This article explores the ways in which two years of increased isolation due to COVID affected a cohort of applied theatre students and how their instructors addressed students' elevated anxiety and disconnection from community. In the spring semester of 2022, I was working as the teaching intern for the course Applied Theatre Praxis taught by…

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…

Most students meet Shakespeare in middle or high school, on a page in a book in an English classroom. This first encounter is a disservice to the students themselves and to Shakespeare: Shakespeare's plays are works of both literature and theatre, and should be taught as such. A performance-based teaching approach not only provides high school…

Dr. Katrina Carter shares some of the challenges and successes she encountered when incorporating Audio Description (AD) into an undergraduate circus module in the UK, for the first time. She demonstrates how, by considering diverse audiences, access tools can enhance the creative process for the artists themselves. Forcing them to question what,…

The need for dialogue between diverse groups within society is pressing, but the shrinking of shared public space makes it difficult for storytelling to cross social divides. Through an evolving practice of multi-artform "storyhacking," I and various collaborators have attempted to facilitate creative intercommunity dialogue by indirect…

Increased technology use by college-age students (millennials) has created problems for the acting classroom. Constantin Stanislavski's technique is still the standard, but students arrive to campus unready or unable to engage in his methods or with each other, so new approaches are required. Classroom exercises are provided, many inspired by…

In 2016, professors representing Biology, Dance, Music, and Theatre and dance program students created "Dunes," a performance piece that depicts the ecological succession of Michigan's sand dunes. The process used to make this work is a direct representation of the steps that Team Hyena Puppet, a collective of teaching artists and…

This article explores the triumphs and tensions inherent in coaching adolescent male singers, particularly when blending skill-building and performance preparation.

In spite of the influx of articles on practitioner experience teaching in carceral settings, little has been written around the methodologies that best level the inherent inequity between practitioner and ensemble. This article seeks to respond to some of the questions and concerns around the balancing of power structures by describing the…

Arts-based teaching techniques using physicality help English Language Learners to develop self-awareness. A strong familial and social identity empowers self-expression.

Schools that bring in teaching artists often look beyond their school walls--to other sources of funding and for collaborative partnerships--to work with teaching artists from the community. For the teaching artist with an expansive vision and a willingness to try new approaches, opportunities may be opening up beyond the typical…

In this article, the authors describe the outcomes of a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) course that offered a pedagogical innovation called "Imagination Quest." This CPD course was a part of a 2-year project entitled Teaching to Reach Potential. Participants were all from Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools' (MCPS')…

History gets a really bad "rep" in school. History teachers seemed to do everything they could to suck the interesting out of history, leaving only names, dates, and battles to memorize until the test was over. History can be brought up on its feet and given room to play when it's combined with theater. They work so well together. In this article,…