NYSTCE Theater 166 case studies
NYSTCE Theater 166 · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The Theater CST (166) is one of the New York State Teacher Certification Examinations Content Specialty Tests, listed by NYSTCE among the Arts fields alongside Dance, Music, and Visual Arts. Candidates take it to demonstrate the subject-matter knowledge New York expects of a theater educator; it is aimed at prospective teachers preparing for certification in theater, not at general classroom candidates. The NYSTCE Theater 166 case studies are 5 cases and about 3,930 words.
1Directing a Festival One-Act When the Clock Is the Antagonist
Mid-October, and you are directing a 30-minute ensemble one-act for a regional high school festival that performs in 19 school days. You have 11 rehearsals of 55 minutes, plus one four-hour tech Saturday.
813 words, about 4 min2Three Stuck Actors, One 42-Minute Period
Your Grade 10 "Foundations of Acting" elective meets daily in a 42-minute period and is four weeks into a six-week scene unit; the final showing is in nine class days and every student is scored on one common rubric covering objective, tactics, listening, and risk. Three students are stuck in different ways.
798 words, about 4 min3A Two-Story House in a Black Box With $900
The 70-seat black box has a 12-foot grid, a flat floor with no wing space, one upstage door, and a repertory light plot of 12 front-of-house instruments you are not permitted to refocus. You have $900 for the fall production.
775 words, about 4 min4Nine Weeks, Six Sections, No Written Curriculum
You are a first-year teacher taking over a middle school theater program that runs as a nine-week exploratory rotation: six sections of 24 students, each meeting every other day for 18 total meetings, in a cafeteria that is unavailable on Tuesdays. You inherit unmatched props, a file of fill-in worksheets, and no written curriculum.
749 words, about 4 min5Prop Firearm, Fog Machine, Unsupervised Fight Call
Two weeks before opening, three problems land in the same week. A student brings a realistic-looking prop revolver from home for the detective scene because "the rubber one looks fake." The rented fog machine starts triggering a cast member's asthma during the Act II reveal; she says she can "push through." And you find two students rehearsing their knife fight unsupervised in the hallway with plastic blades, no mat, and an audience of freshmen.
795 words, about 4 min