Modern plays appropriate for 16-19 yearolds

[AngusN]

Posted: 7/12/11 at 3:39pm

In September I will start teaching a Performing Arts course to 16-19 year olds and was wondering what modern play suggestions people have to study?

The more classical plays we will be looking at are:
The Three Sisters by Chekhov
Spring Awakening by Wedekind or Mother Courage by Brecht
Metamorphosis by Kafka/Berkoff
What the Butler Saw by Orton

What would your suggestions be?

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 7/12/11 at 3:55pm

I think Rabbit Hole and Good People by David Lindsay-Abair would be good, modern and very accessible choices even though there are some mature themes and language.

They are among the best written characters I have seen in modern plays.

I also like In The Next Room, or The Vibrator Play by Sarah Ruhl. I think its among her most accessible works.

I think 16-19 years olds mature enough to take a performing arts course could handle the content.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 7/12/11 at 3:58pm

I don't know if it's published yet, but I actually thought about 4000 Miles. Mature 16-19 year olds should be able to grasp the material.

[AC126748]

Posted: 7/12/11 at 4:05pm

I recently taught Ruined in an introduction to drama class, where most of the students were not drama majors, and they really responded well to it.

How do you mean, "appropriate"? Thematically? Because if you consider these kids mature enough to read Brecht, Wedekind, and Orton, I doubt there's much (if anything) the couldn't handle.

[AngusN]

Posted: 7/12/11 at 4:11pm

Yeh, I had Rabbit Hole on my list. I watched the film version last night and was blown away by Kidman's performance.
The pupils themselves are very mature and could handle whatever I put in front of them, I'm thinking appropriate in their parents' eyes e.g Tracey Letts is amazing, but studying his plays would probably get me sacked. Haha!

[AC126748]

Posted: 7/12/11 at 4:30pm

Wow. I definitely wouldn't want to teach where you teach, then (no offense).

[AngusN]

Posted: 7/12/11 at 4:49pm

Really? I don't know many parents that would be happy with their 16 year old kids reading and performing 'Killer Joe' or 'August: Osage County'.

[trentsketch]

Posted: 7/12/11 at 5:23pm

So no The Heidi Chronicles, then?

Rabbit Hole is a good choice. It's mature, well-structured, but does not dive into questionable subject matter.

[PennybankBill]

Posted: 7/12/11 at 5:27pm

Though it's not really modern, I would recommend Frank Wedekind's Spring's Awakening.

[AngusN]

Posted: 7/12/11 at 5:33pm

I've already got that on my list above, for Classical plays. Cheers anyway.

[AC126748]

Posted: 7/12/11 at 5:45pm

High school students regularly read ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST, THE BLUEST EYE, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, THE HANDMAID'S TALE, GO ASK ALICE, BELOVED, LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT...all works of literature that deal with about every difficult subject matter you can think of. I'd say the average 16 year old (high school junior, correct?) has seen and heard much worse anything Letts has to offer. Hell, I'd rather they read KILLER JOE than see a poorly made, disturbing, exploitative film that is equally violent/sexual.

[AngusN]

Posted: 7/12/11 at 5:48pm

I don't disagree with you, it's just I'm sure the parents would be unhappy with the frequent bad language and maybe the regular reference to drugs.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 7/12/11 at 6:45pm

Good People is better than Rabbit Hole in my opinion and should have won the Tony over War Horse's weak and contrived script. Consider Good People or even The Normal Heart. Both are very relevant right now having recently been on Broadway.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 7/12/11 at 7:20pm

so many, but I think particularly of interest to 16-19 year olds might be:

Reasons to be Pretty
Time Stands Still
The Fifth of July
Proof
The Member of the Wedding
The Miracle Worker
The Glass Menagerie
A Raisin in the Sun
The Children's Hour
The Little Foxes
The Skin of Our Teeth
The Diary of Anne Frank
The Boys Next Door
Long Day's Journey Into Night
Jerusalem

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/12/11 at 7:23pm

Brighton Beach Memoirs
Next Fall
Exit the King

[ggersten]

Posted: 7/12/11 at 9:56pm

The History Boys
Crimes of the Heart
House of Blue Leaves
Noises Off - (let them try to visualize Act II from the script!)
Master Harold and the Boys
Torch Song Trilogy
Prelude to A Kiss
David Mamet may be pushing the envelope.....but if ok, Oleanna.

