Break a Leg!: The Kids' Guide to Acting and Stagecraft

A good book to supplement our middle school homeschooling. Fun activities, and it's easy for kids to understand and self-propel through the book. I also teach an arts camp during summer and spring breaks, and I will be using the activities there, too.

I've used this book for two years with my 5th-6th grade acting students that I had once a week. It's an easy read for them, but it explains things so clearly. We focused on a chapter a month throughout the year. Many of the games, exercises, and warm-ups I had already written into my syllabus so the book just reinforced everything they were studying. If there were any questions we could refer to the book. I added a few more things of my own while doing brief theatre history things. This book covers everything basic in acting as well as technical aspects and even a chapter on auditioning. The kids really seemed to enjoy it and it led to some good discussions.

What a great book! If you do theatre with kids, this is a great resource. The engaging format draws young readers into the text, has lots of excellent pictures, and provides sections about all aspects of theatrical production, including design and technical theatre. We do Shakespeare with 6th graders and have found this book to be a gold mine of activities and information for theatre kids and adults. Bravissimo!

Break A Leg!: The Kids' Guide To Acting & Stagecraft by Lise Friedman (former dancer with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company and an Adjunct Professor, new York University) is a charmingly presented, authoritative, resource-filled "how to" book for young actors and actresses from grade school through high school who would like to act their school theatrical productions, in community theater, the professional stage, or in television and film. Individual chapters address simple warmups, learning to project one's voice, theater games, staying in character, and much more. Break A Leg! is the perfect gift book for aspiring young performers and a highly recommended addition to school and community library reference collections!