Teaching Theatre Today

Through thirteen essays, Teaching Theatre Today addresses the changing nature of educational theory, curricula, and teaching methods in theatre programs of colleges and universities of the United States and Great Britain.

Through thirteen essays, Teaching Theatre Today addresses the changing nature of educational theory, curricula, and teaching methods in theatre programs of colleges and universities of the United States and Great Britain.

Teaching Critical Performance Theory offers teaching strategies for professors and artist-scholars across performance, design and technology, and theatre studies disciplines. The book’s seventeen chapters collectively ask: What use is theory to an emerging theatre artist or scholar? Which theories should be taught, and to whom? How can theory pedagogies shape and respond to the evolving needs of the academy, the field, and the community? This broad field of enquiry is divided into four sections covering course design, classroom teaching, the studio space, and applied theatre contexts. Through a range of intriguing case studies that encourage thoughtful theatre practice, this book explores themes surrounding situated learning, dramaturgy and technology, disability and inclusivity, feminist approaches, race and performance, ethics, and critical theory in theatre history. Written as an invaluable resource for professionals and postgraduates engaged in performance theory, this collection of informative essays will also provide critical reading for those interested in drama and theatre studies more broadly.

Teaching Theatre Today addresses the changing nature of educational theory, curricula, and teaching methods in theatre programs of colleges and universities of the United States and, to a lesser extent, Great Britain. Thirteen essays are arranged to lead the reader from an overview of changing theories of theater education through the teaching of specific types of courses, to the study of the African American experience in theatre education, to issues of changing pedagogical goals in the United Kingdom, and finally to the current state of training for future teachers of theatre. This book offers both historical and theoretical insights that drove pedagogy in American theatre education in colleges and universities during the twentieth century and into the twenty-first.

This book reflects the changes in technology and educational trends (cross-disciplinary learning, entrepreneurship, first-year learning programs, critical writing requirements, course assessment, among others) that have pushed theatre educators to innovate, question, and experiment with new teaching strategies. The text focuses upon a firm practice-based approach that also reflects research in the field, offering innovative and proven methods that theatre educators may use to actively engage students and encourage student success. The sixteen essays in this volume are divided into five sections: Teaching with Digital Technology, Teaching in Response to Educational Trends, Teaching New Directions in Performance, Teaching Beyond the Traditional, and Teaching Collaboratively or Across Disciplines. Study of this book will provoke readers to question both teaching methods and curricula as they consider the ever-shifting arts landscape and the potential careers for theatre graduates.

The role of the hybrid artist-educator in schools and communities over the past fifty years has evolved significantly. Although education reform and political pressures during the last five decades have frequently interrupted steady and sustained arts education programming in the United States-especially in theatre and dance-the teaching artist today performs an important role in numerous educational contexts. Over the past fifteen years, the work of teaching artists has received growing professional attention and research: the Association of Teaching Artists (ATA) was founded in 1998 to support, advocate for, strengthen and serve the teaching artist profession. This volume, focused on teaching artists in dance and theatre disciplines, expands this developing area of inquiry and reveals topographies for teaching in and through these arts disciplines that have, until this text, been examined separately. Directed toward the last decade's growth and professionalization, the book asks: where and how is teaching artistry in dance and theatre happening? What is guiding, supporting, or complicating the work of teaching artists in dance and theatre arts today? What training and preparation do teaching artists receive? How do teaching artists effectively address the cultural diversity of the communities they serve? What are the political and economic influences that impact the work and delivery of teaching artistry? What has been learned on a large scale about the hybrid lives and work of teaching artists in dance and theatre arts? In sum, what is the status of the teaching artist today? This book examines pedagogical, artistic, and professional issues for two performing arts disciplines by using the voices and experiences of each form's practitioners and those who prepare them.

This book explores the concept and vocabulary of postdramatic theatre from a pedagogical perspective. It identifies some of the major anxieties and paradoxes generated by teaching postdramatic theatre through practice, with reference to the aesthetic, cultural and institutional pressures that shape teaching practices. It also presents a series of case studies that identify the pedagogical fault lines that expose the power-relations inherent in teaching (with a focus on the higher education sector as opposed to actor training institutions). It uses auto-ethnography, performance analysis and critical theory to assist university teachers involved in directing theatre productions to deepen their understanding of the concept of postdramatic theatre.

Claribel Baird reviews the interpretation of classical texts for theatrical performance. Howard Bay interrupted his stage design career of more than 150 Broadway productions to help students. BernardBeckerman asks if there are approaches to the teaching of dramatic literature that particularly suit drama-as-theatre. Robert Benedetti offers suggestions on the teaching of acting. OscarBrockett treats the problems of the theatre teacher and the processes of learning. AgnesHaaga shows that the essential quality in heading up child drama programs is a sense of joyous delight. Wallace Smith discusses methods for teaching secondary schooltheatre. Jewel Walker offers a rare written statement about his work as a theatre teacher. Carl Weber conveys the principles and methodology of his mentor, Bertolt Brecht, to beginning directors.