ΘΕΣΠ612: Theatre in Education Ι: Educational Theatre Theory

Module Purpose and Objectives

This module focuses on theatre theories and elements that have impacted on theatre/drama in education and on how they connect to Social and Education Sciences. The unit offers an analysis of concepts and parameters of theatre and education in their mutual correlations and multifarious combinations with which they appear in schools and in society. More specifically, the analysis zooms in on theories and practices on performance, narration, ritual, play, acting codes, curricula on the arts in education, the pedagogical framework of theatre-in-education, the history of theatre/drama in education, predominant forms, techniques and approaches to theatre/drama.

After successfully completing this module, students will be expected to:

• Appreciate the pedagogical character of theatre
• Know the core concepts, topics and the content of different parameters of Theatre in Education
• Have a thorough knowledge of the relations between theatre and pedagogy and the ways in which these relations are demonstrated
• Understand the particularities of the separate forms of theatrical expression (role play, ritual, educational drama etc.) and put them to good use
• Know drama and theatre techniques so as to teach and apply them
• Be familiar with basic acting codes and conventions in order to incorporate them in their teaching
• Understand the educational framework that hosts theatre/drama-in- education through the equivalent analytical and/or interdisciplinary programme of study
• Know the history of theatre/drama in education and be able to correlate theatrical, pedagogical and educational parameters
• Understand the importance of the sociological dimension and function of theatre
• Acknowledge the reception of a theatrical performance as a cultural good aimed at consumers

Module Content

• Distinguish between the concepts of theatre, show, performance
• Dimensions and aspects of the concept “Theatre”
• Correlation of the history of theatre to the dramatic genres of each era
• Action scenarios and creative writing/playwriting
• Consumer commodity
• Audience-actors relation depending on the dramatic genre
• The influence of theatre on theatre-in-education

• Understanding and assimilating the concepts of “story-myth-narration” in theory and in practice.
• Analyzing and scrutinizing storytelling and its relation to theatre-in-education
• Foregrounding history as a basic structure for the exploration, narration and dramatization of any form of speech
• Techniques of narrating and exploring stories/tales
• Story-narration in professional theatre
• Story-narration in theatre/drama in education

• Role play and improvisation
• Personal skills
• Canon and theatrical convention
• Play and symbolic play
• Techniques for cultivating children’s creativity
• Techniques for the socialization of children through participation in the theatre group
• New usages of play in the educational process
• Historical context and forms of theatre-in-education pivoting on natural or symbolic play
• From play to theatre through the history of theatre-in-education
• Anthropological approaches to ritual
• Theatre, transformation and ritual
• Ritual in theatre and in everyday life
• Reception of theories on rituals in theatre-in-education
• Community, participation and performance
• Applications of ritual in theatre practice in schools
• Theatre, ritual and performance

• Application of Stanislavski’s system in theatre-in-education 
• The Mantle of the Expert
• Given circumstances
• The magic “if”
• Role play
• Improvisation
• Cultivation of empathy by incarnating different personalities and characters
• Experiential participation in situations and new experiences
• Experiential actions to connect the theory of Stanislavski’s system to pedagogical theatre action
• Alienation (distancing effect) techniques
• Gestus
• Cultivation of the students’ critical thinking
• Utilization of theatrical techniques that have emerged through the Brechtian body of work
• Theoretical connections and parallel fruitful combinations of educational activities and applications
• Montage
• Understanding the connection between the school’s broader curriculum to the discipline of theatre/drama
• Multifarious approaches to theatre/drama in education
• Educational codes of collection and integration
• Framing and classification
• Curriculum and hidden curriculum
• Zone of proximal development
• Discovery/inquiry-based learning
• Transformative teaching model
• Access or excellence
• Imagination and creativity
• Practical application of the students’ national educational agenda vis-à-vis the discipline of educational theatre/drama with philosophical and theoretical approaches to the arts as educational frameworks and tools
• Introduction to the basic theoretical approaches of curricula in the field of arts and theatre-in-education

• Understanding, evaluation and critical analysis of various approaches that have defined the evolution of theatre/drama in education
• Connection of the school reality to contemporary pedagogical theatre techniques
• Evaluation of the place of theatre/drama in education based on the current educational framework
• Drama for social and personal development
• Process drama
• Drama for learning
• Applied drama
• Understanding the different approaches and concepts that make up theatre/drama in education
• “Integrated approach”
• Approach to conventions/techniques
• Creation of theatrical framework
• Plot development
• Reflection
• Evaluation of activities and targets pertaining both to experience and content and to theatricality and the performance
• Understanding and assimilating the necessary skills and knowledge to teach theatre/drama
• Clarification of the roles and tasks of the theatre pedagogue
• Animator, coordinator, facilitator, director, dramaturg etc.
• The concept of theatre animation and how it can be applied  
• Role of the animator/facilitator
• Pedagogical results of animation

• Sociology of the theatre
• Theatre reviews
• Reception of theatrical performance
• Theatre marketing
• Manipulation of the public opinion
• Evaluation of spectacle-promoting techniques and clarification of the elements that make up the spectator’s final image of the theatrical performance
• Theatre of the Oppressed                                   
• Forum Theatre   
• Spectator-actor
• Spect-actor
• Joker
• Critical assessment of Brook’s and Boal’s work on theatre-in-education
• Investigation of theatrical techniques drawn from Brook’s and Boal’s work that are deemed appropriate for theatre/drama in education