The word "performance" is the basis for our medium. It's what we work toward, look forward to, and talk about with endless fervor. But does this word, this concept, this idea, actually stifle learning, artistic expression, and growth? As a director and professor of theatre for the past 13 years, I have watched this word become the knave…

For over ten years, London's National Theatre, under the banner of "Connections", has been commissioning ten professional playwrights per year, each to write a play for young people. The plays are workshopped and performed by secondary schools, colleges and youth theatres across the United Kingdom and Ireland, and are presented in a…

In this article, the author discusses Portland Community College's Illumination Project, a yearlong academic theater program that tackles issues of oppression through interactive classroom and community performances. Participants write original interactive plays depicting incidents of oppression in students' lives. The project is a central aspect…

A faculty mentor is that person in the university theatre department who initiates students into not only the world of subject matter but also the world of scholarly and academic action. A mentor trains a "thinker of the theatre" to take a place in the intelligentsia that is responsible for producing art and retaining the stewardship of artistic…

Describes a program which has incorporated effective and enduring arts education practices since 1937. Available from American Theatre Assoc., 1000 Vermont Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005; single copy $4.00. (PD)

Seven articles explore ways in which students, administrators, and faculty can initiate and sustain conversation about the public life they share, and about dealing with the multiculturalism of today's campuses. The articles are: (1) "Backing into the Future: Columbus, Cleopatra, Custer, & the Diversity Revolution" by Carlos E.…