Young At Art ─ Classroom Playbuilding in Practice

Young at Art is a practical guide to playbuilding for teachers working with students at an upper primary and secondary level. Focusing on an area often neglected in traditional drama text books, the book covers the process of devising drama, and the teacher’s role in facilitating students to collectively become playwrights, actors, designers, directors and critics of their ensemble work. The playbuilding process is covered in a structured manner, which includes:



Mapping the Territory: identifying critical issues relating to teaching and learning in playbuilding, and laying the basic foundations of understandings and practice.




Levels at Work: offering three approaches to playbuilding, catering for a range of learning experiences.

Playbuilding for All: explores theatre practitioners’ techniques, working with students’ personal stories and narratives and playbuilding with a contemporary edge.
An essential guide for all drama teachers Young at Art covers practical teaching issues and strategies for working with groups of students to help them perform their playbuilt stories to an audience, as well as techniques for student assessment and evaluation, providing a wealth of exemplary starting points and approaches. The book offers detailed guidance on working with students to help facilitate the collaborative creative and reflective processes, offering practical ideas and structures which can be easily implemented in the classroom.

Christine Hatton holds the following qualifications: Diploma of Education in Secondary Teaching (Drama & History, Sydney Institute of Education), Master of Arts (Theatre Studies, UNSW) and Doctorate of Philosophy (in Drama education, University of Sydney).

She has a long and successful teaching record and has taught drama at primary, secondary and tertiary levels in Australia, the UK and in Singapore. In recent years she has engaged in a range of drama education consultancies with teaching staff and students in primary and secondary schools in Sydney and in Singapore. These have involved whole staff professional development, curriculum design and implementation, performance projects and also practice based research.

Sarah Lovesy - Educational Drama Consultant – Bachelor of Performing Arts, Diploma of Education, Masters in Drama Education and Ph.D.
Over the past twenty years Sarah has worked as a Drama Lecturer at the University of Western Sydney and University of New South Wales, teaching undergraduate and postgraduate students to become drama teachers. Previously she worked as the Head Drama Teacher at the School of Performing Arts, Santa Sabina College, and the Conservatorium of Music in Sydney Australia. Sarah also runs her own drama consultancy in which she implements and runs workshops for drama students and teachers. Sarah has been actively involved with the New South Wales Board of Studies Junior and Senior Drama Syllabus Committees and their respective writing teams, as well as writing for various journals and educational bodies.

Part I - Mapping the Territory Chapter 1 - Playbuilding at the centre of classroom drama Chapter 2 - Teaching and learning issues Chapter 3 - Teaching playbuilding creatively Part II - Levels at Work Chapter 4 - LEVEL 1 - Beginner playbuilders Chapter 5 - LEVEL 2 - Intermediate playbuilders Chapter 6 - LEVEL 3 - Experienced playbuilders Part III - Playbuilding for All Chapter 7 - Learning from theatre practitioners Chapter 8 - Working with narrative Chapter 9 - Contemporary classroom playbuilding