This paper focuses on the dynamics of education in the interplay of power and seduction as creatively displayed in Takarazuka Revue's performances re-enacting the major players of the Cold War: USA and Russia (rather than former Soviet Union). "Oceans 11" (cosmos troupe, 2019) and "Once Upon a Time in America" (snow troupe,…

In this "Promising Practice" article, we describe rationales and processes of using a tableau theater model for student engagement in a developmental education literacy course. Tableau theater is an instructional technique in which students physically reenact moments in texts they read. Asher's (1969) total physical response (TPR), and…

This qualitative, ethnographic research highlights how drama pedagogy using translanguaging-based Readers Theatre supports students learning English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EAL/D) to develop knowledge of language central to their engagement with learning (Authors, 2020). Using socio-spatial theory of Lefebvre (1991) and Soja…

Can traditional live theatre affect the identity formation of teenagers? Drawing upon a six-year, qualitative study of Canadian, independent school live theatre audiences and a review of identity formation and audience studies, this paper offers three findings of interest to high school English teachers. These speak to the need for English…

Critique in undergraduate theatre programs is at the heart of training actors at all levels. It is accepted as the signature pedagogy and is practiced in multiple ways. This essay defines critique and presents the case for why it is used as the single most important way that performers come to understand the language, values, and discourse of the…

Southeast Asia's location as a crossroads between East and South Asia, marks it as a region deeply entrenched in difference, with a history of complex identities. Apart from indigenous cultures that have survived the tides of change, there are several deeply embedded cultural influences from near and far that constitute what is local. Education…

Although prevalently focused on research-based outcomes (i.e. better understanding of a particular phenomenon, process or experience), arts-based researchers have widely emphasised the transformational potentialities of arts for individuals. In particular, the arts create space for thinking differently and provide opportunities to explore…

Z402 Youth Theatre Tour was designed from a critical performative pedagogical positioning (Weltsek, 2019). Here learning emerges from how individuals and communities perform their emergent identities as they cross literal and metaphorical socio-cultural borders. Z402 resulted in a 100% student created new play, parallel workshop, and study guide.…

For the past year, we have been co-facilitating Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) workshops across Pittsburgh, tailored specifically toward local educators and educational activists. The overarching intentions of these workshops were twofold: (a) to cultivate educators' understanding of and response to how power and privilege operate in educational…

Creation of a classroom environment safe enough for students to expess their perspectives, hear classmates views and engage in classroom dialogue remains a major challenge in social work teaching. Intergroup dialogue and Theatre of the Oppressed are two approaches that effectively meet these challenges. Intergroup dialogue offers a systematic…

Background/Context: Community-based youth theater programs afford youth opportunities to explore and "author" new identities by "performing writing." Yet, we know much less about the ways in which immigrant youth are exploring struggles and changes within their families and ethnic community. We particularly lack research about…

Freire (2005) encourages people to take "critical ownership of the formation of ourselves" (p. 44) in order to be able to act upon the world in what he (1993) calls "praxis." This praxis consists of the development of critical consciousness leading to transformative action. Critical consciousness and praxis should be conceived…

The article analyzes the process of future teachers-philologists' training in an innovative educational environment. The novelty of educational technology which includes the implementation of innovative ideas of modern education by introducing competency based approach has been justified. It has been stated that the purpose of the students'…

This article explores the ways in which playback theatre was used to interrogate the views of adolescents on their social context(s) and establish what the personal and dominant discourses operating in their views were. Playback theatre, with its focus on reframing personal stories to generate new perspectives on these stories, was an appropriate…

Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed has been the basis for radical performance techniques practiced around the world. Widely a staple for theatre performance syllabi, it also has an innovative application for the social work classroom. This article designates Boal's four stages of his poetics of the oppressed and concomitant theatrical…