Learning theatre from children

Abstract

Many undergraduate theatre students leave college to work as teaching artists or interns at professional theatre companies, community arts centers, and summer camps, without having substantial, theory-and-practice-based opportunities to work directly with children. As a case study of pedagogical strategies, this chapter examines a drama methods course called Children and Drama that includes children (aged six to twelve) in order to better prepare undergraduates not only to teach but to learn the organic foundations of theatre and devised performance through the processes of drama. As students practice drama leadership, children teach them to release their self-imposed inhibitions, expand their dramatic imaginations, take creative risks, follow unpredictable direction, and rectify their prejudicial stereotypes about children's extra-ordinary intelligence and dramatic competencies. Based on Helane Rosenberg's operationalized theory of imagination in practice, effective dramas emerge from five principles: (1) a strong, unifying, thematic or metaphoric image through which individuals (2) demonstrate metacognitive abilities (3) with uncommon originality (4) while working dynamically as a cohesive ensemble and (5) practicing the arts and crafts of theatre. Various examples of these principles in action include dramatizations of picture books and memorable improvisations that confront local, state, national, and international conflicts. Providing students with direct opportunities to improvise with children not only benefits them as future theatre educators and artists both within and outside elementary school contexts but also prepares them to nurture children's creativity and artistic experiences as potential parents.