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Theatre Education, Pedagogy, and Training

In this section, content focuses on best practices and challenges regarding education and scholarship in the theatre. Check out the Latinx Theatre Commons’ series Pedagogy Notebook, where artists, educators, and scholars share their process and work in the classroom, and David Dudley’s long-running guide to theatre education.

The Latest

Not a Pipeline Problem, a Problem with the Pipeline
Essay
Not a Pipeline Problem, a Problem with the Pipeline
by Amber Whatley, Sherrice Mojgani, Calvin Anderson
1 September 2021
How to Create an Actively Inclusive Theatre Course
Essay
How to Create an Actively Inclusive Theatre Course
by David Valdes
16 August 2021
Livestreaming a Conversation: (Re)Imagine Educational Theater Pt 2: Arts Educators
Video
Livestreaming a Conversation: (Re)Imagine Educational Theater Pt 2: Arts Educators
A Series That Brings Artists and Community Leaders Together
Thursday 4 November 2021
United States
blue graphic of actor onstage against yellow background
Livestreaming a Conversation: (Re)Imagine Educational Theater Pt 2: Arts Educators
Seattle Rep
Video

Livestreaming a Conversation: (Re)Imagine Educational Theater Pt 2: Arts Educators

A Series That Brings Artists and Community Leaders Together

Thursday 4 November 2021
United States

Seattle Rep Presents (Re)Imagine Educational Theater Pt 2: Arts Educators livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Thursday 4 November 2021 at 5 p.m. PDT (Seattle, UTC -7) / 6 p.m. MDT (Denver, UTC -6) / 7 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 8 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).

blue graphic of actor onstage against yellow background
Livestreaming a Conversation: (Re)Imagine Educational Theater Pt 1: Youth
Seattle Rep
Video

Livestreaming a Conversation: (Re)Imagine Educational Theater Pt 1: Youth

A Series That Brings Artists and Community Leaders Together

Thursday 14 October 2021
United States

Seattle Rep presents (Re)Imagine Educational Theater Pt 1: Youth livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Thursday 14 October 2021 at 5 p.m. PDT (Seattle, UTC -7) / 6 p.m. MDT (Denver, UTC -6) / 7 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 8 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).

Photo of seven people holding each other posing for a photo in a line.
Not a Pipeline Problem, a Problem with the Pipeline
Essay

Not a Pipeline Problem, a Problem with the Pipeline

1 September 2021

Designers Calvin Anderson, Sherrice Mojgani, and Amber Whatley share their individual perspectives on how design education in the United States is lacking and what they are doing to fill in the gaps.

Several actors wearing vintage work clothing and standing in stage boats in pairs or groups of three.
How to Create an Actively Inclusive Theatre Course
Essay

How to Create an Actively Inclusive Theatre Course

16 August 2021

David Valdes shares eleven steps educators can take to ensure their course offerings are more actively inclusive.

Unrehearsed Futures
Embodied Poetics logo
Embodied Poetics
Drama School Mumbai logo
Drama School Mumbai
Centre for Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies, Cape Town, logo
CTDPS, Cape Town
Video

Unrehearsed Futures

Episode 16: Neutrality in Actor Training: Help or Hindrance

Thursday 22 July 2021
South Africa

Presenting Unrehearsed Futures Episode #16: Neutrality in Actor Training: Help or Hindrance livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Thursday 22 July 2021 at 4 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 9 a.m. BST (London, UTC +1) / 10 a.m. SAST (Cape Town, UTC +2).

Ashley Malafronte in a black shirt and kakis painting on a stone wall.
Internships are Dead. Long Live Internships.
Essay

Internships are Dead. Long Live Internships.

22 July 2021

Ashley Malafronte and Michael DeWhatley ask: How can future-minded theatres revolutionize their internship programs to create a more diverse, reciprocal, and mutually beneficial set of initiatives?

A woman holding a syringe and examining it.
Transcending Theatre: My Time with Robbie McCauley
Essay

Transcending Theatre: My Time with Robbie McCauley

20 July 2021

Tara Brooke Watkins reflects on the legacy of Robbie McCauley, who challenged the status quo of theatre systems, from the classroom to the rehearsal room to productions.

Several half-naked actors with lacrosse sticks. One actor is front and center, wearing a red hat and white underwear, with his hands behind his head. The actresses on his sides are using lacrosse sticks to cover their chests.
The Island of Lost Chorus Boys: Professional Theatre’s Broken Promise to Accept Us in All Our Glorious Queerness
Essay

The Island of Lost Chorus Boys: Professional Theatre’s Broken Promise to Accept Us in All Our Glorious Queerness

8 July 2021

Kieron Cindric talks about how the theatre industry—and, in particular, musical theatre—has continually reinforced a narrow and harmful version of masculinity.

event poster for this episode of the stories women carry.
Arts Education and the Focus on Africa for the Future
Tebere Arts Foundation
NBO musical theatre initiative logo.
Nairobi Musical Theatre Initiative
Video

