Find out about our Literature to Life program in Los Angeles!

Literature to Life is a performance-based workshop program for Junior High and High School students. In each 90-minute session, students experience a dramatic adaptation of a piece of great American literature chosen from New York City school reading lists. Students are immersed in the world of the book through a professionally staged performance and a pre- or post-show discussion that explores the themes of the book. The post-show discussion employs drama-based exercises to further the relationship between the workshop and th e text.

The audience size is kept small, so the experience of the performance is very intimate. The theatrical adaptations use only the words of the book performed by outstanding young actors. The Literature to Life staff provides Resource Guides to participating classroom teachers to help them prepare the students before the workshop and extend the experience afterwards.

Literature to Life Spring 2001 Schedule

The cast of Coming Through

Teacher's Place is a free training program for classroom teachers who wish to explore the use of drama based techniques in their non-drama classrooms. Trained artist/educators from the Education Department staff lead the Teacher's Place workshops. The aim of Teacher's Place is to provide teachers with practical techniques for employing drama activities and theatre exercises (similar to those used in Literature to Life) as tools for promoting reading, promoting writing and inspiring critical thinking.

Workshops include "Drama as a Catalyst for Exploring Literature," "Examining Conflict Management through Literature," and "Creating Original Dramatic Writing from Literature." Teacher's Place II is an advanced version of this program for alumni of Teacher's Place.

The Board of Education has authorized Teacher's Place to grant participants 6 hours of BOE New Teacher Credit.

Teacher's Place Spring 2001 Schedule

A scene from a Teacher's Place workshop, Fall 1999

The Urban Writes program is an in-school curriculum-based theatre arts residency program. The program is taught collaboratively by Classroom Teachers and Artist/Educators from The American Place Theatre. Spring 2001 residencies are scheduled in collaboration with the English Department's OES Hartley House in Hell's Kitchen, Health Opportunities High School in the South Bronx, PS 125 in Harlem, and Liberty High School in the Bronx.

The Urban Writes course uses APT's program Literature To Life as a springboard to student playwriting. Students use those performances as models for their own writing. The students also read the books upon which the performances are based.

Urban Writes performance from the Winter 1999 session

Urban Writes performance from the Spring 1999 session

In addition to focusing on student literacy and writing, Urban Writes stresses theatre skills such as improvisation, public speaking, teamwork, and leadership. Throughout the course, the Artist/Educators, students and teachers maintain a safe space for artistic creation.

The project culminates in performances of the students' writings at the schools for the student population and a combined performance at The American Place Theatre for families, friends, and guests. The Urban Writes culminating performance this year will be in May. Please call the theatre's Education Department for details.

We have resource materials and application forms for Literature to Life and Teachers Place available for download from this website. Please visit the downloads page to get these documents.

For more information about any of these programs, please contact David Kener at (212) 840-2960 ext. 16 or Lisa Richards at ext. 20 or edu@americanplacetheatre.org.

Note: For information on Wynn Handman's acting classes, please call (212) 245-1271. The American Place Theatre is not associated with Mr. Handman's classes.