What to do with Your New Stagecraft Students

School’s Back in Session!

Schools are back in session and the 2026-27 season is upon us! It’s like New Year’s, but with less fireworks.

While many of my friends are already back in the classroom, we are just gearing up. This week has been spent resupplying the theater, making sure paperwork is in order, and getting fundraising and contracts all lined up before the students arrive, because once they do, we won’t be slowing down till Christmas.

Getting the Season Rolling

Getting the season rolling takes a little effort. We start with safety and basic theater spaces; knowing the sandbox you’re playing in. To make those ideas concrete, it's important to get kids out of their seats and put the words into practice. So here is a list of what we do in the first month with our new stagecraft students.

Week 1-2: Safety First

First two weeks is all about safety. It is foundational. Take a look at the August 16th blog for details and links to lesson plans.

Anatomy of a Theater

Every space is different, but all theaters have some similarities. After walking through what theaters share, have your students make a video, slide show, or other media presentation that takes new students or visitors through a tour of the theater. Give them a time limit to work on the project, reasonable access to areas to film or take pictures, parameters for how long or short the presentation should be, and let them be creative. This shows you that they know what and where the key points are, gives you an idea of how they organize their thoughts, and gives you insight into their personalities. If the projects look good, turn them into info videos and advertising for your theater. Sometimes they come up with some real gems.

Getting to Know Your Stage from Above

Ok, not really (although my favorite spot is the loading rail), but this assignment comes in three parts and gets students on their feet, on the stage, and using spatial awareness as well as some basic measuring skills. First, they have to know how to read a tape measure.

Do not assume your high school students can read a standard tape measure. That isn’t an insult, they have grown up with pocket computers and the metric system, so handing them an actual tape measure sometimes throws them. You can have them measure whatever is convenient for you. I would pick something standard, like a table in your space, that you already know the measurements for. Have them take the measurements, write them down, and get comfortable with fractions. You can do this small scale with a sheet of paper, lines, and rulers.

Next, draw your stage on the board (chalk, white, promethean, whatever you use as long as you can do it in real time) and have your students draw the same thing on a sheet of paper. This is not to scale or with deep precision, just a sketched-out bird’s eye view. A rough ground plan. Draw your stage, your apron if you have one, whatever wing space you have. Mark where your seating is and any other notable stage landmarks that you use regularly. Mark Center Line and Plaster Line. Have students label all the parts.

Lastly, have them work in pairs or small teams. Give them tape measures and have them measure out what they have labeled on the paper. I have them measure Center Line from the Plaster Line to the US wall (stage depth), Plaster Line from proscenium wall to proscenium wall (width of stage), Center Line from Plaster to the DS edge (depth of the Apron), and the width of both wings. Now they have a ground plan of their own to reference for future projects.

Who’s in Charge of What? Theater Hierarchy

In educational theater, it often comes down to one or two people doing the jobs of 12 to 24 people. Your students should know that. A very basic project that gets them looking not only at all the jobs they’ll be doing, but all the possible jobs available in the field is to create a theater hierarchy flowchart. You can do this as a group or give it as an individual project, and it can take two to five days, depending on how in-depth you wish to go. Create a blank flow chart, kind of like a family tree diagram if you like, start with Artistic Director and Managing Director at the top, and branch down all the different roles that fall under them. If you’re going to have students do this on their own, you need to fill in a few spots along the way to get them in the right direction.

After you have your tree (you can be as complete or as simple as you want), have them identify one role they find interesting. Then have them look up a few people who do that job professionally. Pick one, and do a professional profile of that person. Go the extra mile and, if they are still a working professional, look them up and contact them. This gets students communicating with professionals, gets them out of their comfort zones, and starts building networking and simple interviewing skills.

Lumber Identification

Getting back to the shop, before students build anything, they need to identify the materials they will be working with. We do a very basic lumber identification project with our stagecraft 1 classes. First, we go through all the types of lumber we use regularly, using samples we pass around so they can get their hands on the pieces. Then we give them a backing board and a box of scrap. They must identify the six types of lumber we use regularly, attach the scrap samples to the backer board, and label the pieces. Very basic, but we still have a lot of re-dos every year. The stagecraft 2 classes grade them. The most organized and easiest to read are put up around the shop for reference. Everyone can snap a picture of theirs (as long as it is correct) to use while they work.

Wrapping Up the First Month

These projects, in addition to our safety section, get us through the first four to six weeks of classes. They lay a good base for the actual build projects that will come after and offer a nice mix of classroom and on stage activities. They also have bonus of helping you get to know your students preferences, existing skill sets, and established work habits. All relationship building information for you to start creating that great theater team.

If you’d like the actual lesson plans, slide shows, or other detailed material, please visit the Backstage AIC Teachers Pay Teachers Shop.

Which of these top of season lessons and activities appeal to you? Share your ideas on the Backstage AIC Facebook page.