Arts Education and the Focus on Africa for the Future

The Stories Women Carry: Creative Practice of African Women from the Continent

Monday 24 May 2021
Kenya

Tebere Arts Foundation presented the conversation Arts Education and the Focus on Africa for the Future with The Stories Women Carry: Creative Practice of African Women from the Continent livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Monday 24 May 2021 at 10 a.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 1 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 8 p.m. EAT (Nairobi, UTC +3).

yellow border around black text mentorship programs.
Mentorship Programs
Producer Hub
Video

Mentorship Programs

Join Producer Hub and X organizations as they give us insight into their mentorship programs

Thursday 20 May 2021
United States

Producer Hub presented the conversation Mentorship Programs with their series Producing Ethically in 2021 livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Thursday 20 May 2021 at 5 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 7 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 8 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).

event poster with artist headshot and text event details.
African Diaspora: Shaping the Future of African American Performance
Tebere Arts Foundation
NBO musical theatre initiative logo.
Nairobi Musical Theatre Initiative
Video

African Diaspora: Shaping the Future of African American Performance

The Stories Women Carry: Creative Practice of African Women from the Continent

Monday 17 May 2021
Kenya

Tebere Arts Foundation presented the conversation African Diaspora: Shaping the Future of African American Performance with The Stories Women Carry: Creative Practice of African Women from the Continent livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Monday 17 May 2021 at 10 a.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 1 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 8 p.m. EAT (Nairobi, UTC +3).

Two actors lifting another one from the top of a pile of hay.
Dismantle the Hierarchy: Best Practices for Creating a More Equitable, Consensual Theatre Classroom
Essay

Dismantle the Hierarchy: Best Practices for Creating a More Equitable, Consensual Theatre Classroom

17 May 2021

Alli St. John shares a guide she developed for directors of youth theatre to prioritize consent and safe practices for staging theatrical intimacy.

event poster with text for episode 6 of unrehearsed futures.
Unrehearsed Futures: Serious Play
Drama School Mumbai logo
Drama School Mumbai
Embodied Poetics logo
Embodied Poetics
Centre for Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies, Cape Town, logo
CTDPS, Cape Town
Video

Unrehearsed Futures: Serious Play

Towards Decolonizing Physical Theatre Pedagogies

Thursday 13 May 2021
South Africa

Presenting Unrehearsed Futures: Serious Play livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv Thursday 13 May 2021 at 4 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 9 a.m. BST (London, UTC +1) / 10 a.m. SAST (Cape Town, UTC +2) / 1:30 p.m. IST (Mumbai, UTC +5:30) / 6 p.m. AEST (Hobart, UTC +10).

event poster with text for unrehearsed futures episode four.
Unrehearsed Futures: Theatre Making
Drama School Mumbai logo
Drama School Mumbai
Embodied Poetics logo
Embodied Poetics
Centre for Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies, Cape Town, logo
CTDPS, Cape Town
Video

Unrehearsed Futures: Theatre Making

Episode 4: Transference and Transposition - Notes from across the boundaries of the original medium

Thursday 29 April 2021
South Africa

Presenting Unrehearsed Futures: Theatre Making livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv Thursday 29 April 2021 at 5 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 10 a.m. BST (London, UTC +1) / 11 a.m. SAST (Cape Town, UTC +2) / 2:30 p.m. IST (Mumbai, UTC +5:30) / 7 p.m. AEST (Hobart, UTC +10).

person in orange sweater writing in a notebook.
Negotiating Quotidian: Performing the Everyday
Segal_Centre_Logo
Segal
Center
blue background with white text The Graduate Center
Ph.D. Program in Theatre and Performance, The Graduate Center, City University of New York”
Video

Negotiating Quotidian: Performing the Everyday

Investigating how performing the everyday has recently changed our perception of and experience in theatre and performance

Wednesday 28 April and Thursday 29 April 2021
United States

The Ph.D. Program in Theatre and Performance, The Graduate Center, City University of New York presented Negotiating Quotidian: Performing the Everyday livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Wednesday 28 April and Thursday 29 April 2021.

event poster for unrehearsed futures episode two.
Unrehearsed Futures: Transcendence
Drama School Mumbai logo
Drama School Mumbai
Embodied Poetics logo
Embodied Poetics
Centre for Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies, Cape Town, logo
CTDPS, Cape Town
Video

Unrehearsed Futures: Transcendence

Episode 2: Thinking expansively about theatre and performance training

Thursday 15 April 2021
South Africa

Presenting Unrehearsed Futures: Transcendence livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv Thursday 15 April 2021 at 4 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 9 a.m. BST (London, UTC +1) / 10 a.m. SAST (Cape Town, UTC +2) / 1:30 p.m. IST (Mumbai, UTC +5:30) / 6 p.m. AEST (Hobart, UTC +10).

Image of an adult and child standing on a stage with recording equipment.
Why Are There No Great Kids of Color in the Performing Arts?
Essay

Why Are There No Great Kids of Color in the Performing Arts?

