This paper highlights a study (2022) conducted in a Canadian school division which explored the perceptions of classroom teachers (n=4) in middle schools. The purpose of the study was to highlight ways in which middle school teachers successfully connected with middle years aged students in their classrooms. Participants spoke of the importance of…

This essay analyzes student experiences of studying all-female and non-binary cast Shakespeare productions in the Seattle area, including upstart crow collective's "Richard III" and The Fern Shakespeare Company's "Much Ado About Nothing." I draw on my teaching of the experimental work of these regional companies in an…

Notable trends in the overrepresentation of African American males in special education programs are highly discussed in previous research. Significantly devastating are the lack of social skills developments necessary for special education high school graduates' ability to function as adults. Hypothetically the researcher anticipated that…

School science continues to alienate students identifying with nondominant, non-western cultures, and learners of color, and considers science as an enterprise where success necessitates divorcing the self and corporeal body from ideas and the mind. Resisting the colonizing pedagogy of the mind-body divide, we aimed at creating pedagogical spaces…

It has been almost twenty years since Namasagali College, a co-educational secondary school in Eastern Uganda, staged its last performance, yet the memory of these musical theater productions are recalled with the nostalgia of a lost renaissance. These transdisciplinary productions that utilized modern dance, acting and mimed songs transformed the…

People have different ways of developing knowledge about their 'selves', what has come to be called 'technologies'. Apart from technologies of production, of sign systems, and of power, the 'technology of the self' enables individuals to effect certain operations on their bodies, thoughts, behaviour, feelings and other ways of being. Such…

International development partnerships are characterised by inherent power relations with community partners often seen as needing assistance in fixing their problems. In this paper, we discuss the limitations of this perspective on the example of gender equality in the Pacific. We explore applied theatre tools to work with a variety of…

Performing arts education has been significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic crisis around the world since early 2020. Educators had to adapt the classes with remote learning when face-to-face instruction had been suspended during the pandemic. Although frustrations and confusion continued to abound with the implementation of new pedagogies,…

Despite a diverse and vibrant contemporary artistic scene, East Africa sees less international exposure than other regions on the continent; this article argues that a new approach to understanding the complexities and value of performance in the region is fundamental to developing the sector. East African Soul Train is a pop-up residency, which…

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…

Through a phenomenological lens of portraiture methodology, this article explores the career experiences of a veteran acting teacher who, at the age of 85 years, remains highly passionate and dedicated to his work with younger aspiring actors. The article reveals how for this veteran teacher, his strong teacher identity characterised by a quest…

In this article, the authors speak to the paradox of assessing transformative learning (TL) in higher education. TL theory, developed by Jack Mezirow, is a theory of learning to describe the process of change in how individuals view the world based on previous experiences. Recognizing that the 10 phases of Mezirow's TL theory are fluid and…

Before COVID, the author had led in-person readers theatre residencies with the same four fourth-grade teachers and their large public-school classes for over a decade. During COVID, the teachers wanted to do an online residency. The challenge: how to create theatre with young learners in isolated rooms, sitting alone, and seeing others only on a…

This article examines how whiteness operates within research projects -- specifically projects where white researchers undertake studies on race -- and offers possibilities for activating an 'ethic of solidarity' within and through skewed power dynamics. An 'ethic of solidarity' offers five areas for white researchers to reflect and act on:…

The purpose of this applied theatre essay was to observe effects and impacts on older adults engaging in theatre activities and storytelling surrounding the horrors of Detroit's 1967 Riots. Classes were held at the Hannan Center, an organization designed to serve the older adult community offering a variety of services in the city of Detroit. The…