Temporary Stages II: Critically Oriented Drama Education (Theatre in Education)

Temporary Stages II: Critically Oriented Drama Education (Theatre in Education)

Theater teachers are forced to adapt constantly. Whether responding to advancing technologies, cuts to (or the growth of) their program, or ever-changing governmental mandates, they struggle to serve both their students and their craft. Using a theater arts program at one at a Midwestern high school, this book explores how change, good or ill, directly impacts students as well as teachers. Building on the work of the previous edition of Temporary Stages , Jo Beth Gonzalez shows teachers how to sustain confidence and outlines “critically conscious” teaching, a technique that encourages students to practice self-agency and critical awareness. Essential reading for all theater teachers, this indispensable resource is a font of innovative classroom and production practices. 'Temporary Stages offers powerful ideas for pre-service and practicing theatre teachers-as well as teachers of teachers-to contemplate. Directly relevant to teaching methods, yet far from a "how-to" text, the book inspires all readers with its fresh, provocative and accessible ideas.' 'I was pleasantly surprised to read that teaching artists were engaged in the bold goal of developing a critical model of collaborative leadership for high school musical theatre. This kind of aim hardly ever shows up in strategic plans, mission statements, or on school websites. As Gonzalez makes clear, the infrastructure must be put in place to invite students to engage with the pedagogical and the aesthetic, but also to make them feel comfortable and validated.' 'Temporary Stages integrates practice with research in ways both compelling and honest. Jo Beth Gonzalez's integrity, passion and forthright prose make this a useful addition for teachers interested in exploring social justice and identity through performance.' 'This volume is an essential addition to the literature on high school theatre teaching. I believe it will take high school production and classroom practice into the twenty-first century and respond to shifts both in demographics and curriculum reform. It is essential reading for any student considering working in secondary education, whether in a formal classroom context, as a teaching artist, or in applied theatre. ' Jo Beth Gonzalez has been a classroom teacher of speech, English, and theatre for twenty-seven years, the past nineteen at Bowling Green High School in Ohio, where she also directs the theater program. Temporary Stages II: Critically Oriented Drama Education By Jo Beth Gonzalez Intellect Ltd Copyright © 2013 Intellect Ltd All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-78320-011-5 Contents Foreword, Acknowledgments, SECTION ONE: Critically Oriented Drama Education Shapes Growth, Chapter 1: Stepping From Temporary Stages to Temporary Stages II, Chapter 2: Characterizing CODE Classrooms and Rehearsal Spaces, Chapter 3: Balancing Passion and Censorship, Chapter 4: Discovering CODE in Musical Theatre, SECTION TWO: Critically Oriented Drama Education Alters Traditional Power Dynamics, Chapter 5: Examining Power Dynamics in a CODE Theatre Design Classroom, Chapter 6: Emerging Conflict, Paradox, and Social Change When Students Exercise Power, Chapter 7: Shaping an Ensemble Approach to Casting Understudies with a Mindset for CODE, Chapter 8: Adjusting to a New Theatre with Critical Awareness, SECTION THREE: Critically Oriented Drama Education Examines Controversy and Oppression, Chapter 9: Establishing a Foundation for Examining Tough Issues, Chapter 10: Unfolding Ongoing Reflective Practice Through Five CODE Strategies, Chapter 11: Investigating Student and Teacher Identity, Chapter 12: Preparing for the Audience, Epilogue, Works Cited, Index, CHAPTER 1 Stepping From Temporary Stages to Temporary Stages II In 2006, two days before I hosted a book signing party for the publication of the first edition of Temporary Stages, a high school student in one of my theatre classes committed suicide. Who would have thought that on my way to this celebration I would attend the wake of a student who had taken his life? This event cast the title of my book, Temporary Stages, in a light I hadn't considered. Since writing the first edition, other conditions at my school have changed. Temporary Stages was originally titled in part because students in my drama program performed in a wide array of venues because we had no permanent home. Every stage we performed on was quite literally temporary. Throughout the writing of that book, I could only dream of what it would be like to teach and direct teenagers in a state-of-the-art performing arts center, never expecting I would, half a dozen years later, write a second edition to my book precisely because this dream came true. A new stage was born; yet it, too, remains a temporary stage: temporary for students who move on after graduation; temporary for fine arts faculty and staff who enter and exit variously, depending upon yearly supplemental con