Drama Notebook Reviews

I found Drama Notebook to be very useful finding resources for my drama students. I would recommend it for any drama teacher. I found the lesson plans invaluable for my new courses.

I'm an acting coach living in Tokyo and I was looking for some scenes to work on with Japanese celebrity actors who are learning English. They loved them! Janea's practice scenes are full of fun and really brought out their talent. It was challenging and also there are so many ways you can act them out, which made it fun for me directing these scenes. We particularly liked "Pringles" and "The Needle" which are both simple, funny, and purely fun to act out. Thank you so much!!!

I was searching the internet for some drama ideas to use during distance learning. Drama Notebook had everything I was looking for and material that was appropriate for the age of the students in my class. As a class online, we had a lot of fun using the scripts!

I subscribed to get access to short plays with 4-8 characters.
My goal was to provide material for FaceTime meetings with grandchildren during the Covid shut down. I picked a play, printed it for myself, and emailed it to my grandchildren, 9 and 13 yrs old.
During a FaceTime call, my wife, myself, and the two grandchildren would read the script and play the parts. (sometimes multiple parts each.)
It worked wonderfully! The kids go into acting out the parts, and we all enjoyed the humor in the stories.

I want to take a moment to tell you what a Godsend this site has been for me. I teach elementary and middle school drama in a rural area of Oklahoma. I subscribed to this site when Covid hit so that I could get some short scripts for my students to do on Zoom. Not only were the plays excellent, age-appropriate and fun, the low cost allowed me to find an abundance of scripts without stressing out over how to pay for them. I wind up paying out of pocket for most of my teaching materials, so I greatly appreciate this resource. We even had one of the playwrights participate in one of our online performances! I'm done teaching for now, but will definitely come back in the fall.

I teach middle school drama both during school and after school. This resource gave me exactly what I needed for the various parts to a drama program. I will subscribe again once we are back in school. Thank you for maintaining an updated, useful set of resources.

Every drama educator should have a subscription to Drama Notebook. The materials are current, fun, thorough, and great for students of all ages. Before I joined Drama Notebook, I had a hard time finding material that didn’t make me roll my eyes. I have taught K-12 and on this site I find strong material for all ages and socio-economic backgrounds which are challenging and fun. Plus, their scripts are plentiful! Lastly, they are always adding new plays and lessons. Best drama site for teachers!

Drama Notebook has been a great resource to bring some "buzz" to my drama lessons. The resources I used were amazing for my students and myself. Great site to use when you need that extra something and fresh ideas. Many thanks.

Finding scripts for my adult students with special needs was a challenge until I found Drama Notebook. I am looking forward to applying all it has to offer to enhance the experiences for my talented students.

I found this site after our school closed and I was put in the awkward situation of having to teach drama online. Not only did I find a plethora of ideas, activities and lessons that could be taught online, Janea personally helped me organize a game plan that is working out beautifully! Do not hesitate to join this site. The people behind this endeavor are brilliant, and they truly care.

I've been teaching drama for over ten years. This year, when we had to switch to teaching drama online, I thought it would be impossible. But Janea immediately created a whole section of online lesson plans, and a collection of free plays to watch online and a set of AMAZING interactive murder mysteries. I am beyond grateful! I have a monthly subscription and some months I do not use Drama Notebook at all, but I am happy to keep my subscription because when I DO need it, I always find what I need (and more). Keep up the good work!

I am the Curriculum Coordinator at GRCT’s School of Theatre Arts, as well as a director, teacher, and actor. When I started here last fall, I was building our selection of scripts and was so happy to find Drama Notebook. We quickly became a member and I was so glad to add to our selections for our school classes and camps. We used  “The Musicians of Bremen” this spring for our Core Acting 2-3 and Core Acting 4-5 final Informance (Informal Performance: showcasing our process and growth to family and friends) over 6 weeks of Zoom classes!

This script was such a hit, and provided a vehicle to not only tell a story, and connect our young actors, but also to create music and instruments from home. THANK YOU! During this difficult time in the world, these courses, and these students were a light in my life, and we couldn’t have done it without Drama Notebook!

We've been using monologues, games, improvs and warm-ups with my ZOOM online classes and loving it. It's a great resource when I need some quick ideas to jump start activities. Thank you for providing this great service.

