As I have said before, theatre is for everyone. It is accessible and applicable to everyone, you just have to know how to cater it to your particular needs and resources. So speaking of resources, I want to share a few websites and books I know to be useful when doing theatre work with different populations.
Arts On The Move is a cool website based out of the UK that has some info about doing theatre with special needs students.
Wings to Fly: Bringing Theatre Arts to Students With Special Needs is a 1993 book written by Sally Dorothy Bailey. In it she talks about how to bring theatre to SPED classrooms and students. It is a bit dated, so some of her ideas might need freshening up, but it is an excellent resource. You can find it on Amazon.
Story Drama in the Special Needs Classroom: Step-by-Step Lesson Plans for Teaching Through Dramatic Play (2012) by Jessica Carleton is a simple handbook for bringing theatre-based games and activities into a Special Ed classroom. It is less about full lessons, and more about small scale activities a teacher can implement. Her focus is more on students with autism than other needs. Also on Amazon.
If full-on theatre work is not your style, or if you want to ease into it, helping kids with autism work on social skills is a great way to use theatre in the classroom. Teaching Asperger's Students Social Skills Through Acting: All Their World Is a Stage! is a 2004 book by Amelia Davies which helps teachers apply the concepts of theatre to lessons to engage students in developing their social skills, as we know that is one of the major challenges with autism and Asperger's. Can be found on Amazon.
Other books that are strictly acting books that I can recommend to anyone trying their hand at this art form include:
Viola Spolin's Theatre Games for the Classroom (1986). Every drama teacher has a well used and marked up copy of this book. It is a theatre teacher's Bible. Stuff is easily adapted for specific needs.
Philip Bernardi's Improvisation Starters is a great old (1992) book that I used all the time in my theatre classroom. Improvisation is a great tool for students who might struggle with reading or memorizing- it is all made up on the spot! This book has some good scene starters that can be adapted if needed.
Gavin Levy's book 275 Acting Games: Connected: A Comprehensive Workbook of Theatre Games for Developing Acting Skills (2010) has tons of games and activities that range from uber simple to slightly more developed so you can choose with level is best for your class.
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