New Acting Resource Just Released!

Fractured Fairy Tales for Student Actors: A Collection of Contemporary Fairy Tale Scenes

A New Book by Jan Peterson Ewen

Fractured Favorites!

Acting teachers are always looking for good new material to help their students move forward in their understanding of acting techniques and to have a great time doing so. I know that, as an acting teacher myself, I am always looking for workable resources. That’s what inspired me to write Fractured Fairy Tales for Student Actors: A Collection of Contemporary Fairy Tale Scenes This book has just been released by Meriwether Publishing, which is the leading source for the highest quality theatre textbooks, drama books, theater texts, drama textbooks, and theatre DVDs available today.

 What inspired Fractured Fairy Tales for Student Actors?

I have been directing and teaching acting for many years. I love working with both kids and adults in the acting process. In the past couple years, I was in need of short, appropriate scenes for my acting students, ages 8 – 16. Preferably comedy, because I simply love comedy and so do my students. So, I started writing scenes that would be fun to perform and teach basic acting principles at the same time. I was surprised to find that my adult acting class loved the fractured scenes as much as the kid’s classes did.

What makes this collection of acting scenes user-friendly and valuable?

• Familiar Characters. Most everyone has an idea what Miss Muffet would be like, or Bo Peep and Mary from “Little Lamb” fame. What about Peter, Peter the pumpkin eater or Jack and Edith Sprat who only eat lean or fat? We may not know a lot about them, but they are somehow familiar, none the less. That makes for easy access into character development.

• Scenes Based on the Original Stories – Pretty much. Contemporizing the original stories and expanding the conflict makes for some fun acting situations.  Students will quickly relate to the fractured scenes and throw themselves into the situations.

• Natural Dialogue. Creating dialogue that flows easily and sets up the motivations of each character helps the actors discover nuance and levels of emotion. Actors can easily get away from “reading” the script and become the characters.

• Built in Stage Technique Practice. Each scene in this collection has some theatrical device with which actors become familiar. Perhaps something has just happened offstage and the actors must respond accordingly throughout the scene. Perhaps there is an invisible element on stage that the actors experience as real. Maybe they will be faced with an unfolding mystery or have to cover up their true feelings. A variety of theatrical possibilities face each actor in these scenes.

• Just Good, Clean Fun. Aside from all the actors will learn from performing these scenes, they will definitely have a lot of fun - regardless of age!

So, I hope you'll take a look at my new book, Fractured Fairy Tales for Student Actors. I know it will be as valuable a resource for you as it has been for my students and me. Then share your experiences with us on the Sing-Naturally Blog. We'd love to hear from you!

Make sure you check out the Meriwether Publishing Website for more great drama resources.