Theatre as Research – A Mysterious Mix

The Australian Curriculum mandates that Arts will be taught as part of the Foundation to Year 10 program in schools. My background as a Theatre-in-Education performer and as a Drama teacher has informed an approach to doing research with children, which involves making up plays about local stories....

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Main Author: Jocene Vallack
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: James Cook University 2016-08-01
Series:eTropic: electronic journal of studies in the tropics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.jcu.edu.au/etropic/article/view/3357/3297
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author Jocene Vallack
author_facet Jocene Vallack
author_sort Jocene Vallack
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description The Australian Curriculum mandates that Arts will be taught as part of the Foundation to Year 10 program in schools. My background as a Theatre-in-Education performer and as a Drama teacher has informed an approach to doing research with children, which involves making up plays about local stories. Firstly, local folk are interviewed and their anecdotes are recorded as data. The children then analyse and interpret the data, as a group, with the help of their teacher. It is then synthesised into a written play script. I have found this Theatre as Research approach to be a wonderful tool for integrating the teaching of local history with the Arts. It also has potential to strengthen community bonds and enhance inter-generational communication. Once the play has been created, the storytellers are invited as audience members to see their lives played out on stage. The paper will relate examples of how I have performed ethnographic Drama with various secondary and tertiary students to facilitate and present research. It will then offer a step by step approach for doing Theatre as Education.
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spelling doaj.art-407820feaab54ddc875b06433a08cc662022-12-21T19:15:26ZengJames Cook UniversityeTropic: electronic journal of studies in the tropics1448-29402016-08-0115110.25120/etropic.15.1.2016.3357Theatre as Research – A Mysterious MixJocene Vallack0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0168-1819James Cook University, AustraliaThe Australian Curriculum mandates that Arts will be taught as part of the Foundation to Year 10 program in schools. My background as a Theatre-in-Education performer and as a Drama teacher has informed an approach to doing research with children, which involves making up plays about local stories. Firstly, local folk are interviewed and their anecdotes are recorded as data. The children then analyse and interpret the data, as a group, with the help of their teacher. It is then synthesised into a written play script. I have found this Theatre as Research approach to be a wonderful tool for integrating the teaching of local history with the Arts. It also has potential to strengthen community bonds and enhance inter-generational communication. Once the play has been created, the storytellers are invited as audience members to see their lives played out on stage. The paper will relate examples of how I have performed ethnographic Drama with various secondary and tertiary students to facilitate and present research. It will then offer a step by step approach for doing Theatre as Education.https://journals.jcu.edu.au/etropic/article/view/3357/3297arts educationaustraliatheatre-in-educationdramaplayslocal storiestheatre as researchlocal historyethnographic dramatropics
spellingShingle Jocene Vallack
Theatre as Research – A Mysterious Mix
eTropic: electronic journal of studies in the tropics
arts education
australia
theatre-in-education
drama
plays
local stories
theatre as research
local history
ethnographic drama
tropics
title Theatre as Research – A Mysterious Mix
title_full Theatre as Research – A Mysterious Mix
title_fullStr Theatre as Research – A Mysterious Mix
title_full_unstemmed Theatre as Research – A Mysterious Mix
title_short Theatre as Research – A Mysterious Mix
title_sort theatre as research a mysterious mix
topic arts education
australia
theatre-in-education
drama
plays
local stories
theatre as research
local history
ethnographic drama
tropics
url https://journals.jcu.edu.au/etropic/article/view/3357/3297
work_keys_str_mv AT jocenevallack theatreasresearchamysteriousmix