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This book focuses on how theatre can make and has made positive political and social interventions.
What makes young people care about themselves, others, their communities, and their futures? In Why Theatre Matters, Kathleen Gallagher uses the drama classroom as a window into the daily challenges of marginalized youth in Toronto, Boston, Taipei, and Lucknow. An ethnographic study which mixes quantitative and qualitative methodology in an international multi-site project, Why Theatre Matters ties together the issues of urban and arts education through the lens of student engagement. Gallagher’s research presents a framework for understanding student involvement at school in the context of students’ families and communities, as well as changing social, political, and economic realities around the world. Taking the reader into the classroom through the voices of the students themselves, Gallagher illustrates how creative expression through theatre can act as a rehearsal space for real, material struggles and for democratic participation. Why Theatre Matters is an invigorating challenge to the myths that surround urban youth and an impressive study of theatre’s transformative potential.
Earth Matters on Stage: Ecology and Environment in American Theater tells the story of how American theater has shaped popular understandings of the environment throughout the twentieth century as it argues for theater’s potential power in the age of climate change. Using cultural and environmental history, seven chapters interrogate key moments in American theater and American environmentalism over the course of the twentieth century in the United States. It focuses, in particular, on how drama has represented environmental injustice and how inequality has become part of the American environmental landscape. As the first book-length ecocritical study of American theater, Earth Matters examines both familiar dramas and lesser-known grassroots plays in an effort to show that theater can be a powerful force for social change from frontier drama of the late nineteenth century to the eco-theater movement. This book argues that theater has always and already been part of the history of environmental ideas and action in the United States. Earth Matters also maps the rise of an ecocritical thought and eco-theater practice – what the author calls ecodramaturgy – showing how theater has informed environmental perceptions and policies. Through key plays and productions, it identifies strategies for artists who want their work to contribute to cultural transformation in the face of climate change.
Kathleen Gallagher uses the drama classroom as a window into the daily challenges of marginalized youth in Toronto, Boston, Taipei, and Lucknow.
Winner, Susan Koppelman Award, Best Edited Volume in Women's Studies in Popular and American Culture, 2008 The 1970s and 1980s saw the awakening of social awareness and political activism in Mexican-American communities. In San Diego, a group of Chicana women participated in a political theatre group whose plays addressed social, gender, and political issues of the working class and the Chicano Movement. In this collective memoir, seventeen women who were a part of Teatro de las Chicanas (later known as Teatro Laboral and Teatro Raíces) come together to share why they joined the theatre and how it transformed their lives. Teatro Chicana tells the story of this troupe through chapters featuring the history and present-day story of each of the main actors and writers, as well as excerpts from the group's materials and seven of their original short scripts.
Selected and edited by the award-winning American playwright Reginald Edmund, who produced Black Lives, Black Words across the US, which premiered in Chicago, July 2015. The international project has explored the black diaspora’s experiences in some of the largest multicultural cities in the world, Chicago, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Toronto and London. Over sixty Black writers from the UK, USA, and Canada have each written a short play to address Black issues today. "I started Black Lives, Black Words because I felt there needed to be an opportunity for me as a playwright to speak out against the sins committed in this world inflicted upon black bodies: Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Rekia Boyd, Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice, and the countless many others. This in turn caused me to wonder what other artists were out there that possess this overwhelming desire to speak out for the unheard voices. Companies in Minneapolis with Guthrie Theatre, Carlyle Brown and Company, Bedlam Theatre, Freestyle Theatre, the Million Artist Movement, in Maryland – Columbia Arts Festival, Chicago – Polarity Ensemble Theatre, Toronto – Obsidian Theatre, Buddies and Bad Times Theatre, and the National Arts Centre, along with many others joined us and now, two years later we have given voice to over sixty Black Playwrights and over a hundred performers. From city to city, Black Lives, Black Words has remained an event that is accessible and affordable to all. Embraced by a wide range of different theatres that vary in capacity, playing to houses from 70 to 300 audience members. Selling out in every venue. I collected these works showcased at BLBW events from all over in hopes that the narratives that have been placed in here speaks to the Black Struggle, Black Achievement, Black Love, Black Aspirations, Black Hopes, Black Dreams, BLACK EVERYTHING. I hope that the narratives amplify the importance of the Black Lives Matter Movement, that these plays find themselves in theatres both community and regional, in classrooms and libraries, church houses, and communal gathering serving as a rallying cry for those that are artists and even those who are not that OUR BLACK LIVES MATTER, individually, globally, and spiritually." - Reginald Edmund, Managing Curating Producer, Black Lives, Black Words Featured in this collection are: Reginald Edmund, Idris Goodwin, James Austin Williams, Rachel Dubose, Becca C. Browne, Marsha Estell, Aaron Holland, Loy A. Webb, Lisa Langford, Christina Ham, Harrison David Rivers, Dominique Morisseau, Winsome Pinnock, Trish Cooke, Mojisola Adebayo, Rachel De-Lahay, Max Kolaru, Yolanda Mercy, Somalia Seaton, Courttia Newland, Luke Reece, Tawiah BenEben M’Carthy, Jordan Laffrenier, Meghan Swaby, Mary Ann Anane, Allie Woodson, Elliot Sagay, Amira Danan, Cat Davidson, Noelle Fourte, Kori Alston
