Theatre practitioners use empathy formation techniques within their acting methodology to develop particular characters for the stage. Here, Ann Phelps and Dylan Brown argue that, when Constantin Stanislavski's seminal dramatic method is placed in conversation with exemplarist moral theory, acting can become a tool for moral formation. To…

This essay proposes that it is time to redesign educational curricula to take account of recent discoveries in the neuroscience of the human brain. The identification of mirror neurons has drawn attention to the importance of empathy as a determiner of action and their function is replicated in communication between actors, characters, and…

A meditation on drama practice from an artist in Canada. My university students are preoccupied with damage and trauma. There are paralyzing obstacles to working across differences that were useful for a time but no longer serve a robust solidarity. The stories we collect, tell and re-tell ourselves to prepare for a 'never again' are stifled if…

Building on research showing social-emotional benefits from a single live theater performance, this study tests for significant differences in pre to post social-cognitive outcomes among a racially and economically diverse sample of young audiences who attended the same theater performance with or without additional pre- and post-show educational…

This article describes an empirical study that explored the cognitive and emotional effects of teaching through shadow theater as compared to traditional storytelling of the same texts and songs in children on the autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The rationale is based on broken mirror theory anchored in research on mirror neurons. Fifty-seven…

Theatre education research shows the power of the art form to transform students' experiences of themselves as well as their relationships with peers and the larger world. The process and product of theatre learning incorporates creative and technical skills across many learning disciplines. Access to adequately resourced and standards-based…

This article provides an overview of the Survivors: Local Stories of Domestic Violence (hereafter, Survivors) civic engagement project. Survivors' learning objectives were to increase the understanding of the complexity of intimate partner abuse and foster empathy in outsiders' responses, something at the cornerstone of the #MeToo social movement…

This article examines the evolving nature of how race and difference are represented in creative applied theatre work in classroom and community-based settings. The author uses several examples of performances and workshops she's attended to ask important questions that point to the tensions percolating in our discipline around who gets to tell a…

The didactic-performative experience at a distance, centred on the body in action of the training laboratories activated at the University of Study Cattolica del Sacro Cuore of Milan and the University of Study Suor Orsola Benincasa of Naples, encouraged, through the exercise of 'simplex property' of the separation of functions, the crossing of…

This article presents a new research design for pedagogical research at university. The design demonstrates how personal and cultural citizenship education can be a form of transformative human rights education by nurturing citizens who challenge patterns of exclusion. It draws on shared traditions of citizenship and human rights education that…

Meaningful action on climate change requires affective engagement with the human impacts of the problem. The Last Hurrah (and The Long Haul) project was developed using theatrical storytelling as a tool to provoke thought and empathy about the lived experience of climate change. Over a period of 3 years, a company of Acting students and their…

Notable theorists have argued that theatre and drama play positive roles in the moral education of children and adults, including cultivating their capacity for empathy. Yet other theorists have expressed concerns that plays and educational practices involving improvisation might not lead to positive changes in real life, and might even have…

The challenge of learning to be a teacher in a pandemic stymied world calls for focus and access to pedagogies of critical empathy to ensure the wellbeing of students is paramount in classrooms K to 12. Additional to facilitating the development of skills and competencies in curriculum disciplines, teachers are required to meet the emotional and…

The development of student teachers' beliefs about good teaching needs to be integral to their education programmes. This study attempts to scrutinise the contribution of a theatre education course to the conceptualisation of a group of eight student primary teachers' notion of good teaching and a teacher's ethos. The findings reveal that, within…

In recent years, museums have recognized the urgent need to address several challenging issues. These topics include gender equality, racism, and environmental issues, just to name a few. As museums embrace the role of community-building change-makers, how can we include our audiences in the mission of making positive change? How can our…