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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

Create Space with Gabriel Barrera
Podcast
Create Space with Gabriel Barrera
by Yura Sapi, Gabriel Barrera
22 March 2023
One Approach to Student Engagement in Educational Season Selection
Essay
One Approach to Student Engagement in Educational Season Selection
by Christianne Myers
20 March 2023
HBCU Theatre Summit’s Keynote Speech
Video
HBCU Theatre Summit’s Keynote Speech
We Will Dream: New Works Festival
Tuesday 4 April 2023
New Orleans, Louisiana
event poster for HBCU Theatre Summit.
HBCU Theatre Summit’s Monologue Showcase
Video

HBCU Theatre Summit’s Monologue Showcase

We Will Dream: New Works Festival

Sunday 16 April 2023
New Orleans, Louisiana

Featuring monologues by HBCU college students. The HBCU Theatre Summit welcomes all Black Students. It is the perfect professional development event needed for Black Theatre Students as they navigate the world of the arts.

event poster for HBCU Theatre Summit.
HBCU Theatre Summit’s Keynote Speech
Video

HBCU Theatre Summit’s Keynote Speech

We Will Dream: New Works Festival

Tuesday 4 April 2023
New Orleans, Louisiana

Keynote speech delivered by actor Doug Spearman (Noah's Ark). The HBCU Theatre Summit welcomes all Black Students. It is the perfect professional development event needed for Black Theatre Students as they navigate the world of the arts.

Building Our Own Tables Season 3 teaser image with guest headshot.
Create Space with Gabriel Barrera
Podcast

Create Space with Gabriel Barrera

22 March 2023

In the season finale of the Building Our Own Tables podcast, Yura Sapi invites Gabriel Barrera to share about creating Scenic G, a visual art and design company providing services in art and design, workshops, consultation, facilitation, and mentorship infused with social justice. After spending twenty years as a scenic designer, Gabriel shares about his decision to leave and build his own table as an independent artist providing opportunities for others along the way. Topics in this episode include decolonizing ideas of who a teacher can be, addressing toxic behaviors, and facilitation skills.

Two performers embrace onstage while another sits next to them and faces forward.
One Approach to Student Engagement in Educational Season Selection
Essay

One Approach to Student Engagement in Educational Season Selection

20 March 2023

In response to student demands for greater input in season selection, the Department of Theater and Drama at the University of Michigan has spent the past few years revising their selections process. Professor Christianne Myers details their approach, which centers on a department-wide feedback and a semester-long Student Selection Advisory course.

Building Our Own Tables Season 3 teaser image with guest headshot.
Find Your Dream Team with Christiamilda Correa
Podcast

Find Your Dream Team with Christiamilda Correa

23 February 2023

This week, Yura Sapi is joined by Christiamilda Correa to discuss creating LiberArte, a nonprofit arts organization dedicated to racial, social, and climate justice worldwide; the Strategic Planning Institute; and NYU Latinx Alumni. Topics for this episode include writing prompts, seeking out spaces to find community, and transforming challenges.

Building Our Own Tables Season 3 teaser image.
Use Your Voice with Jose Solís
Podcast

Use Your Voice with Jose Solís

25 January 2023

Jose Solís joins Yura Sapi to discuss creating the BIPOC Critics Lab and co-creating the Token Theatre Friends podcast-webseries. This episode’s topics include finding beauty in the internet, how a metaphorical grain of sand can change the world, and a tarot reading for the first three months of 2023.

Building Our Own Tables Season 3 teaser image.
Fill Your Cup with Abundance Zaddy
Podcast

Fill Your Cup with Abundance Zaddy

18 January 2023

Abundance Zaddy joins Yura Sapi to talk about creating Cause Reign, an oral history project that connects Black people—with a focus on Black trans and queer folks—to their histories through dreamwork, the practice of remembering, recording, and activating the healing potential of dreams. Topics in this episode include prioritizing love and sweetness, transcending time, and asking for consent.