[ILuv2shop531]

Posted: 7/12/11 at 11:42pm

Spiked Heels
The Last Night Of Ballyhoo
August Osage County
God of Carnage
Our Town
Enron Updated On: 7/12/11 at 11:42 PM

[Dave13]

Posted: 7/12/11 at 11:54pm

War Horse. Outstanding piece of work.

[romgitsean]

Posted: 7/13/11 at 1:14am

Dave13, I agree, but I think reading it would do it a serious injustice. I think so much of that show relies on the visuals.

I second Brighton Beach, Proof, August: Osage (which I read in my freshman theatre class), Doubt, Enron, Children's Hour, most things by Tennessee Williams...I also remember reading The Wild Duck by Ibsen and enjoying that. I also think Kimberly Akimbo is a very overlooked play, but it's got a lot of language. I guess it depends on how strict the parents are at this school, if it's public, then you've got nothing to worry about, but if it's private, then yeah, you probably do.

I'd also like to add Rumors to that list. It's a fun show and commonly done by high schools anyway.

[pinoyidol2006]

Posted: 7/13/11 at 1:51am

This is an old one:

"The Real Inspector Hound" by Tom Stoppard

It's a very interesting piece of theater, and I don't think any of the material is inappropriate for teenagers.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 7/13/11 at 10:38pm

Top Girls, by Carol Churchill. Okay, anything by her, actually, but Top Girls is perhaps her most accessible.

And you might also look at works by Anouilh and Giraudoux, the latter more so. THE MADWOMAN OF CHAILLOT was about environmentalism before it was trendy to think about it. THE TROJAN WAR WONT TAKE PLACE (known in the US as TIGER AT THE GATES) is a brilliant anti-war piece.

Posted: 7/13/11 at 10:50pm

While it depends on what you call modern, I think most Tennessee Williams would be compelling for that age, and are relatively tame enough that I doubt any modern parent would complain now.

(I love Carol Churchill, particularly Cloud Nine, but I suspect some parents might object to that... I dunno, by high school most of the kids in theatre related classes had parents who didn't really worry about that kind of thing, so I guess it depends on your school).

[NakedBluAngel2]

Posted: 7/13/11 at 11:46pm

I guess I'm in the minority when I say Rabbit Hole should not be done in high school.
There are a of themes in that show that I can't imagine a High Schooler doing, no matter how mature they are.

Plus to ME as an audience member (my opinion) I feel squimish and uncomfortable when I see teenagers in adult situations.

I'd also definitely leave any "Neil Labute" off of there.

[myshikobit]

Posted: 7/14/11 at 5:27pm

I taught an acting class to the same age group in fall semester of last year, so I can tell you this; for the most part, students/parents/etc. will probably not care about what is used in a class. The high school is in a fairly conservative region and it would be a problem if we were to stage productions of any of the plays covered, however I taught them How I Learned to Drive and came across no problems (the clincher there was that HILTD was in a approved anthology, and so it was untouchable; however, it still went off without any kind of conflict).

Lots of the scenework we used came from Williams, Simon, LaBute, Margulies, Stoppard, Naomi Wallace, Rebecca Gilman, Ives, etc.. Go by your group, but assess why your actors are taking your class (do they want to become the best actor they can be, or do they want an A?), and then ask them what they want out of the class and out of the texts they work on. The best acting classes are as personalized as possible.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 7/15/11 at 12:31pm

Didn't realize you might be looking for plays for 16-19 year olds to perform, not just read.

I think one of the best and most enjoyable sources for scenework for young students is Butterflies are Free.