To view the resources available for any given period on this site, select one from the list below:

This Instructor Resources section of the Companion Website complements the 8th edition of Types of Drama (Barnet, Burto, Ferris, and Rabkin). It is intended as a reference tool and teaching aid for instructors using Types of Drama, with particular attention paid to instructors new to teaching dramatic literature and theater. This section includes teaching tips for teachers of dramatic literature using the Types of Drama anthology, syllabi for a sample 10-week quarter course and a sample 14-week semester course in world dramatic literature, an outline of the features of each historical period represented by the texts reprinted in the anthology, and suggested thematic groupings for teaching the plays in a context distinct from their historical and literary circumstances (such as "Theater and Race").

Most of this section is dedicated to individual "Teaching the Play" sections (found in Period Features) with suggested teaching methods, discussion questions, and commentary for each play in the anthology. Each "Teaching the Play" section provides tips and strategies for engaging students in the study and discussion of the play and suggests in-class activities and exercises that range from oral presentations on historical research to short in-class performances.

We should mention that we have not worried about making each discussion uniform in length or organization with the rest. We have tried to offer help, and the kinds of help that are useful for teaching one play may not be useful for teaching another. To take the most evident example: we offer an extensive scene-by-scene commentary (not a plot synopsis) of Hamlet, as well as a somewhat shorter but still moderately full scene-by-scene commentary on A Midsummer Night's Dream, but we offer no such commentaries on the other plays. Similarly, although every play in Types of Drama is followed by questions—and we believe that almost all of these questions can be used to start a discussion in class—additional questions for a few plays are included in this here. Like the questions in the anthology, these additional questions can be used as starting points for group discussion or for writing assignments. Quite a few Teaching the Play sections also include notes on the technical aspects of the play in performance, as well as commentary and lecture leads which place the play in context and provide additional critical interpretations.

The material in this Instructor Resources section can also be downloaded as a complete Instructor's Manual from the Download the Manual section of this site.