Opening Night is an exciting theater program, which offers students an opportunity to experiment with creating plays. Students can write their own plays and then direct the play by picking scenes, lighting, characters, sounds, dialogue, music and much more. It is an open-ended program, and most students would need a thorough introduction to learn how to use the program. When the program starts, it opens up to a blank stage. The program has a special added feature that offers information to students, so they can learn about how a production is put together. An extra CD has interviews, a theater glossary, and a behind the scenes section. The program can be used to just learn the steps in starting to direct a play, or the program can be used for older students to develop a more extended version with more scenes. The software comes with a user guide that gives step-by-step instructions of how to use all the different parts of the program.

 CONTENT CLARITY:

The program is accurate in terms of how one might learn how to design and direct a play. The grade level is not accurate. Very advanced third graders who have a steady sense of eye-hand coordination could use it with an adult’s help. With the software, a teacher of a younger grade level would have to make a play and then display it to the class. The software might have included written plays that students could view, and then they could create the play around the script.

 TECHNICAL QUALITY:

The instillation of the program is simple to do. One would not have to know much about computers to run it. When using the program, one would have to have a lot of patience. It takes a very long time to make one scene. A student in the elementary school would need assistance and need to be guided through the program. Students would have to write a play and then work with an adult to put it all together. The graphics on the program are enjoyable to use. The user can move characters and make them walk, sit, point, and do other actions. In addition, the user can add music, which makes the production complete in the end. The voice for playback is a computer voice; however, if a microphone attachment is available, students could record their own voice.

 USE OF TECHNOLOGY:

This program makes good use of multimedia. Some children are shy and do not like to act in front of a large group; this program gives them a chance to create a script. It gives children a chance to show their creativity and work on their writing. The program gives students a chance to create their own plays. This is a very time consuming process and students would need to have a lot of assistance if they were in the younger grades. Students would have to do it step by step and couldn’t do it in one sitting. This could be a great group project during computer time. It introduces children to the design process. This program lets students be creative because they need to learn how to design the play.

The students are empowered by using this program. They can work through a process and see the finished product in the end. The program is very open-ended and a user can do one scene or multiple scenes. The student is in control of running the program. The program does not provide a demo or a step by step tutorial to follow except in the teacher manual. This program does promote student interaction and group work. This program gives students a chance to work with others on a production and learn how to value suggestions and cooperate in a group project. Students would value their own learning by seeing the finished product. They would very happy to see how all their hard work comes out in the end.

 ROLE OF THE TEACHER:

This program lends itself to the teacher asking critical thinking questions on how a character might respond to a problem. The teacher can also give a specific model that they want the students to follow. For younger students the teacher would have to make up a play to show as a demonstration. The teacher would be the person in charge, making sure the students understand the next step. The teacher would have to be in charge of giving directions and be the coach when the students are designing their play.

 CLASSROOM USAGE:

This program would work well in the language arts curriculum. It gives students a chance to write about things that interest them. It makes the written word come alive. If the students are older, they might enjoy this program because theater might be in their career path. Younger students would have to work in pairs or in small groups because of the amount of steps involved creating a scene. If the students were working in pairs, they could write the play together and work collaboratively on the design of the stage and characters. In the younger grades, a teacher could have the whole class write the play together. The teacher would oversee the process. Then the class could work in smaller groups. One group places characters, and another group could type dialogue. The teacher could then work with small groups on the placing of parts on the stage. Teachers might create a play first and show it to the students. This would help teachers become more familiar with the program, and it would help them understand the amount of time needed to effectively use the software. This program could also be used as an alternate way for students to do book reports; the students might create a scene based on a conflict in a book.

 CRITICAL SUMMARY:

This software is very useful for older students wanting to pursue a career in acting or theater. It gives them a feel for what it would be like to direct a play. It also would be beneficial for younger students who enjoy writing plays. Teachers need to understand the difficulty of this program and keep that in mind when using it in their classrooms. This program would promote creativity in the classroom and make writing come alive.

OVERALL RATING: 8 out of 10

This program deserves a rating of eight because the recommended age level is not accurate. Third graders could use the software with lots of adult coaching. Perhaps, they could write the plays on paper, but I don’t think they would have the attention span to sit and design the play with the software. It takes considerable patience to learn how to use this program, and the type of things that can be done with it are aimed at grades above the third grade; in fact, even some upper-elementary school students would find the program too difficult to use to create a basic scene. The program is well suited to the middle and secondary classroom, where access to a lab would give students sufficient time to use the software to create scenes.

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