Two performers embrace each other with their foreheads touching.
The Queer Theatre We Need Now
Essay

The Queer Theatre We Need Now

13 December 2022

David Valdes explores the limitations of queer theatre historically and makes the case for a more expansive future—one that includes a wider range of characters living more complex lives, created by more queer theatremakers.

A woman in a dress lying on a bench covering her face with a book.
I Don’t Think It’s Just Me Anymore: The Shift Towards Healthier Theatre Education
Essay

I Don’t Think It’s Just Me Anymore: The Shift Towards Healthier Theatre Education

12 December 2022

Theatremaker Sara Bozin reflects on her college theatre experience and shares changes she’d like to see in theatre education that prioritize students’ physical and mental health.

Five people pretending to run in the same direction in a classroom.
Dealing with the Feels: Demystifying Emotions in Acting Classes with Emotional Intelligence
Essay

Dealing with the Feels: Demystifying Emotions in Acting Classes with Emotional Intelligence

28 November 2022

Theatre artist and educator Janet Neely advocates for incorporating emotional intelligence instruction into acting training and offers insights on, and resources for, teaching emotional intelligence to students.

The cover of a book called The Wildcard Workbook: A Practical Guide for Jokering Forum Theatre. It is purple and yellow.
The Wildcard Workbook: Why Forum Theatre and Why Now?
Essay

The Wildcard Workbook: Why Forum Theatre and Why Now?

15 November 2022

Theatremakers Sulu LeoNimm, Liz Morgan, and Katy Rubin discuss the process of co-authoring The Wildcard Workbook, a guide designed to help others in the field delve into Theatre of the Oppressed practices and devised theatre processes.

Critical Stages in Malawian Contemporary Theatre teaser image with the title at the top and a picture of the guest in the middle.
Development of Malawian Theatre
Podcast

Development of Malawian Theatre

A Conversation with Maxwell Chiphinga

9 November 2022

Maxwell Ciphinga, better known as Max DC, has weathered massive changes in the audience, form, and funding of Malawian theatre throughout his four-decade career. In this interview, he shares his perspective on the industry and discusses his policy and producorial work as the president of Malawi’s new National Theatre Association.

Critical Stages in Malawian Contemporary Theatre teaser image with the title at the top and a picture of the guest in the middle.
Theatre Academics
Podcast

Theatre Academics

A Conversation with Roselyn Madalo Dzanja

2 November 2022

As a scholar, educator, and practitioner of theatre, Roselyn Madalo Dzanja knows Malawi’s theatrical landscape well. In this interview, she discusses challenges Malawian women face when pursuing an acting career, the need for artistic independence from international donors, possibilities for Chichewa-language drama, and more.

Critical Stages in Malawian Contemporary Theatre teaser image with the title at the top and a picture of the guest in the middle.
Dance for Change
Podcast

Dance for Change

A Conversation with Robert Magasa

26 October 2022

Robert Magasa is an experienced dancer, choreographer, and actor who trained in Zimbabwe and now runs UjeNi Dance Ensemble Theatre in Malawi. In this interview, Magasa discusses his career, the economics of producing theatre in Malawi, and his current work to bring a combination of traditional and Afro contemporary dance to schoolchildren in Malawi.

Six masked performers gather on or around a bed on stage.
Challenging “Certification”: Revising Hiring Practices in Fight and Intimacy Choreography
Essay

Challenging “Certification”: Revising Hiring Practices in Fight and Intimacy Choreography

18 October 2022

Fight director and theatre artist Danielle Rosvally and founder of Heartland Intimacy Design and Training and associate professor Kate Busselle come together to interrogate the concept of “certification” in fight direction and intimacy coordination by illuminating current training practices, opportunities, and programs in the field.

event poster for Open Channels & The Caribbean Roots of Theater for Social Change.
Open Channels and the Caribbean Roots of Theatre for Social Change
Video

Open Channels and the Caribbean Roots of Theatre for Social Change

Exploring the Dialectical Possibilities for "Re-Ritualizing" Theatre and “Re-Theatricalizing” Everyday Life in the Twenty-First Century

Saturday 15 October 2022
New Orleans, Louisiana

Imagining America and Open Channels presented Open Channels and the Caribbean Roots of Theatre for Social Change livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Saturday 15 October 2022 at 11:30 a.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 1:30 p.m. CDT (New Orleans, CDMX, UTC -5) / 2:30 p.m. EDT (New York, Havana, UTC -4).