"Hosts of all kinds, this is a must-read!" --Chris Anderson, owner and curator of TED From the host of the New York Times podcast Together Apart, an exciting new approach to how we gather that will transform the ways we spend our time together—at home, at work, in our communities, and beyond. In The Art of Gathering, Priya Parker argues that the gatherings in our lives are lackluster and unproductive--which they don't have to be. We rely too much on routine and the conventions of gatherings when we should focus on distinctiveness and the people involved. At a time when coming together is more important than ever, Parker sets forth a human-centered approach to gathering that will help everyone create meaningful, memorable experiences, large and small, for work and for play. Drawing on her expertise as a facilitator of high-powered gatherings around the world, Parker takes us inside events of all kinds to show what works, what doesn't, and why. She investigates a wide array of gatherings--conferences, meetings, a courtroom, a flash-mob party, an Arab-Israeli summer camp--and explains how simple, specific changes can invigorate any group experience. The result is a book that's both journey and guide, full of exciting ideas with real-world applications. The Art of Gathering will forever alter the way you look at your next meeting, industry conference, dinner party, and backyard barbecue--and how you host and attend them.
Discover the cognitive, social, emotional, and other psychological benefits of learning how to act and perform. This book looks behind the curtain of theatre education to see how thinking on stage happens in real secondary classrooms. Reporting on the first large scale systematic qualitative analyses of acting classes for adolescents, the author introduces the eight Acting Habits of Mind—thinking strategies to solve problems and creatively complete tasks. Each Habit is tied to current scientific research findings for related psychological constructs, including creativity, self-esteem, empathy, emotion regulation, and well-being. Connections are then made to individual student needs, future research, and the complexity of theatre education. Based in the science of development and actual theatre education in a variety of setting and with a diversity of students, this book provides an answer to the question, “What, psychologically, is an acting class?” Every educator, administrator, and arts lover can use this book to not only better understand and advocate for their art forms, but also to demonstrate why theatre should be included in schools. Book Features: A go-to text for any theatre educator challenged to justify the teaching of acting in schools—uses systematic empirical evidence to show the psychological foundations of acting classes and how students learn to think on stage.A reference text for graduate studyÑdiscusses the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral techniques underlying acting exercises and moments in teaching.A summary of current knowledge in the transfer effects of theatre—offers a full exploration of the psychological underpinnings of acting classrooms across contexts, student type, and community.Exercises and techniques from acting classes across a variety of contexts—showing how they are tied to research-based psychosocial constructs, skills, and abilities.A foundation from which future tests of the effects of theatre education can be builtÑincludes studies relevant to constructing policy and practice of arts education and developing interventions that use techniques and theories from theatre education. “This updated edition of The Color of Success is a timely and practical resource for practitioners and researchers alike. . . . Conchas’s work, once again, confirms that positive reforms are possible. Anyone who shares a commitment to social justice in education will find compelling and valuable insights.” —From the Foreword by Cynthia Feliciano, professor, Washington University in St. Louis
Dark Matter maps the invisible dimension of theater whose effects are felt everywhere in performance. Examining phenomena such as hallucination, offstage character, offstage action, sexuality, masking, technology, and trauma, Andrew Sofer engagingly illuminates the invisible in different periods of postclassical western theater and drama. He reveals how the invisible continually structures and focuses an audience’s theatrical experience, whether it’s black magic in Doctor Faustus, offstage sex in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, masked women in The Rover, self-consuming bodies in Suddenly Last Summer, or surveillance technology in The Archbishop’s Ceiling. Each discussion pinpoints new and striking facets of drama and performance that escape sight. Taken together, Sofer’s lively case studies illuminate how dark matter is woven into the very fabric of theatrical representation. Written in an accessible style and grounded in theater studies but interdisciplinary by design, Dark Matter will appeal to theater and performance scholars, literary critics, students, and theater practitioners, particularly playwrights and directors.
One of the first titles in this vibrant and eye-catching new series of short, sharp, shots for theatre students.