Center Stage Youth Theatre

Posts Tagged ‘Education’

I am this week reading a book about Augusto Boal and his Theatre of the Opressed Movement:

The Theatre of the Oppressed, a term coined by Augusto Boal, is a series of theatrical analyses and critiques developed in the 1950s. Boal is an avid supporter of utilizing interactive techniques, especially in the context of theatre. Many of his ideas are considered as “a new media perspective”, despite the relatively early birth of these ideas. Since then, these ideas have been developed more, giving them meaning in a modern-day context. The creation of the Theatre of the Oppressed is largely based on the idea of dialogue and interaction between audience and performer.^[1] Moreover, these ideas have served as a framework for the development and evolution of stronger ideas.^[2]

Simultaneous dramaturgy is a technique used to define a type of actor-audience interaction. It is the technique where amidst the middle of a theatrical work, the actors on stage will stop the play and ask the audience for solutions to their situation. The audience will voice their opinion toward a solution.^[2]

This approach bridges the gap and increases interaction between actor and audience. It promotes consistent dialogue, and breaks barriers that might otherwise divide the two. The audience now becomes empowered to direct the course of the play. More importantly, a sense of empowerment is bestowed upon the audience: an incredible factor in political activism, hence the name: “Theatre of the Oppressed”.^[2]

I can’t stop thinking about the ramifications this technique could have on the education young people in so many areas.

For more information:  http://www.theatreoftheoppressed.org/en/index.php

One of the questions asked in my developmental psych class concerned the idea that perhaps we are rushing our children through childhood.  Here are some of my thoughts on a subject that worries me a great deal:

…I also think about how the internet, cell phones and other social and technological advances have brought way too much information and opportunities into the lives of our children.  There are so many new ways for them to become too aware, and I feel they are not ready so much of what they can access easily.  A couple of years ago in a summer program I was running one of my kindergarteners pulled a cell phone out of his lunch box.  This astonished me! His mama wanted him to have it in case he got lost, or needed her, and care about those things are certainly not ways to make a child grow up too quickly, I’ll admit that.  But the level of technology in the life of this little one, as well as the way we must more vigilantly guard the safety of our children now do point toward that end.

I believe that our society’s tendency toward exhilarating children through childhood is also a factor in the loss of creativity and joy in learning that many of our young people experience very quickly upon entering society.  School systems – and here please do not think I make light of the absolutely enormous responsibilities teachers face today, nor of their overwhelming workload – seem to me often to be organized in such a way that the documentation of fulfillment of state standards comes at the cost of the individual child’s learning style and self esteem.  One of my goals in education is to find ways to incorporate the way a child learns and what he most loves to learn about across the curriculum.

A pipe dream?  Quite possibly.  But in my mind, this could make all the difference in the level of personal connection of each child to the contents of what the state says our children must learn.

I love this page – and I keep The Benefits of Drama Education posted above my desk where i refer to it at least once a day…

http://www.dramaed.net/benefits.pdf

Read ‘em! You’ll be surprised.
Or maybe you won’t…