Interdisciplinary Arts 0272 - Affirmations: Creating Theatre

Rooted in a practice of Paulo Freire's concept of praxis-"reflection and action upon the world in order to transform it," this course is comprised of three main segments: Research, skill building, and creative practice. We will begin the semester by researching practices of performance creation with children focusing on work intended to address social issues. Children's perspectives on their experiences as students in public education and as active participants in their communities will also be explored. Simultaneously, we will learn and practice strategies for directing/facilitating youth theatre with younger children (grades 1-3) -including applied theatre methods and techniques for devising original work such as theatre of the oppressed, performance poetry, storytelling, and creative drama. Finally, students will engage in an extensive community based learning experience working with groups of child artists in local elementary schools. The goal of this project is to affirm the child participants' positions as agents of change through the process of co-creating original performance pieces. Prerequisite: some prior work with children, education, theatre preferred.

Multiple Cultural Perspectives Writing and Research Field trips expected -- no out-of-pocket expenses. In this course, students are expected to spend at least six to eight hours a week of preparation and work outside of class time. This time includes reading, writing, creative work, and group assignments. Additional time will be spent working on a community engaged learning project.