Children's Dramatic Literature For Libraries, Schools, and Homes [feature article]

• Main Author: Newman, John D.;
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Feature article; Anchorage; Coleman; Hodgson; Jennings; eskimo*
• Online Access: http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/CBPR/id/1454

Children's Dramatic Literature For Libraries, Schools, and Homes By John D. Newman Theatre Teacher Highland High School, Salt Lake City, Utah Children's literature has established a prominent place for itself in our libraries, schools, and homes. Public libraries usually designate a special area for children's books, as do most bookstores. Most elementary school teachers incorporate children's books into their language arts curriculum, and the reading of books to children has become a mainstay of American family life. Children's dramatic literature, contrastingly, remains obscure. Like the plays of William Shakespeare, children's plays were originally intended to be performed rather than read. As with Shakespeare's scripts, however, children's plays deserve a place in our libraries, classrooms, and homes. This article is intended as a guide for librarians, teachers, and parents who are interested in supplementing their traditional children's literature with children's dramatic literature. Included are recommendations of play anthologies for school libraries, as well as plays that can be read by elementary students in the classroom and by parents and children in the home. CHILDREN'S PLAY ANTHOLOGIES FOR SCHOOL LIBRARIES Children's play anthologies are valuable resources for teachers and students interested in learning more about children's theatre. The anthologies mentioned in this article, with one noted exception, contain plays written for adults to perform for child audiences and may be beyond the performance ability of elementary school students. Many professionals and scholars in the children's theatre field argue that while elementary students should see children's plays performed by adults, the students themselves should not perform for an audience; their needs are better served by improvisation and process drama. In fact, practitioners generally prefer the term “theatre for young audiences” to “children's theatre” because it emphasizes their preference that formal theatre be presented for children by adult performers. Many elementary teachers, however, disagree with this view and choose to expose their students to great dramatic literature, such as Shakespeare's plays, through the children's own performance of it. These teachers may want to use a similar approach in introducing their students to great dramatic literature written for children. Copies of individual plays found in these anthologies can usually be obtained from publishers for reading purposes and, with proper copyright clearance and royalty payment, for performance purposes. Publisher information for these plays is generally found at the beginning of each script. The contact information for the publishers listed in this article can be found at the end of this article (p. 11). While there are many good anthologies now in print, there are also a number of antiquated ones that include numerous marginal plays among a few theatrical jewels. Since these collections may be the student's or teacher's first encounter with children's dramatic literature, it is crucial that all anthologies on the library shelf represent the best the genre has to offer. If I had to recommend only one children's play anthology for an elementary school library, it would be Coleman Jennings' Theatre for Young Audiences: 20 Great Plays for Children (available through Anchorage Press, reviewed in the Sept./Oct. 1999 issue). The collection features plays from twenty of the best playwrights in the field. The preface provides an excellent description of the qualities that define good children's scripts and thus can help a student or teacher make informed judgments about other individual plays. Most of the plays were originally produced in the 1990s, and the anthology demonstrates both the depth and breadth of the children's dramatic literature which has emerged during the last decade. The collection includes adaptations of well-known children's novels such as Charlotte's Web (Dramatic Publishing) and The Secret Garden (Dramatic Publishing). It also includes challenging, cutting-edge works like The Yellow Boat (Anchorage Press), in which a young boy struggles against a fatal disease with art and imagination; and Bocón! (Dramatic Publishing), in which a boy tells an emigration officer the mythic tale of how and why he escaped to the United States. Two other plays included are Joanna Kraus' The Ice Wolf (New Plays Inc.), in which an albino girl born into an Eskimo village is cast out and becomes a vengeful beast, and Jim Leonard's Crow and Weasel (Samuel French), in which two young men come of age as they undertake a journey of discovery for their people. Anthologies of plays by Aurand Harris and Suzan Zeder also make great additions to a library's collection. These two key playwrights in the field have writing styles that contrast and compliment one another. The Theatre of Aurand