http://hdl.handle.net/2451/75079 2026-04-11T04:29:19Z 2026-04-11T04:29:19Z Lotz, Jason P. http://hdl.handle.net/2451/75214 2025-08-20T23:51:29Z 2022-06-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Decentering the Theater Audience through Reaction Videos Authors: Lotz, Jason P. Abstract: In this essay, I question the pedagogical validity of the class field trip to the theater and suggest ways reaction videos might intervene to decenter the theater audience and the theater classroom. Building on Basil Bernstein’s work on educational codes as well as the strategies of a postmodern education as outlined by Stanley Aronowitz and Henry Giroux, I argue that the traditional theater experience galvanizes an elitist hierarchy antithetical to the purported goals of education. Tracing the popularity of reaction videos online, I then propose an assignment that fits with Jill Bourne’s idea of a “radical visible pedagogy” purposed to repopulate the theater audience and expand accessibility to Shakespeare’s work.

2022-06-01T00:00:00Z Kania, Lucy http://hdl.handle.net/2451/75213 2025-08-20T23:50:04Z 2022-06-01T00:00:00Z

Title: “Not the Leading Role of Life”: Fatphobia in Educational Theatre & Its Impact on Larger-Bodied Adolescent Girls Authors: Kania, Lucy Abstract: This article seeks to shed light on larger-bodied adolescent girls’ experiences of fatphobia in educational theatre. It investigates the forms that fatphobia can take in educational theatre (in schools, camps, and youth theaters), and the impact of these experiences on larger-bodied girls’ body image and self-esteem. The issue is considered in relationship to the role of anti-fat bias in society broadly, the representation of larger-bodied women in theatre, and presence of bias in casting. Methods of data collection consist of a review of existing research and writing, and interviews with seven voluntary participants, all larger-bodied individuals assigned female at birth who participated in educational theatre as adolescents. The study identifies areas of concern, including typecasting and costuming, and areas of impact, including internalized negative messaging and low self-esteem, and suggests a path forward for theatre educators to combat fatphobia in their own programs. It asks: If fatphobia is present in theatre education, and has a negative impact on the health and wellness of larger-bodied adolescent girls, how can theatre educators do better?

2022-06-01T00:00:00Z Stamatiou, Evi Kildow, Eric Spearing, Freya Nodding, Georgia Price, John-Paul http://hdl.handle.net/2451/75212 2025-08-20T23:48:43Z 2022-06-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Developing the Critical Verbatim Theater Artist during the Pandemic: A Transatlantic Collaboration Authors: Stamatiou, Evi; Kildow, Eric; Spearing, Freya; Nodding, Georgia; Price, John-Paul Abstract: Following recent social upheavals and an unprecedented pandemic, the development of theater students to work with stories from the community has become more urgent. Because verbatim theater brings to focus real voices and often involves sensitive topics, artists/educators consider key ethical questions before their engagement with educational or community contexts. Artists/educators are developed within the fieldwork of applied theater, during their study at university, through supervision to engage communities. The pandemic made such fieldwork difficult due to online learning and teaching, so university educators tested alternative ways of simulating the experience of working with participants. This article analyzes the rationale, application and evaluation of an educational verbatim theater case study that involved British theater students and American nursing students, from the University of Chichester and Kent State University respectively. It identifies how international collaborations might offer an alternative environment to fieldwork by inviting students to consider key ethical questions before their engagement with communities. The narrative of practice reveals how it was rooted in Paulo Freire’s pedagogy. The artist/educator’s reflection highlights how such collaborations invite students to explore dialectics and the ethics of representation in verbatim theater, and to develop accountability and empathy when working with participants, which hopefully, they bring to their future fieldwork.

2022-06-01T00:00:00Z Dawson, Amanda http://hdl.handle.net/2451/75211 2025-08-20T23:46:20Z 2022-06-01T00:00:00Z

Title: White Professor/(Mostly) White Students: Teaching Contemporary BIPOC Plays Authors: Dawson, Amanda Abstract: Teaching about race in a majority-white city at a majority-white university as a white cis-gendered woman is challenging. In this case study, I share an introduction to how and why I developed a course—Contemporary BIPOC Plays and Playwrights—at Utah State University in Logan, Utah, an overview of what the course covered, the experience (successes and failures) of teaching it, what I have learned from that experience, and some next steps. The goal is for other white teachers who teach mostly white students to learn from my mistakes and to pick up the mantle of teaching BIPOC plays/playwrights and anti-racism practices in their courses. As a dramaturg by trade, I approach the development and teaching of classes with a dramaturgical sensibility. As a white teacher, entering a majority white space tasked with teaching a new (and only) course in the department focused on race, here is what I would do differently and better in the future and hope others can learn from it. As a starting point: do more research (and more training), be even more intentional with the course design and play selection, invite more non-white voices into the room, and create a community agreement with the students in the course at the start of the semester.

2022-06-01T00:00:00Z