How do the affective attributes that are specific to intermedial, interactive and located mediums of digitally-enabled performance materialise embodied, sensual and emotional involvements and reconfigure reality through new forms of intimacy, empathy and immediacy? This question is considered through a posthumanist account of performativity to…

Actors create theatre with and for with children in diverse theatrical, educational and therapeutic contexts but little is known about the 'artistry' of their practice. This paper analyses a theatrical encounter between a child and an actor and identifies four key qualities of 'pedagogically tactful' (van Manen 2016) actor practice: listening,…

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…

Self@arts is a performing arts programme delivered to Australian Defence Force personnel undergoing rehabilitation for physical and/or psychological injuries. In contrast to the cognitive emphasis within the dominant therapeutic arts model, self@arts provides participants with agency for re-narrating the self through a transformative, ritual…

This case study of a community youth theatre project interweaves reflective descriptions of practice, data excerpts and analysis to examine young people's exploration of cultural identity through theatre in a regional city in Australia. The process undertaken to create this work is theorised in relation to concepts of cultural difference and…

Play is a universal human experience. Often regarded as the unique purview of children, an emerging body of research points to the importance of playfulness in adulthood. This article reports on the research and observations of two teaching artists working in Connected, a Sydney Theatre Company adult-literacy-through-drama programme. This article…

As children with autism spectrum disorder become adults, social participation continues to be an area of need. Within creative arts, there is a growing body of literature about the use of theatre arts, improvisational theatre, and improvisational techniques as a way to address social participation for individuals with autism spectrum disorder. The…

An examination of the community youth theatre practice of two groups of culturally and linguistically diverse emerging artists from refugee backgrounds reveals the importance of "messages" in their work and the strong connection to social context. This connection is illustrated by comparing the emerging artists' perception of the meaning…

This article examines how short-term overseas mobility (study abroad) programs in the performing arts can foster global citizenship among undergraduate university students. It assesses outcomes from two programs led by different Australian universities: the first in 2015, involving six music and drama students for three weeks; and the second in…

An artists' residency in a primary school in regional Victoria Australia staged a production of Shakespeare's "King Lear" in a local theatre. A qualitative, reflective practitioner research study into this project collected and analysed data from participating children and their community audience that gave some insight into their…

This paper explores an example of applied theatre and praxis learning in an Australian classroom with drama students aged 16-17 years which took the form of "real fiction" or social theatre monologue writing. It presents monologue responses from nine participants, altered by the researcher to protect identities and to tease out issues…

Pre-service drama teachers enter teacher training with established ideas and beliefs about teaching. These beliefs, based on experience, are informed by many hours spent in schools, and the pedagogies--both effective and ineffective--utilised by their teachers. This research explores the influence of some of these prior experiences on pre-service…

School Drama Classic is a co-mentoring teacher professional learning programme developed through a partnership between Sydney Theatre Company and the University of Sydney's School of Education and Social Work. Developed in 2009, this teacher professional learning programme aims to enable primary teachers to develop the expertise and confidence to…

In September 2015, the Australian Federal Government endorsed the final version of the Australian Curriculum arts framework a document resulting from nearly seven years of consultation and development. "The Australian Curriculum: The Arts Version 8.0" comprises five subjects: dance, drama, media arts, music and visual arts. This article…

In this paper, I use an ecologies approach to present reflections on the history of disability and deaf theatre in Australia, in light of the distinctive local policy, industry, and production frameworks that have supported or failed to support its development in particular directions. After tracing and categorising developments in the field to…