All the Classroom’s a Stage reveals how teachers can apply theater skills to the craft of teaching and enhance their ability to engage and motivate students, cultivate collaborative learning, and become stronger and more dynamic ‘performers’ in the classroom.



This book illustrates how to use theater techniques to invigorate the craft of teaching in college classrooms across multiple disciplines. The book shows readers how to explore and apply improvisation, actor-training, and directing techniques to their classroom. By using discipline-specific examples, case studies, and a breadth of theater and teacher-training experience, the book reveals how theatre can strengthen teaching and learning, improve attendance, retention, and students’ commitment to their education and to each other. Whether a new teacher navigating the job for the first time or an experienced veteran hungry for new teaching methods, All the Classroom’s a Stage will transform a traditional classroom into a dynamic creative space built on collaborative sharing of the educational experience.

Rose Burnett Bonczek is a theater educator, director, and consultant with over forty years’ experience in the field. She is coauthor of Turn That Thing Off! Collaboration and Technology in 21st-Century Actor Training (with Roger Manix and David Storck), Ensemble Theatre Making (with David Storck), and One Minute Plays (with Steve Ansell).

Michael Flanagan has taught theater and directed at colleges and universities for over twenty years. He is also a former English and general education professor and a former college administrator in departments of retention and student success, where he has used theater to revise curriculum in freshman seminar, English literature, speech, and other academic disciplines. He currently teaches Drama at Houston Community College.

Rose Burnett Bonczek is a theater educator, director, and consultant with over forty years’ experience in the field. She is coauthor of Turn That Thing Off! Collaboration and Technology in 21st-Century Actor Training (with Roger Manix and David Storck), Ensemble Theatre Making (with David Storck), and One Minute Plays (with Steve Ansell).

Michael Flanagan has taught theater and directed at colleges and universities for over twenty years. He is also a former English and general education professor and a former college administrator in departments of retention and student success, where he has used theater to revise curriculum in freshman seminar, English literature, speech, and other academic disciplines. He currently teaches Drama at Houston Community College.