Harris (Anchorage Press) features fifteen of the playwright's best works, as well as Lowell Swortzell's expert descriptions of Harris' teachings and theories. Harris, who taught elementary students at a private boys' school in New York City for thirty-three years, let his understanding of what engaged his students' attention guide him as he developed his plays. Harris entertains children masterfully with eclectic theatrical styles, identifiable characters, and clear plot lines. The Theatre of Aurand Harris includes classical farces, such as a commedia dell'arte version of Androcles and the Lion and A Toby Show, a turn-of-the-century version of the Cinderella story. It also includes moving dramas, such as Steal Away Home, a play about the Underground Railroad, and The Arkansaw Bear, one of the first children's plays to deal with the issues of death and dying. (All the plays mentioned above are published individually by Anchorage Press.) Another anthology of Harris' works, Short Plays of Theatre Classics (Anchorage Press), includes of twelve historical comedies that Harris adapted for his elementary school students to perform. These plays include the medieval farce The Second Shepherd's Play (Anchorage Press), Molière's The Doctor in Spite of Himself (Anchorage Press), Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac (Baker's Plays), and Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest (Anchorage Press). Since these plays were intended for child rather than adult performers, I recommend these plays, more than the others mentioned in this article, for elementary student performance. The anthology Wish in One Hand: Spit in the Other (Anchorage Press) comprises eight plays by Suzan Zeder. In her plays, Zeder emphasizes the emotional truth of the stories and characters, and her scripts can be appreciated on many levels by both children and adults. Editor Susan Pearson-Davis' introductions trace the development and evolution of Zeder's work and demonstrate the complexities of writing good plays for young audiences. Among the eight plays are Wiley and the Hairy Man, a rhythmic version of a scary southern folktale, and two contemporary plays, Step on a Crack and Doors, which explore the issues of step-parents and divorce through a mix of realism and fantasy. (All three plays are published by Anchorage Press.) Roger Bedard's Dramatic Literature for Children: A Century in Review (Anchorage Press) is an excellent reference for those who wish to learn more about the history of children's theatre. Because the text is written on an academic level, it is probably more appropriate for teachers than for students. Some excellent plays in this book are not found in any other collections. Frances Hodgson Burnett's A Little Princess (not available individually) is a well-structured melodrama in which a young schoolgirl cheerfully endures a series of reverses until her good fortune is restored. Stuart Walker's The Birthday of the Infanta (not available individually) is a moving adaptation of the Oscar Wilde story in which a princess breaks the heart of a deformed boy who dances for her on her birthday. In Arthur Fauquez's Reynard the Fox (Anchorage Press), a g<full>Children's Dramatic Literature For Libraries, Schools, and Homes By John D. Newman Theatre Teacher Highl<full>Children's Dramatic Literature For Libraries, Schools, and Homes By John D. Newman Theatre Teacher Highland High School, Salt Lake City, Utah Children's literature has established a prominent place for itself in our libraries, schools, and homes. Public libraries usually designate a special area for children's books, as do most bookstores. Most elementary school teachers incorporate children's books into their language arts curriculum, and the reading of books to children has become a mainstay of American family life. Children's dramatic literature, contrastingly, remains obscure. Like the plays of William Shakespeare, children's plays were originally intended to be performed rather than read. As with Shakespeare's scripts, however, children's plays deserve a place in our libraries, classrooms, and homes. This article is intended as a guide for librarians, teachers, and parents who are interested in supplementing their traditional children's literature with children's dramatic literature. Included are recommendations of play anthologies for school libraries, as well as plays that can be read by elementary students in the classroom and by parents and children in the home. CHILDREN'S PLAY ANTHOLOGIES FOR SCHOOL LIBRARIES Children's play anthologies are valuable resources for teachers and students interested in learning more about children's theatre. The anthologies mentioned in this article, with one noted exception, contain plays written for adults to perform for child audiences and may be beyond the performance ability of elementary school students. Many professionals and scholars in the children's theatre field argue that while elementary students should see children's plays performed by adults, the students themselves should not perform for an audience; their needs are better served by improvisation and process drama 12 p. Children's Book and Play Review, July 2003