A woman in a red dress.
We’re Too Fat and Too Invisible to Have a Seat at Theatre’s Table, and Now Some of Us Don’t Eat
Essay

We’re Too Fat and Too Invisible to Have a Seat at Theatre’s Table, and Now Some of Us Don’t Eat

13 October 2022

Jasmine Haley Anderson takes aim at fatphobic standards in the theatre industry, which begin fostering disordered eating in women from their earliest performance experiences.

Thirteen people holding a giant check and posing for a picture.
Theatre Education as a Transformative Tool in Southwestern Nigeria
Essay

Theatre Education as a Transformative Tool in Southwestern Nigeria

20 September 2022

Theatre artist Kofoworola Owokotomo describes her experience teaching theatre to students at the Concord School in Ibadan and advocates for more funding of arts education in Nigerian schools.

Four actors sit and stare at the ceiling.
The Future Is in Culture
Essay

The Future Is in Culture

A Conversation with Iman Aoun

15 September 2022

Multidisciplinary artist Ash Marinaccio sits down with the co-founder and artistic director of ASHTAR Theatre Iman Aoun to discuss this year’s ASHTAR International Youth Festival in Palestine.

An actor touches the face of another actor while standing on a darkened stage.
Bringing Identity to Staged Intimacy
Essay

Bringing Identity to Staged Intimacy

A Conversation with Adi Cabral

1 September 2022

Ann James talks to Adi Cabral about Cabral’s path though the intimacy industry. As a practitioner and professor, Cabral approaches intimacy choreography by centering harm prevention while working to create opportunities for students to identify and grow within their boundaries.

Two actors kissing on stage.
The Queering of Intimacy: Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Action
Essay

The Queering of Intimacy: Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Action

A Conversation with Brooke Haney

29 August 2022

Ann James interviews Brooke Haney, creator of The Actor’s Warm Down, about closure practices in intimacy practice, when to pass work to someone else, and the need to represent queer stories through an authentically queer lens.

Balancing Power Through Intimacy in the Rehearsal Space
Essay

Balancing Power Through Intimacy in the Rehearsal Space

26 August 2022

Ann James chats with Rocio Mendez about her work as an intimacy director, connections between intimacy choreography and fight direction, and getting excited about theatre’s fieldwide trend toward including intimacy specialists in production teams.

Actors working together during rehearsal.
Making Our Own Table: Defining Black Intimacy Practice
Essay

Making Our Own Table: Defining Black Intimacy Practice

A Conversation with Kaja Dunn

25 August 2022

Ann James interviews Kaja Dunn, who works both as an intimacy specialist and a scholar of race and choreography, about her decade-long path through the intimacy industry. They discuss the way to bring intimacy professionals into a production process, the importance of citing Black women’s contributions to the field, and the need diversify who is telling stories on our stages.

Daughters of Lorraine Podcast teaser.
I Write What Comes Up in My Body: Robbie McCauley's Theatre
Podcast

I Write What Comes Up in My Body: Robbie McCauley's Theatre

24 August 2022

In this episode, Jordan Ealey and Leticia Ridley look at the life and legacy of playwright Robbie McCauley, who recently passed away. They discuss her work as a pioneer of solo performance as a Black woman and how she impacted the world of Black feminist theatre.

A person in the foreground with another person behind them.
Minding the Gaps: Making Space for All Identities in Intimacy Work
Essay

Minding the Gaps: Making Space for All Identities in Intimacy Work

24 August 2022

Ann James sits down with Chelsey Morgan to discuss the way their background in multiple intimacy work methodologies informs their work as a facilitator, director, writer, and intimacy specialist. Across all their work, Chelsey curates a practice that individualizes approaches to intimacy based on the needs of both the actors and the story.