Theatre is an integral part of English language arts as well as the performing arts, so the
foundation for theatre begins at birth as children develop personal communication skills. Parents
and preschool and elementary teachers should encourage imaginative play and role-playing, both
for their own sake and as important components of the learning process across the curriculum.
All students should study creative writing, improvising and writing scripts; expressive public
speaking, media literacy, theatrical production and interpretation; and other key communication
skills as part of their basic K-12 language arts curriculum, and should deepen and apply these
skills in formal theatre experiences under the guidance of expert theatre teachers. Secondary
schools should incorporate theatre courses into their required language arts sequence, and also
offer sequential elective courses in areas such as acting, technical theatre, script writing,
animation and video/film.