This article considers the related concepts of 'rehearsal' [Harney, Stefano, and Fred Moten. 2013. "The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning & Black Study." Brooklyn: Minor Compositions] and 'catastrophe' [Stengers, Isabelle. 2015. "In Catastrophic Times: Resisting the Coming Barbarism." Translated by Andrew Goffey. London: Open…

This paper reports on a study that explores how artists might best support very young children's engagement in integrated arts performances. It aims to contribute to a better understanding of the ways in which artists work with very young children in performing arts spaces. The study was designed to intimately examine a work with and for a very…

This paper argues for the value of post-performance workshops in extending the memories of theatre for young people. It examines research that investigated the 'impact' of touring theatre for young people in regional settings through discussion of two contemporary productions, 'I Call My Brothers' and 'Melbourne Talam'. The workshop methodology…

While Indigenous knowledges have long recognised forests as sentient and caring societies, western sciences have only acknowledged that trees communicate, learn and care for one another in recent years. These different ways of coming to know and engage with trees as sentient agents are further complicated by the introduction of digital…

This article addresses the question of how theatre interventions as elements of a participatory and action-oriented research design can contribute to justice-oriented Caring Community processes. Caring Communities are local initiatives that strengthen everyday solidarity through civic engagement and neighbourhood support, link informal and formal…

This article considers a pilot research project that examines the successes, failures, and best practice approaches for delivering online performing arts education experiences to young people around Australia. In conversation with 15 teaching artists and 18 youth-based arts organisations nationally, it evaluates the challenges and innovations in…

The global pandemic has severely disrupted the performing arts sector, with research documenting economic, professional, and health impacts on musicians. The psychological effects of lockdowns have been recognized, but little is known regarding their impact on freelance creative collaborative artists. This qualitative case study uses a resilience…

Wellbeing education (WE) is increasingly offered among secondary schools internationally to promote the physical, social, emotional and mental health of young people. Current and emerging evidence proposes that scope exists for the enhancement of universal WE, and that arts-based approaches have significant potential for school programmes in…

This paper presents the provocation that 'unmediatised liveness', or experiences not filtered through digital technology, is vital to performances that promote recovery, resistance, and survival among young people in response to the climate crisis. Our provocation draws from interviews conducted with youth theatre and performance practitioners in…

This article details the journey of a Theatre and Performance team working in Australian higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using reflective practice informed by Social Constructivism, we addressed the dilemmas of building and shifting an online community of learners. Act One considers the unknown as we shifted online, and the new year…

The mandated introduction of a teaching performance assessment (TPA) into initial teacher education programs in Australia is one of the numerous and continual reforms that have impacted those who work in the field. The Assessment for Graduate Teaching (AfGT) is an approved TPA developed by a national consortium of higher education institutions to…

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,…

This article explores the application of theatre and performance pedagogies to broader contexts of interdisciplinary teaching and the increasingly diversified student body. It further attends to the affective dimensions of the twenty-first century digital classroom. In doing so, it proposes that a pedagogy of 'meta-affect' opens out the capacity…

This qualitative study explores challenges and benefits of introducing theater techniques into Higher Education (HE) undergraduate intermediate Italian language classrooms. Drawing on student surveys and reflective essays, the study offers original insights into how collaborative, performance-based activities can result in greater student…