Down the SoTL Rabbit Hole: Using a Phenomenological Approach to Parse the Development of Student Actors

Theatre is a multi-dimensional discipline encompassing aspects of several domains in the arts and humanities. Therefore, an array of scholarly practices, pedagogies, and methods might be available to a SoTL researcher from the close reading of texts in script analysis to portfolio critiques in set,...

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Main Author: Kathleen M. Perkins
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Calgary 2016-03-01
Series:Teaching & Learning Inquiry: The ISSOTL Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:http://tlijournal.com/tli/index.php/TLI/article/view/129
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author Kathleen M. Perkins
author_facet Kathleen M. Perkins
author_sort Kathleen M. Perkins
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description Theatre is a multi-dimensional discipline encompassing aspects of several domains in the arts and humanities. Therefore, an array of scholarly practices, pedagogies, and methods might be available to a SoTL researcher from the close reading of texts in script analysis to portfolio critiques in set, costume, and lighting design—approaches shared with the humanities and the visual arts. For those studying the learning processes involved in developing actors, however, this article argues that it is necessary to go beyond the cognitive elements of the process and turn to the very experiential nature of performance to capture kinetic and affective learning. While basic voice, movement, and acting skills can be built on repetition and evaluated with critical rubrics, in order to capture the learning processes involved in the integration of cognition, voice, body, and emotion (affect), we have to use the reflective habits of mind present in theatrical culture. One approach to gathering reflective data for such studies is phenomenology. This article describes several SoTL inquiries into the experiential nature of performance. It argues that, depending on the research question at hand, phenomenological reports on developing acting skills intersecting with demonstrations of cognitive analysis and external performance critiques not only provide a rich data stew for analysis but deeper insight into the learning processes of the developing performer.
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spelling doaj.art-86a8311e7ce74de389f80af42b3eb77d2022-12-22T02:43:39ZengUniversity of CalgaryTeaching & Learning Inquiry: The ISSOTL Journal2167-47792167-47872016-03-014111010.20343/teachlearninqu.4.1.986Down the SoTL Rabbit Hole: Using a Phenomenological Approach to Parse the Development of Student ActorsKathleen M. Perkins0Kathleen M. Perkins, COLUMBIA COLLEGE CHICAGO,Theatre is a multi-dimensional discipline encompassing aspects of several domains in the arts and humanities. Therefore, an array of scholarly practices, pedagogies, and methods might be available to a SoTL researcher from the close reading of texts in script analysis to portfolio critiques in set, costume, and lighting design—approaches shared with the humanities and the visual arts. For those studying the learning processes involved in developing actors, however, this article argues that it is necessary to go beyond the cognitive elements of the process and turn to the very experiential nature of performance to capture kinetic and affective learning. While basic voice, movement, and acting skills can be built on repetition and evaluated with critical rubrics, in order to capture the learning processes involved in the integration of cognition, voice, body, and emotion (affect), we have to use the reflective habits of mind present in theatrical culture. One approach to gathering reflective data for such studies is phenomenology. This article describes several SoTL inquiries into the experiential nature of performance. It argues that, depending on the research question at hand, phenomenological reports on developing acting skills intersecting with demonstrations of cognitive analysis and external performance critiques not only provide a rich data stew for analysis but deeper insight into the learning processes of the developing performer.http://tlijournal.com/tli/index.php/TLI/article/view/129Acting TheoryEmbodied ExperiencePhenomenologyActor Training
spellingShingle Kathleen M. Perkins
Down the SoTL Rabbit Hole: Using a Phenomenological Approach to Parse the Development of Student Actors
Teaching & Learning Inquiry: The ISSOTL Journal
Acting Theory
Embodied Experience
Phenomenology
Actor Training
title Down the SoTL Rabbit Hole: Using a Phenomenological Approach to Parse the Development of Student Actors
title_full Down the SoTL Rabbit Hole: Using a Phenomenological Approach to Parse the Development of Student Actors
title_fullStr Down the SoTL Rabbit Hole: Using a Phenomenological Approach to Parse the Development of Student Actors
title_full_unstemmed Down the SoTL Rabbit Hole: Using a Phenomenological Approach to Parse the Development of Student Actors
title_short Down the SoTL Rabbit Hole: Using a Phenomenological Approach to Parse the Development of Student Actors
title_sort down the sotl rabbit hole using a phenomenological approach to parse the development of student actors
topic Acting Theory
Embodied Experience
Phenomenology
Actor Training
url http://tlijournal.com/tli/index.php/TLI/article/view/129
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