25 Audio Stage Plays Available Free to Educators

L.A. Theatre Works is offering 25 audio recordings of significant stage plays, each performed by leading actors of stage and screen, available free to educators worldwide. LATW’s “Setting the Stage for Learning” initiative allows teachers to enhance distance learning during the COVID-19 crisis as well as classroom learning when students return to school. A non-profit media arts organization and the world’s leading producer of audio theatre, L.A. Theatre Works’ mission is to present, preserve and disseminate classic and contemporary plays featuring critically acclaimed actors. With LATW, teachers bring the excitement of a stage play into their students’ immediate environment and allow them to share their experiences of this rich content with peers, even when separated by distance learning. Discussions about culture, context, the history and arc of the story, and personal connections to characters facing challenges and overcoming obstacles will add to students’ enjoyment as stories come to life through talented casts, foley artists (creating sound effects) and well-crafted scripts. L.A. Theatre Works offers support for educators with an introductory guide suggesting topics for engaging conversations and ideas for student-created content. Educators can select and preview a play, then select an approach, whether it be asking students to listen to an entire play with follow-up discussions and/or assignments, or breaking the play into listening segments, pausing for comprehension checks, answering questions and transitioning through the arc of the plot. For more information about ‘Setting the Stage for Learning,’ to sign up, and to find out how to send a link to your students, go to https://latw.org/setting-stage-learning.