About the Book:

Success assured – for every show you direct or produce! Written from 37 years of drama teaching experience, author Margaret F. Johnson provides detailed, step-by-step information, examples, and suggestions about how one person can run a successful extracurricular drama program, without mistakes, trouble, or delay.

The nineteen chapters in The Drama Teacher's Survival Guide cover everything: play selection, tryouts, rehearsal schedules, budgets, costuming, hair and makeup, props, lighting, publicity, and the actual performance before an audience. To further clarify each step, examples are provided with illustrations, photos, and proven ideas. It's just possible, though, you'll love the additional resources even more – 20 pages of various reproducible forms to use and hand out, followed by an extensive glossary of theatrical terms and a bibliography of additional resources.

Whether you are a seasoned drama director or a beginner, you will find The Drama Teacher's Survival Guide to be an invaluable aid. It will banish your stress and guarantee your success!

What people say:

"Both experienced and beginning drama directors have easy, experience-backed tips on directing from The Drama Teacher's Survival Guide. When this book says 'complete' it means it: collections strong in drama will appreciate the range of tips from instructions on organizing tryouts – complete with tryout sheets – to blocking out rehearsals, technical aspects of scene set-up, tips on locating costumes, and more. It's a 'must' for any library which caters to actors or drama teachers." — Midwest Book Review

"Author Margaret F. Johnson provides detailed, step-by-step information, examples and suggestions about how to direct a school drama program with a minimum of mistakes, trouble and delay. Most important for the beginning director, Johnson provides examples, illustrations, photos and reproducible handouts and forms, plus an annotated list of additional resources." — Stage Directions Magazine

"For anyone directing or working with student drama productions The Drama Teacher's Survival Guide will prove an invaluable resource. The nearly four decades that author Margaret Johnson spent as a drama teacher and director inform this well-rounded book of tips, as she discusses both the artistic and logistical aspects of theatrical production. The presentation and style of the writing allow easy access to the suggestions, anecdotes, and troubleshooting guides Johnson has compiled." — State Of The Arts

About the Author:

Margaret Friedl Johnson taught drama at Sentinel High School in Missoula, Montana for 37 years, directing over 190 productions from children’s theatre to full-blown musicals like Fiddler On the Roof, Godspell, and Sound Of Music. But she produced much more than great shows – she inspired many of her students to become theatre professionals. A few of her "kids" are now nationally-known Broadway actors, film stars, and backstage technicians. She continues to teach acting at the Osher Life Long Learning Institute at the University of Montana, and when her time permits, she accepts acting roles at the Missoula Community Theatre where she works with former students.