Working with how we breathe into expression and how the breath informs and grounds expression is fundamental to storytelling, speaking, singing and moving. It lets us tap into a creative well that need never run dry. One of the most satisfying and all embracing ways of working with the expressive arts, in my experience, is theater.

Drama is fundamental in the Waldorf curriculum; where we work therapeutically and pedagogically, as well as artistically. Individual work is as potent as the work that builds the sense of group ensemble. The experience of a play and the commitment that can come from young people through this process goes deep and produces a memorable experience of something larger than the group itself. I have written a number of plays that come out of relevant curricular themes, and that have resonance with the specific ages for which they were written. From my background in generating plays, and in writing and directing with young children, I can offer guidance on bringing the pedagogic and developmental benefits of drama to groups of children.

For children, drama is best approached through the deep building of character and a saturation in the time period of the play. Before the production of a play even begins, the children benefit most deeply when the themes and topics of the play are organic to an integrated curriculum. Staging a play always offers additional dimensions for learning skills and cooperation in the context of a larger group. These can include assistant directing, lighting, publicity, costumes, stagecraft, and more.

I am currently preparing for publication A Waldorf Book of Plays. These plays address themes and archetypes that are developmentally appropriate for the needs of children of specific ages. Each play was generated with a particular class of children, but the language is more generally attuned to the voices that belong to children of that age. Each play also works to make accessible for the children the experience of appropriate universal and transcendent meanings. Many of these plays have been acted in other schools and have transferred very well. The dialogue was written with an ear for the current language as part of the intention to draw them into the world of another time.

Below are very brief descriptions of the plays that will be included in A Waldorf Book of Plays.