Popular Theatre: Empowering Pedagogy for Youth

Effects of Performance-Based Methods in Teaching of Difference with Youth

“…Various studies have noted the feasibility and success of integrating performance-based methods into elementary, middle-school and high-school curriculums, particularly when addressing issues of power imbalance and oppression (Howard, 2004;Conrad, 2004;Duffy, 2010;Cahnmann-Taylor & Souto-Manning, 2010;Schaedler, 2010;Snyder-Young, 2011;Desai, 2017;Duffy & Powers, 2018). Cahnmann-Taylor & Souto-Manning (2010) suggested that drama and performance-based art are highly valuable methods in the process of developing critical, anti-oppressive learning environments.…”

“…While there has been a substantial number of studies that have illustrated the ways in which performative arts-based teaching methods are conducive to the cognitive and affective development of learners (Howard, 2004;Giard, 2005;Fels & Belliveau, 2008;Cahnmann-Taylor & Souto-Manning, 2010;Schaedler;Snyder & Young, 2011;Gallagher, 2014;Desai;2017), there have unfortunately also been several studies (Lang, 1999;Conrad, 2004;Fels & Belliveau, 2008;Cahnmann-Taylor & Souto-Manning, 2010;Snyder-Young, 2011), which indicate that only a limited number of teachers actually integrate performance-based practices into their teaching due to lack of resources, lack of time, lack of proper training and disinterested students and teachers. Conrad's (2004) Popular Theatre study also addressed the various obstacles associated with integrating performance-based teaching methods in the classroom. Through her use of Boal's (1979) Forum Theatre, Conrad (2004 embarked on a participatory, performative inquiry into the lives and personal experiences of two mixed grade ten, eleven, and twelve drama classes made up of Indigenous students from rural Alberta.…”

Keeping the Kids in School: What the drama class tells us

“…The turn of the twenty-first century produced a number of teacher-as-researcher accounts of secondary school drama/theatre pedagogy (e.g., Gallagher, 2000;Conrad, 2002Conrad, , 2004Gonzalez, Cantu, & Gonzalez, 2006;Hatton, 2001Hatton, , 2003Hatton, , 2004Judge, 2002;McLauchlan, 2000;Owens, 2000;Young, 2000). Few researchers, however, have investigated secondary drama education from a non-participant perspective (e.g., McDonald, 2000;Nicholson, 2003;Sallis, 2003Sallis, , 2004, and almost none have compared findings across settings while focusing on student perceptions (McCammon, 2010).…”

Staging relationships: using devised theatre to explore First Nations youths' experiences and perceptions of their relationships with healthcare providers

“…Boal's work is still very relevant today. His theatre methods are used in research to engage and empower people, especially youth, and to produce spaces to tell stories of their lived realities and work through social and personal issues and to devise strategies and solutions (Conrad, 2004;Day, 2002;Rutten et al, 2010). For instance, Goulet et al (2011) developed a series of theatre workshops, based on Boat's Theatre of the Oppressed, working with Aboriginal youth so they could tell their stories about the socio-cultural aspects of health.…”

“…Not only does theatre provide an active, participatory approach to research (see Conrad 2004), it also ensures that participants have the opportunity to contribute their own voices and stories of lived experience. In this way, participants have a chance to create a story that narrates the social, health-related, educational, cultural, political, economic, and personal confinements or strains that impact their lives and engage in honest discussion around these issues in search of a solution.…”