A Black Artist and Arts Educator’s Exploration on Challenges for Kids of Color in Arts Spaces

12 April 2021

Ilasiea Gray looks at the many challenges kids of color face in the performing arts, including access and exposure, the lack of educators of color, and more.

Unrehearsed Futures event poster.
Unrehearsed Futures: Conversations in Theatre Pedagogy
Drama School Mumbai logo
Drama School Mumbai
Embodied Poetics logo
Embodied Poetics
Centre for Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies, Cape Town, logo
CTDPS, Cape Town
Video

Unrehearsed Futures: Conversations in Theatre Pedagogy

Episode 1: Planetarity in Theatre Pedagogy

Thursday 8 April 2021
Cape Town, South Africa / Hobart, Australia / Mumbai, India

What is planetarity? And why is this the moment for it in theatre pedagogy? Livestreamed Thursday 8 April 2021 at 1 p.m. PDT (Los Angeles, UTC -7) / 3 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 4 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 9 p.m. BST (London, UTC +1) / 10 p.m. SAST (Cape Town, UTC +2).

zoom video chat of several people
Using Critical Fabulation for History-Based Playwriting
Essay

Using Critical Fabulation for History-Based Playwriting

3 March 2021

Holly Derr and Calley N. Anderson sit down to talk about how Calley adopted historian Saidiya Hartman’s theory of critical fabulation when writing her new play The Story and the Teller about the effect of the Memphis yellow fever epidemic of 1878 on African Americans and immigrants.

seven actors onstage
"What does it mean to be a woman of color and in leadership?"
Essay

"What does it mean to be a woman of color and in leadership?"

A Conversation with Nicole Brewer and Sophia Skiles

19 January 2021

Sophia Skiles, the incoming head of acting for the Brown/Trinity MFA program, and Nicole Brewer, who recently joined the acting faculty at the Yale School of Drama, dive deep into a conversation about what it means to be a woman of color in leadership.

zoom video chat of several people
Seven Performers Living in Bogotá / Siete artistas viviendo en Bogotá
Essay

Seven Performers Living in Bogotá / Siete artistas viviendo en Bogotá

Actions and Reflections to Cope with the “New Normal” / Acciones y Reflexiones para Afrontar la "Nueva Normalidad"

1 December 2020

Michelle Yemayá notes that while Colombian theatre artists have found ways to face the unexpected changes this year, artists are still struggling to stay afloat. She talks about how she has adapted her practice under the circumstances and shares the stories of three other artists living and working as artists in Colombia right now. / Michelle Yemayá ha notado que, si bien los artistas del teatro colombiano han encontrado formas de enfrentar los cambios inesperados de este año, la lucha por mantenerse a flote es constante. Habla sobre cómo ha adaptado su práctica a las circunstancias y comparte las historias de otras tres personas que en este momento viven y trabajan como artistas en Colombia.

event graphic for the convesation: Performing Arts and Higher Education: Where Do We Stand Today?
Performing Arts and Higher Education: Where Do We Stand Today?
Paintbrush Factory logo
Fabrica de Pensule / The Paintbrush Factory
Video

Performing Arts and Higher Education: Where Do We Stand Today?

The current state of performing arts in higher education in Romania, Hungary, Croatia, Germany, and Netherlands.

Wednesday 28 October 2020
Cluj, Romania

The Paintbrush Factory in Cluj, Romania presented a conversation Performing Arts and Higher Education: Where Do We Stand Today? livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Wednesday 28 October 2020 at 9 a.m. PDT (Los Angeles, UTC -7) / 12 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 16:00 GMT (London, UTC +0) / 17:00 CET (Berlin, UTC +1) / 18:00 EET (Bucharest, UTC +2).

portrait of marvin carlson
SEGAL TALKS with Marvin Carlson
Segal_Centre_Logo
Segal
Center
Video

SEGAL TALKS with Marvin Carlson

A conversations on US and global theatre and performance

Wednesday 23 September 2020
United States

The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center presented SEGAL TALKS: Marvin Carlson livestreamed on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Wednesday 23 September 2020 at 9 a.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 11 a.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 12 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 17:00 BST (London, UTC +1) / 18:00 CEST (Berlin, UTC +2).

How We Grew a Student-Centered Anti-Racist Movement at Our Institution of Learning
Essay

How We Grew a Student-Centered Anti-Racist Movement at Our Institution of Learning

10 September 2020

Tatiana Gil, Micah Rosegrant, Viviana Vargas, and Ciera-Sadé Wade—members of the Boston University School of Theatre Anti-Racist Student Initiative (BU SARSI)—speak to how, after a public outpouring of testimonials from former and current students of BU’s School of Theatre—detailing racism, sexism, ableism, and more—they rallied together to innovate ways of addressing the white supremacy within the school.

a laptop open to a presentation and written notes/sketches in front of it
Revolutionary Costume Pedagogy
Essay

Revolutionary Costume Pedagogy

2 September 2020

Michelle Souza looks at how costume designers and educators can dismantle the status quo of Western-focused, chronological teaching of historical garments and move toward a pedagogy that acknowledges and honors diversity, intersectionality, and globalism.