why theater?

Introduction

Why use drama games or theatre games in your teaching? They are a simple, cost-effective way of accomplishing a wide variety of educational goals, not just in theatre class. The games combine elements of creative drama, improvisation, pantomime, creative movement, and storytelling. They develop foundational skills needed in theatre arts that also have tremendous positive effects on literacy development, academic success, and social interaction. The games are easy to integrate with content from other school subjects or content areas. The drama game or theatre game is a versatile teaching tool that reaches multiple learning styles, content areas, age groups, and levels of language and experience.

The sections below contain information, design, and links from the the Rationale page of The Drama Game File. Underlined title pages such as Rationale are links to related pages on the CD-ROM program; they are not working links here on the website. We include this part of the CD-ROM for free on our website both as a preview of the product and as a service to promote the understanding of the pedagogy of drama education.

This page summarizes the research and pedagogy of how drama education benefits students of all ages. Drama education is an umbrella term that includes theatre arts for its own sake as well as drama as a teaching tool in other subjects (see Definitions, Skills, and Benefits to learn more). Eleven justifications for the value of drama games or theatre games in education are described below. Feel free to use any or all of them to advocate for a new or existing arts program.