Your favorite playwrights, favorite plays!
Playwright Lauren Gunderson curates a collection of her 6 favorite scripts. The Scene, we get you up to date on everything Theatre Education!
ALSO IN TODAY’S EMAIL:
HOT TOPICS: Building your curriculum and supporting trans students in the theatre classroom. Discover the nations top costume design programs.
TEACHER FEATURE: Emily Clark steals the focus!
THE BROADWAY BEAT: ‘Stranger Things’ and ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ are coming to the stage,
SUMMER AWARDS SEASON ROUND-UP: A Review of this summer’s awards season.
SHOWS YOU SHOULD KNOW: Plays and Musicals Featured at International Thespian Festival.
Is your script library looking forlorn? Are your students coming to you daily asking for recommendations on what to read? Are you looking to glow up your summer reading list? Are you just plain sick of old white playwrights dominating theatre?
Check out the Broadway Book Club. The book club is a combination of subscription and one-time offerings for the theatre lover, educator, student, and casual fan alike. Subscribers receive 7 plays straight to their front door, 4 times a year, with collections curated by some of the top playwrights in theatre today.
Our inaugural August edition of Book Club was curated by playwright Lauren Gunderson, who hand-picked 6 scripts as well as a special edition of one of her plays.
Not ready to commit to a subscription? Broadway Book Club curates specialty quarterly collections of 5 scripts. There’s a Book Club box for everyone!
OUR ONE-TIME COLLECTIONS:
EDUCATOR PACK - Build your classroom library and stay up-to-date with the hottest new plays
HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT PACK - The best in theatre for teenagers with their eyes on the stage
COLLEGE STUDENT PACK - Challenging dramas, side-splitting comedies, and more for the theatre student
TONY AWARD® HONOREES - Recipients of the Tony Award® for Best Play throughout theatre history
PULITZER PRIZE WINNERS - World-changing winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama
One-time collections can be purchased through November 1, 2022.
Sign up for a subscription or purchase a one-time collection at bwaybookclub.com.
SUPPORTING TRANS STUDENTS IN THE THEATRE CLASSROOM: Actor, writer, film-maker, and activist Pooya Mohseni gives an on-demand seminar entitled Supporting Trans Students in the Theatre Classroom. Register to hear her inspiring story on the EdTA (Educational Theatre Association) Learning Center website.
TOP COSTUME PROGRAMS: Learn more about the top costume design programs, what to expect, job prospects, and how to choose the program that’s right for you.
POLL: WHO APPROVES YOUR SEASON SELECTIONS?
See the full poll and results here.
In each edition of The Scene, we spotlight one (or two) outstanding educators and shares their best advice to fellow teachers. This week, we introduce you to:
EMILY CLARK (She/Her)
PASADENA HIGH SCHOOL, PASADENA, CA
SCHOOL(S): Sierra Madre Elementary, Sierra Madre Middle School, Pasadena High School, Pasadena Musical Theatre Program Director
NUMBER OF YEARS TEACHING: 14
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PRODUCTION YOU HAVE WORKED ON?
This year (2022) I was hired to revitalize the Musical Theatre program at Pasadena High School and we did "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee." This production will always hold a huge place in my heart as the kids were your typical misfit theatre kids at a predominantly sporty school. They were able to become a family and be the perfect little weirdos they are without judgement or fear.
SHOW YOU ARE DYING TO DIRECT: I rarely get to do Sondheim with middle and high schoolers, so I'd love to direct something like "Into the Woods," or if I got super ambitious, "Sweeney Todd"!
WHAT IS YOUR ADVICE FOR OTHER THEATRE TEACHERS? Do not select a school musical based on your taste or your ego. Pick the show based around your students, and if possible, the stuff they like! Also, flexibility! Every student you work with is coming from a different area of skills and comfortability, so catering to their needs & meeting them where they are is important.
Emily also produces and co-hosts Stealing Focus a YouTube channel that both reviews the latest in stage and cinema and dives deep into various aspects of theatre history. Check out a sample video below.
Do you have advice to share with fellow theatre educators? Submit your Teacher Feature here!
STRANGER THINGS ON BROADWAY: A “Stranger Things” Stage Play is coming from show creators the Duffer Brothers. Learn more here.
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA-THE MUSICAL: The musical adaptation of the 2003 novel and 2006 film “The Devil Wears Prada” has announced the full cast for its pre-Broadway premiere in Chicago. Read more here.
PRIMA FACIE COMING TO BROADWAY: Killing Eve Co-Star Jodie Comer is set to bring her one-woman show Prima Facie to Broadway. Ms. Comer’s debut on the Great White Way is currently running on London’s West End and will make its way across the pond next Spring.
DRAMA DESK AWARDS: Missed the 2022 Drama Desk Awards? Broadway on Demand is hosting a replay of the ceremony on demand for FREE. Catch host Renée Elise Goldsberry and watch all the honorees.
THE 2022 JIMMY AWARDS: The 2022 Jimmy Awards® took place on June 27, 2022 live at Broadway’s Minskoff Theatre. Learn about this year’s winners.
2022 FREDDIE G FELLOWSHIP: Music Theatre International Reveals 2022 Freddie G Fellowship Honorees. Check out this year’s honorees.
And of course we can’t forget the 75th Annual Tony Awards!
THE TONY AWARDS: The Tony Awards ceremony blew the roof off of Radio City Music Hall as A Strange Loop, The Lehman Trilogy, and the revival of Company took home some of the evening’s biggest honors. See what you missed here.
The International Thespian Festival (ITF) hosted its first in-person festival since the start of the pandemic at its new digs on the campus of Indiana University. Here are the titles that took the main stage in Bloomington:
Newsies; Troupe 1794; Floyd Central High School; Floyds Knobbs, IN (2018)