As a teacher of stage 2 I joined this site to find interesting material for my reluctant readers. There was a lot to choose from which meant I was able to find something suitable for the many different interests of my students.

Great resource. This was my first time using them in lessons and it was wonderful. I can't wait to come back!

A fantastic resource. I've used Drama Notebook scripts several times and they are so well written and nicely laid out. Thanks for providing such a wonderful resource.

We were on the search for a youth production that we could present on Zoom this summer. Midsummer Camp's Dream is proving to be a great choice. We've worked directly with the author and he has been wonderful.

I enjoy the materials but when I could no longer afford it I could not find a way to cancel.

Hi Jody, I'm sorry that you had trouble. We try to make it as easy as possible to cancel your subscription. I have emailed you and refunded your last payment. Please come back anytime!--Janea

I came to Drama Notebook to find a shortened version of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Our school was just starting our production of the play when the COVID-19 Pandemic hit, forcing us to move classes online. We decided that the show must go on! But many students found the task of an entire Shakespeare play a bit daunting with all of their other schoolwork. So, I set out to adapt the show on my own when I found the adapted version on Drama Notebook. It was fantastic and has been a great way to continue our show online without stressing our students too much. The show was adapted very well, maintained the integrity of the plot, and kept all of the roles in the show. I just bought a month's membership to purchase the play, but ended up downloading many other resources. The website is incredibly easy to navigate, and has some wonderful resources for classroom and online learning!

Love using Drama Notebook to supplement my teaching - now online- with my community theatre group. So many resources at my fingertips ! Thank you for making this an affordable and highly effective web resource for theatre instructors !

As a fifth grade teacher during Covid-19, my school went to a Distance Learning environment. I continued to teach my curriculum through video platforms. Without having the classroom setting and learning environment, I noticed my students having a hard time focusing. When I learned about Drama Notebook and what they had to offer, I signed up. It was so easy and affordable, that I thought even without any drama background myself, I would give it a try. I downloaded the Mystery Theater stories because they were so easy to do via the video platform. My students got into characters and we had a blast solving the mysteries! If only I had done this earlier! I will take this to my classroom next year for sure! Thank you Drama Notebook!

We held our annual summer camp virtually this year, and my task was to teach drama on the Zoom app. Pretty challenging, but I got lots of help and ideas from the resources on Drama Notebook. Also received great advice from the online FB group.
I'll always prefer face to face drama, but we made this work.

Excellent plays. My high school students performed "The Poe Plays" and "Unintent" which were enjoyed by all. Great Site!

A very helpful drama planning site! I am a teacher who volunteers to run drama club in my own lunch breaks, therefore, no time to plan. This site is a time saver! So many great activities at your fingertips! Thank you team at Drama Notebook!

I Love your materials! During Distance Learning, my middle school chorus students solved "The Mystery of the Stolen Statue" in break-out rooms during a Zoom meeting! They loved it!

I love the selection and variety of subject material and appeal to a variety of ages. Our neighborhood production of The Musicians of Bremen was just what we needed!

My first year of teaching a drama class was made easier with the plethora of resources on Drama Notebook. My students loved all the games and monologues. It became even more beneficial during virtual learning. I was able to keep my students on track with their goals and provide a fun stress free class. I highly recommend this site for any drama teacher.

For the first time in my almost 35 years of teaching, I was going to teach a drama class. As a music specialist I was pretty excited to be doing something new. I hadn't exactly decided what route to take and was so happy to come across the Drama Notebook resources. They are perfect for educators like me. The site offers great ideas that are well thought out and easy to use. When distance learning became a factor, the site is what I used to keep my students engaged. I wouldn't have survived without it!

This is an excellent source for drama teachers and community theaters. The programs I direct were looking for a play to do, so I went here and found a few plays to do. Unfortunately, we will not be using the plays from here this year, but there is always next year!

This site is an excellent resource for drama teachers. Additionally, customer support is great. I canceled my subscription as I am not currently teaching, and they reimbursed me for the last month without my asking. They just noticed I hadn't been using the site.

This site was recommended to me by a colleague and I was invigorated by it. It allowed me to refresh what I was teaching in my drama classes and had such amazing resources to utilise.

For an affordable price, teachers can use this resource to expand their English Language Arts (ELA) lessons by incorporating the dramatic arts. Drama Notebook provides affordable lesson plans, worksheets, activities, and plays to teach elements of literacy, ELA, AND drama to a wide variety of student preferences and needs.

