A step-by-step practice frame for the IB Theatre Director's Notebook. Choose a published play text, develop a clear directorial vision, and stage moments of it — with set, light, sound, costume and space — to create an intended impact on an audience, with the assessment expectations and the notebook method built in.
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This is roughly how your exported DOCX / PDF will read. Use it to rehearse a coherent notebook that stages your chosen moments to create an intended impact on an audience.
The IB Theatre Director's Notebook asks you to choose a published play text you have not seen or staged, research its theatrical context, and develop a clear directorial vision for it — then present how you would stage selected moments of the play to create an intended impact on an audience. This examiner-written practice frame walks you through the method step by step: choose an appropriate play and stage-worthy moments, research the playwright, period, conventions and original staging conditions, develop a coherent directorial concept, and turn that vision into specific staging and design choices — set, light, sound, costume, space and the actor's body and voice — each justified by the effect it is intended to have on an audience. You keep every choice tied to your vision and present the notebook as annotated staging ideas with a written commentary, within the requirements.
The notebook is judged on the coherence and originality of your directorial vision, the imagination and detail of how you stage the chosen moments, your use of the full range of theatrical elements, and how clearly you justify the intended impact of your choices on an audience. Top responses develop a vision the play supports, stage moments rather than summarise the plot, use the visual, spatial and aural language of theatre with intention, and draw a clear line from each specific choice to the audience experience it is designed to create.
The whole notebook is built around a directorial vision — your interpretation of the play and the experience you want to create — realised through the staging of specific moments. Treat the play as material you would stage: explain how you would stage it and what that does to an audience, not what happens in the story. Ground every staging and design choice in your vision, describe it precisely enough to be actable, and justify it by the intended impact on the audience, citing the play text and any sources you research.
The Theatre Director's Notebook tool is examiner-written, and the frame and its guidance are written by experienced IB educators. It is free to start: the planning sections are free, and the later sections are a one-time unlock per tool. Sign in to save your work and sync it across devices.