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,…

As a licensed dramatherapist, experienced teacher, applied theatre artist and doctoral candidate in educational theatre, the centre of my research and practice has revolved around the intersection of activism, education, healing and performance aesthetics for the last 20 years. My latest street theatre project, "Kindergarten Truck" (KT),…

Theater is a millenary art form that has stably maintained its minimum indispensable elements over the years. Yet, not much is known about the psychological impact of this performing art. A literature review shows a broad and sometimes contradictory spectrum of theoretical and empirical evidence. In the last few decades, however, interdisciplinary…

Arts programs are often credited with helping children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) gain cognitive and social skills. As with all claims of transfer from experience in the arts to abilities in non-arts domains, empirical evidence is mixed, and often criticized for both imprecise methodologies and a lack of connection back to the art form…

The theme for the 59th annual conference of the Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers was Making a Difference in Our Diverse Communities. The meeting took place in Costa Mesa, California in 2015. In the first section of the Yearbook, Dr. J. Helen Perkins's presidential address shared the story of her journey as an educator and how it…

This article describes a case study of a new venture by the children's theatre company Oily Cart to develop a participatory theatre piece for carers and their under-two-year-olds, entitled Clouds. Given what little is known about how to design and conduct arts events with this age phase, a case study offered the opportunity to identify features…

The last of four related manuals describing the goals and methods of an established developmental theatre project at the University of Colorado, this manual discusses the processes involved in selecting and adapting scripts for specific audiences. The manual suggests ways to cut longer plays for school audiences, methods for organizing parts of…

Transgressive and liberatory learning are explored through the creativity of popular theater as adult education when the freedom and power to imagine and raise awareness are placed in the interacting "bodymind" relationships of a group living with multiple psychiatric diagnoses.