Books published by publisher Meriwether Publishing

Can a theatre class textbook be both inspirational and informative? Yes! This holistic book on directing and acting does it all. Students will keep it as a lifelong career reference on how to make things work. Written subjectively, it's based on nearly a half-century of teaching and directing. A theatre text that compels involvement in all layers of creating memorable theatre. Thirty-five chapters in seven sections with assignments and convenient section summaries make a complete semester course. This drama text is far more than "how-to"; it's a narrative about artistic discovery. Experientially it reveals how to jolt lagging imaginations into an ensemble of lively and involved performers. Adaptable for use by student directors and actors from secondary to graduate level. Recommended by leading theatre educators as the text they've been waiting for.

Many students are limited to "learning" Shakespeare by studying only one of his many plays. Now you can help students come to a more complete understanding of the world's most famous playwright by exposing them to five of his most recognizable plays and the beauty of his language. This wonderful book contains fifteen cuttings from Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice, Julius Caesar, Othello, and Hamlet. Each scene is preceded by thorough setting and character descriptions as well as a complete plot synopsis. All scenes have between two and seven characters and run between 15 and 25 minutes in length. This is the ideal book for a class that only has three to four weeks to study Shakespeare as well as for groups of students looking for performance materials, whether for contests, auditions, or acting workshops.

Written especially for those who coach tween and teenage actors, this delightfully fresh workbook tells you the how, when, what, and why of theatre games for young performers. Starter scenes allow first-time performers to ease onto the stage in baby steps. Spontaneity is encouraged along with etiquette and basic acting principles. The concepts of pantomime, improvisation, character development, voice, and body control are all presented in game formats with exercises. Nine chapters include: Before You Begin, Preparing, Starter Scenes, Exercises, Games, Improvisation, Pantomime, Non-Acting Theatre Games and Activities, and Developing Your Program, plus an Activities Index. Anyone working with young actors will find this theatre book exceptionally helpful, and you ll love that it's written by Suzi Zimmerman, author of the best-selling Introduction to Theatre Arts series.

Also available in ebook at Mercerpublishing.com _______"Mercer Publishing has the only available practice materials in the format of the CogAT* exam." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Practice test 1 of 2. Level D is usually given to children in fifth grade**. Level D is the Multilevel Ed. format of the CogAT exam, in which the children read and answer the test questions themselves. This book contains a single full-length practice test that contains nine subtests in the three test areas found on the CogAT exam: VERBAL Verbal Classification 20 questions Sentence Completion 20 questions Verbal Analogies 25 questions QUANTITATIVE Quantitative Relations 25 questions Number Series 20 questions Equation Building 15 questions NONVERBAL Figure Classification 25 questions Figure Analogies 25 questions Figure Analysis 15 questions Practice Test for the CogAT* Multilevel Edition is a full length practice test with answer key. The object of this practice test is to familiarize your child with sample questions they will face on test day, how the tests are formatted, the symbols used and the number of questions in in each test area. However, since this practice test has not been standardized with Riverside Publishing and the actual CogAT* test, a valid CogAT* test score cannot be concluded from their results on this practice test. * CogAT is a registered trademark of Houghton Mifflin Company. The Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) is owned by Houghton Mifflin Company and published by Riverside Publishing, a Houghton Mifflin Company. Neither Houghton Mifflin Company nor Riverside Publishing was involved in the production of, nor endorses, these practice tests. ** Grade level is based on the exam publisher's recommendation for testing gifted students. Please check with your school as we cannot guarantee which level will be given by your school.

In our media-saturated society, multicultural writers have discovered the stage as their medium of choice. These 37 scenes and monologs by new writers of the multicultural experience are certain to inspire actors and directors. The scene selections offer unusually challenging characterizations for virtually any actor or acting student. All selections are for one or two actors. This is an excellent collection for expressing cultural diversity while offering an expanding range of new material. Within the three-section book, the Hispanic-American and the Asian-American sections each have 11 scenes; the African-American section has 14 scenes. Writers include Caridad Svich, Silvia Gonzalez, Peter Mellencamp, Karen Huie, Kia Chorthron, and Akuyoe.

