The experience of visiting a zoo as a child can be remembered decades later and potentially influences future environmental attitudes. In light of steadily growing criticism of the ethics and value of live animal shows, some zoos are seeking alternative means of delivering 'edutainment' to a broad audience. One such alternative is through theatre.…

Open-mindedness is typically considered an intellectual virtue that brings humans into (closer) contact with reality and its complexities. In this essay, Susan Verducci expands the ways we typically think of cultivating open-mindedness in classrooms to include the practice of engagement with the visual and performing arts. Working with the arts…

From its very beginning, the Protestant Reformation adopted the theatre as one of its educational tools. Together with choral music, visual arts, and preaching, Luther, Melanchthon, Oekolampad, and other Reformers promoted both the cultivated school theatre and the popular street theatre in order to spread the new faith, create a community ethos,…

This article is dedicated to an underdeveloped, but a highly relevant aspect of work of museums, first of all, the theatrical ones, namely keeping, studying and promoting the works associated with choreographic heritage. The artistic and aesthetic potential of material and visual exhibits related to the ballet theatre is revealed. All the…

Theatre artists were interviewed to understand how they conceptualise audiences in relation to their own creative and collaborative processes. The authors identified three modes through which theatre artists engage with audiences: (1) watching with the audience, (2) confronting the audience, and (3) creating a community of practice/knowledge. This…

This article explores how intergenerational performance ecology might distinctively contribute to developing an ecological performance practice. It focuses on a practice-led research project, "Wild Life"--a collaboration with professional and nonprofessional child and adult performers. Drawing on critical perspectives in ecology and…

This article explores how whiteness is enacted and negotiated from the perspective of a conductor in a Playback Theatre performance (PT). The article addresses how PT provides a stage for exercising opportunities for "doing white differently" in post-apartheid South Africa. It argues that "Doing white differently" takes place…

The present paper reports on the educational experience of two groups of trainee interpreters who took part in a public speaking workshop. The participants (n = 29) were asked to engage in exercises inspired by theatrical training and purposefully adjusted to interpreting education. The workshop was structured into four sessions, including both…

The COVID-19 pandemic shut down the world and arts education. Performing arts classes across the world were labeled as deadly activities and banned for in-person instruction and experiences in schools and communities for months. Strict mandates were enforced for masking students and social distancing. Restrictions for talking, singing, playing…

In this article, the authors describe some recent research on Readers Theater in the elementary classroom that examined gender differences and achievement. In one particular study, boys who participated in Readers Theater significantly outperformed their peers in reading comprehension. Elementary school boys reported enjoying Readers Theater…

In this essay, I explore the genre of live comedy outside its traditional Western setting in popular and academic understanding. I argue that its ever-growing popularity in urban India is reflective of an expanding middle-class's search for an authentic social identity. I demonstrate -- through ethnographic and analytical detail -- how stand-up…

Performance ethnography is a form of performed research that creates a theatrical representation of ethnographic inquiry. Walford (2009) proposes that frequently performance ethnographers neglect traditional ethnographic practices such as participant observation and substantial time in the field. This paper draws on research which investigated the…

The aim of the study was to explore the effect of Readers Theater on improving English reading prosody with L2 learners. The process of how reading prosody is improved through Readers Theater was examined. Sixty EFL undergraduate students, non-English majors, participated in this 6-week study. Two cycles of Readers Theater were implemented. Using…

This article is aimed at exploring the political characteristics of the drama space, which reflects, juxtaposes, and opposes particular sites in a participant's everyday life, such as the school. By putting spatial theories to work, this article investigates the drama space belonging to an all-girls community group in Sweden, participation in…

Ryerson University theatre professor Natalie Alvarez is currently helming a large, interdisciplinary team in southern Ontario that is testing the power of Forum Theatre to build better, more responsive scenarios for police officer training in de-escalation and mental crisis response. In this interview, Alvarez sits down with issue editor Kim Solga…