⭐ ⭐ Editor’s Pick
Category:Blog, crowdsourced but curated
What started as a GoogleDoc forWhat started as a GoogleDoc forfreelance teaching artists, has now transformed into a blog compiling advocacy and sustainability resources for independent contractors.
Resources for Teaching Online Due to School Closures by Kathleen Morris
⭐ ⭐ Editor’s Pick
Category:Online guide
This blog post is a comprehensive guide on daily structure options, how to step up a virtual home base or platform, user guides on videos and online conferencing, free tools for virtual learning and teaching, surveys, and checklists.
“Teaching Theatre Online: A Shift in Pedagogy Amidst Coronavirus Outbreak” by Dr. Daphnie Sicre
⭐ ⭐ Editor’s Pick
Category: GoogleDoc, crowdsourced but curated
This open-access GoogleDoc created by Dr. Daphnie Sicre at Loyola Marymount University provides step-by-step instructions and tips for teaching theatre online including access considerations, tech tips, supportive apps, and resources divided by specific sub-topics.
The New York Times: 5 Ways to Help Teens Manage Anxiety About the Coronavirus
⭐ ⭐ Editor’s Pick
Category:Online guide
The New York Times offers the following advice: 1) normalize anxiety, 2) offer perspective, 3) shift the spotlight (turn the attention to supporting others), 4) encourage distraction, 5) manage your own anxiety.
Approaching Analogue Topics with Digital Support: Using Skype to Teach the Staged Reading
Category:Article
Originally published by Incite/Insight last spring, Annie G. Levy outlines her insights on digital learning when she used Skype to connect her Directing students to playwrights and practitioners around the nation.
Black Box Education
Category:GoogleDoc and GoogleDrive
Founded by theatre teachers who wanted to generate more visual and tangible learning content for performing arts classrooms, Black Box Education is offering free worksheets, notebooks, frameworks, and activities from their Black Box+ initiative.
Digital Theatre Plus
Category: Resource and materials website
This online subscription-based database of resources is offering access to some free resources for instructors who need to continue their performing arts and English curriculum online. The form to request materials can be found here.
Howlround TV
Category:Online guide and streaming platform
The Howlround Theatre Commons at Emerson College has established itself as a progressive think tank for theatre practitioners around the nation. In addition to publishing essays and interviews, the platform has been operating a live-streaming wing for years. Recently, Howlround published a resource, “Ways of Gathering in the Age of COVID-19: A Guide to Livestreaming on Howlround TV.” Live-streaming for theater organizations is free and time slots get reserved on a first-come, first-serve basis.
International Schools Theatre Association Lending Network
Category:GoogleDrive
Initiated by Keriann O’Rourke, the event coordinator of ISTA, this shared GoogleDrive allows practitioners to upload and download documents, organized by educational ranges and curricular topics.
Metropolitan Opera Free Streaming
Category:Online videos
Although the Metropolitan Opera (or, The Met), like most venues, has canceled live performances. The powerhouse opera house will be streaming performances from their archives nightly — and will keep the recordings on their website for 20 hours. Nightly streams will begin at 7:30p EDT. Performances range from “La Bohème” to “Carmen.”
Online Acting
Category:Facebook group
A Facebook group started by Community College of Rhode Island professor Theodore R. Clement.
SETC Resource List
Category:Website
A webpage from the Southeastern Theatre Conference offering a roundup of online groups, professor and teaching resources, student resources, media, articles, and funding. The page also allows users to submit their own resources to add to the list.
Teaching Theatre Online: COVID-19
Category:Facebook group
Started by theatre educator, Maria Aladren, this Facebook group is also assembling an open GoogleDoc with resources that anyone can contribute or edit.
Theatre Education Distance Learning (Resource Sharing and Support Network)
Category:Facebook group
This Facebook group started by Lynda Bachman allows practitioners to upload files, create topics, and pose questions to the hive mind.
The New York Times: Coronavirus Resources: Teaching, Learning and Thinking Critically
Category:Online guide
This ever-updating resource from The New York Times offers topics, resources, and learning tips from the newspapers canon of coverage on COVID-19.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly cited Lydia Nicole as the creator of the Theatre Education Distance Learning Facebook group. The creator is Lynda Bachman.
Now it’s your turn! What do you think? Comment, react, share. If you have other resources to share, please offer them in the comments section.