Drama Notebook has more resources than you will be able to use during one school year! With so many choices, teachers can select activities that are the best fit for each drama class. I also appreciate how generous they are. There are multiple "free stuff" items, including 18 pages of distance learning drama activities with links to over 100 videos. Thank you, Drama Notebook!

I am an ELA teacher but, last year, was also hired to teach Theater...something I knew absolutely nothing about. An awesome semester plan from TPT and this website got me through the year. Recently, plans for distance learning, here, have been a big help as well. I had big, mixed classes, and the Aesop's Fables play got me through much of the year. Props and scenery were kept to a minimum, and the students had fun with rehearsals. I was able to keep the whole class on the stage the entire play which was a big help with management. Unfortunately, we never had the performance due to covid. This is a great resource.

Great site, even greater material—this stuff is accessible for my kids and organized incredibly well. You would never regret your subscription because they make it worth your while. Go Drama Notebook!

I loved the resources. This is such an affordable option. I really like the tools provided during the online schooling, but I also took advantage of this service a year ago to get me started as a new drama teacher for middle school students. It has been very helpful. Where else can you purchase plays, scripts, games, and ideas for $1? My only caution is that teachers need to realize this is a recurring payment each month. It is very easy to cancel if you only intend to use it for one cycle, but it is good to be aware of this. Keep it up Drama Notebook!

Great Resources, Great Play scripts, Great Monologues, Great Price, Great Staff and overall a Great Website.

I originally came here to find a script I could have my students read while they were doing online learning but quickly downloaded so much more! Lots of great ideas, lessons plans and scripts for all ages.

Drama Notebook is amazing! I've taught so many lessons from this website and I have been so inspired by the resources available. I teach drama grades 2nd-8th and I'm so happy I made this investment!

I was looking for tools that helped me improve activities with my students during the confinement. I found a lot of resources!

Because my nephew's school is shuttered for the rest of the year due to quarantine I wanted to help him stay connected to the arts. Remote learning has math, science, reading etc. covered but the arts are suffering. I joined Dram Notebook hoping to get some age appropriate plays and scenes we could do together over zoom, but I could barely explore the library without having to pay the membership. Additionally I'm not looking to perform any of these, just keep his love of performing alive, but Drama Notebook seems to be only set up for professional companies, not just families looking to keep a connection to the arts in an unprecedented time.

Hi Renee, You're right. Drama Notebook is geared for drama teachers, not parents. But plenty of parents and family friends use our scripts. I'm sorry you had trouble finding what you needed. I am refunding your subscription. --Janea

I was asked by one of my teachers to get one of the plays on this site to use for the end of the year event. I was amazed to find out how amazingly useful and inspiring it is. The materials are really interesting and there are so many of them! I can't wait to incorporate them into my own classroom. I really enjoy having a well-developed lesson and course plans. It is really worth subscribing!

I’ve loved using Drama Notebook with my students! We love to go through the monologues together, and it’s a great place to find cute in-class shows you can put on relatively quickly!

This website is excellent for educators who are just starting out as a drama teacher. It is so easy to follow and has endless amounts of resources. Would highly recommend!

Absolutely love using this site! It’s so helpful. I teach adults and children with disabilities and I found the resources really great. I will be back to subscribing when I am back teaching. Not teaching right now due to covid.

Great service. Our family performed weekly plays from this archive while quarantined inside our house in Jordan for three months. Lots of fun playing all of the roles.

My wife and I are both grandparents with grand kids interested in or already active in drama programs at their schools. However, with the current virus closure of their schools here in Canada as well as their drama programs, we looked for help online in keeping their drama interests alive and active. Luckily we found Drama Notebook and it was our saviour for the last two months enabling us to use their short plays for 2-3 participants so that we could perform some of these plays online with them. We would highly recommend Drama Notebook and their extensive resources to anyone else wanting to keep their kids or students interested and improving their drama skills, especially at this time.

I have found the student written monologues to really resonate with my students - everyone finds something they can practice and perfect for theater class.

Great resource! Has been especially helpful with starting up a drama program at the junior high in my district!

This website is great when you're stuck with what to do or need inspiration for lessons! It's easy to adapt them to your classroom needs!