Fractured Fairy Tales for Student Actors: A Collection of Contemporary Fairy Tale Scenes
IntroductionWorking with acting students in the creative theatrical process is one of my  great joys. Whether participating in a class or main stage production,  the personal  skills  developed  through the art of acting open  up  vast new  worlds of opportunity to the student, regardless of age. Yet,  as an  instructor  I have  been  challenged  to find effective, appropriate resources to aid in the learning process. Necessity, being the proverbial "mother of invention," has inspired me to create a series of scenes that fit the needs of my  acting students, both children and adults. The scenes have become so popular with my students and have filled such  a gap in the material I needed  that I began  to think they might be a welcome resource for other teachers and directors as well. I like humor. Actually, I love humor. Most often I prefer directing a good comedy over a dramatic piece. Don't get me wrong, there is definitely a place for dramatic work in the process of developing acting skills. But for most students I encounter, comedy is a logical and  easy first step into the theatre. Comedy helps loosen up the students' inhibitions and gives them permission to have fun with the learning process. Characterizations become broader and theatrical elements are learned with little effort.The scenes contained in this book are based on familiar characters with a comedic spin on their situations. I looked at the characters and situations presented in children's rhymes, stories, and songs and took a slightly different approach to the storylines. I have included the reference  stories  and  rhymes  that correspond  with each  scene  as, believe it or not, the majority of my young students do not know many of the common nursery rhymes on which the scenes are based.Most of the characters may be played by either gender, and several scenes can  be expanded to accommodate an  entire  classroom.  Each scene explores different theatrical components identical to those found in full-length scripts. For example, several scenes deal with the understanding that something has just occurred Off-stage. The scene then unfolds around the unseen event, affecting the characters as they enter the stage and all the events and reactions that follow. Some scenes are   based   on   specific   genres.   Some   scenes  are   based   on   the development of characters and relationships. Some revolve around the discovery of new information and the process of solving problems andfinding solutions.