Peg Kehret's middle grade books have won more than 50 state and national young reader awards. So these "scare-free" monologs are perfect for speech contests, acting exercises, auditions, or as part of a performance. Warm and funny, these monologs will feel "nontheatrical," and best of all real! Sixty-five characterizations include 16 written specifically for girls, 15 for boys, and the rest appropriate for either. Published to rave reviews, any young person will relate to these well-written monologs. Sample titles include: My Blankee; Cafeteria Lunches; They'll Be Sorry When I'm Dead; Too Young For This, Too Old For That; The Last Day of Sixth Grade; I Though Ellen Was My Friend; What Will I Be When I Grow Up?; On Being Different.

Teens love to act crazy, push boundaries, take chances, and explore opportunities, so why not channel their energy and excitement onto the stage? These 30 short plays, ranging in length from three to seven minutes, give actors the opportunity to create outrageous characters in the context of situations they know so well. With natural dialog and believable situations, young actors will love that there are no complex issues to deal with and no lessons to learn -- just real life teen dilemmas presented in a comedy format. Written for mixed casts of two to six actors, each play is complete with stage directions, simple props, and a setting. Contemporary situations enable students, actors, and the audience to relate easily to the material, such as Un-Identical Twins, Four Boyfriends, Last Free Summer, and The Babysitter. Suitable for all ages, even inexperienced young actors will have the opportunity to entertain audiences a they show off their talents and do what teens do best -- laugh!

These monologs, dialogs, and short skits allow teenage performers a chance to laugh at the system, their teachers, their parents, and most importantly, themselves! These are scripts for laughter and pathos. They create an awareness of the perils of drinking and driving, teenage parties, smoking, alcoholic parents, and much more. Sixty superb, short scripts! This theatre text is ideal for speech contests, acting exercises, auditions, variety shows, and classroom use.

Twenty-three outstanding short length plays for a cast of one, two or three actors are included in just one text. Absolutely no cuttings. Each play is a complete dramatic work. No walk-ons. All of the plays pride themselves on balanced roles with about five minutes acting time for each character. Performance times for the plays vary from eight to fifteen minutes. These shows, each written by a nationally known playwright, offer a wide variety of acting roles and settings for classroom or stage performance. The scripts are excellent for secondary and university level forensic competitions as well. Also included in the text are sections on rehearsal techniques and procedures. The anthology offers a variety of performance rights options including royalty-free classroom use. This is recommended as an exceptional text for playwriting, acting and general theatre classes. Some of the playwrights included are Tim Kelly, Megan Terry, Stephen Grecco, Patricia Montley and Robert Patrick. These are just the short plays you have been looking for!

Includes sixty-three more monologs written expressly for teenagers to use for classroom exercises, speech contests, play tryouts or as discussion starters on many educational themes. The book is divided into three sections: monologs for girls - for boys - for girls or boys. These are all "real talk" monologs portraying both life's funny situations and its pathos, written as teens are thinking today.

This drama book of twenty-three scenes deals with challenging subject matter in five categories of subjects: 1. Dating, 2. Pregnancy, 3. Control, 4. Family, and 5. Growing Up. Because the characters are beyond stereotypes the student actors are required to reach beyond easy characterization. The scenes offer a wide variety of styles and an equal distribution of roles between men and women. They may be used as audition pieces, festival entries, or as discussion ignitors for interaction between the actors and the audience.

Also available in ebook at Mercerpublishing.com ______"Mercer Publishing has the only available practice materials in the format of the NNAT* exam." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ** Level D of the NNAT is usually given to students in third and fourth grade. ** One of the tools for measuring a student’s ability to enter the gifted program is the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test* (NNAT*) published by Harcourt Assessment, Inc. The NNAT* is a culture-fair, nonverbal measure of reasoning and problem solving abilities. This test does not require English language skills or mathematics, instead consisting of problems that use a complex set of geometric shapes and designs. It is a 38 question test with four types of questions: Pattern Completion, Analogy, Serial Reasoning and Spatial Visualization. This practice test contains 38 questions in the four test areas found on the NNAT* Level D, which is usually given to students