The Notes We Never Forgot: 5 Theatre Teaching Strategies That Stay With Students

It’s the first day of school. Theatre teachers are back in their classrooms, students are returning, and another season of auditions, rehearsals and productions is beginning.

I recently spoke with a dance teacher who had an incredible year last year. Her concern going into this year was: How do I top it?

Around the same time, I came across a conversation where theatre directors were asked what they learned from their own directors when they were students. Reading through their answers, several themes appeared again and again. These theatre teaching strategies offer a useful reminder of what students may actually carry with them long after a production closes.

1. Students Remember Being Challenged—Not Being Rescued

Many directors remembered teachers who expected them to do things they weren't sure they could do. They were allowed to struggle, make mistakes and try again.

The common thread wasn't, My teacher made it easy for me. It was, Someone believed I was capable of doing something hard.

High expectations can communicate confidence in a student when they're paired with the support to keep working.

2. Good Coaching Develops Independent Artists

Several directors remembered teachers who asked questions instead of immediately providing answers: What does your character want? Why did you make that choice? What are you trying to accomplish?

That's an important distinction. If we make every artistic decision for students, we may create a good production without necessarily creating better artists.

The goal isn't just a student who can follow direction. It's a student who can make an informed choice.

3. “Just Ensemble” Is a Missed Teaching Opportunity

One director remembered saying they were “just ensemble” when asked about their character. Their director insisted that they still identify who they were and what they wanted—and then connected those individual objectives to the choreography.

That lesson stayed with the student into their own directing career.

Acting doesn't stop when choreography begins. Every performer onstage can have an objective, relationships and a reason for how they move.

4. Students Need to Learn How to Receive Notes

One of my favorite comments was incredibly simple:

“You didn't get in trouble. You got a note.”

Learning to separate correction of the work from judgment of the person is an important skill for young performers. A strong rehearsal environment doesn't eliminate correction. It teaches students that correction is a normal part of the artistic process.

We can demand better work without diminishing the person doing it.

5. Theatre Teaching Strategies Should Create Discovery

Directors remembered unusual exercises—changing the expected emotion of a scene, performing without words, adding physical tasks, exploring where a character carries their weight.

What made those exercises memorable wasn't necessarily the exercise itself. It was what the student discovered because of it.

Great teaching doesn't always mean having the perfect explanation. Sometimes it means creating the right problem, asking the right question and allowing the student to find the answer.

A Different Measure of a Successful Year

Maybe we don't have to top last year.

Of course we want stronger productions, growing programs and excellent work. But those aren't the only measures of whether a year mattered.

Our students may forget a lot about the shows we make together. They may remember that someone wouldn't let them quit. That they weren't “just ensemble.” That making a mistake wasn't catastrophic. That they were capable of making their own artistic choices.

So perhaps a useful North Star for the beginning of the school year isn't:

How do I make this year better than last year?

It's:

Who might my students become because I taught them this year?