Youth Theatre Research Articles

‘Why Are We Doing This and Who Is it For?’: Youth Theatre Conversations with Liz Moreton and Conrad Murray at Battersea Arts* Centre

Shortly after becoming the first black woman to win the Booker Prize for Fiction, Bernardine Evaristo wrote that she would not have won it without youth theatre. 1 1. Bernardine Evaristo, ‘Without ...

Reevaluating intergenerational performance in the time of COVID-19

Given the specific ways in which COVID-19 has transformed communities, it is perhaps unfortunately timely that this special issue of Youth Theatre Journal would have as its focus intergenerational ...

Shared learning to improve the care for young people and mental health within nurse education (SHYNE). Improving attitudes, confidence and self-efficacy

Preparing students for the complexities of practice is an ongoing challenge of pre-registration nurse education. One such complexity is the increase in children and young people with mental health problems. Pre-registration student nurses from child and mental health specialisms from one University participated in an innovative simulation session, whereby actors from a youth theatre group simulated young people admitted to an acute non-mental health hospital setting for treatment of self-harm injuries. This study used an uncontrolled pre and post design to determine the impact of the session on student nurses’ attitudes, confidence and self-efficacy when caring for young people who self-harm.Attitudes towards self-harm was measured using a 13 item self-report questionnaire. Confidence was measured through Likert scale responses. Self-efficacy for working with children and young people who have self-harmed was measured through an adapted version of the Self-Efficacy Towards Helping (SETH) scale. In total 101 student nurses took part in the study and 99% completed post simulation outcome measures. At post-session, the students reported a statistically significant improvement in attitudes, self-efficacy and confidence towards children and young people who self-harm.A lack of confidence is frequently reported in the literature when caring for this client group in practice settings. Improvements in attitudes, confidence and self-efficacy can positively impact individual nursing practice. Furthermore the simulation literature indicates that the skills consolidated using such an educational approach are taken forward into clinical practice. While broad claims of success should be avoided, it is promising to find a learning method that is effective in addressing a contemporary and complex health issue.Shared Learning to Improve the Care for Young People and Mental Health within Nurse Education (SHYNE): Improving Attitudes, Confidence and Self-Efficacy.

Who’s Not Afraid of Shakespeare

The ever growing and updating Shakespearian context is the topic of this article examining the almost simultaneous appearance (in Bulgaria, 2019) of a book, a film, and a theatre production related to the Bard: the book is “Nothing Like the Sun” by Anthony Burgess (translated by M. Melnishka), the film is Kenneth Branagh’s “All Is True”, and the theatre production is “Romeo and Juliet” at the Mladezhki Theatre (Youth Theatre) in Sofia.

한국청소년연극축제 창작극제 수상작 고찰 : 『소녀, 가시나무에 별을 걸다』를 중심으로

이 연구는 한국청소년연극축제 창작극제 수상작을 모은 『소녀, 가시나무에 별을 걸다』에 실린 희곡을 분 석하는 것을 목적으로 한다. 연구 결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 인물 측면에서 주인공은 청소년이었고, 청소 년의 주변에 있는 친구들이나 성인들을 등장시켜 청소년들이 고민을 표현하는 데 힘쓰고 있었다. 둘째, 사건 측면에서는 장애에 대한 편견이나 연애 감정 등 청소년 개인의 갈등에 주목한 희곡이 두 편 있었고, 장래 희망이나 사후장기기증에 관한 이견으로 청소년과 성인(부모)이 갈등하는 작품이 두 편 있었으며, 나머지 여섯 편은 두 가지 갈등이 혼합된 희곡으로 청소년 사이의 갈등과 청소년과 성인 사이의 갈등이 중첩되어 나타나고 있었다. 셋째, 배경은 현대가 많았고, 공간적 배경은 청소년들이 사는 현실 공간인 학 교나 집 또는 동네가 많았다. 이런 일상적인 배경은 청소년들이 겪고 있는 현실 삶 속에 갈등이 많고, 첨예 하다는 것을 의미했다. 넷째, 이 희곡집에 실린 희곡의 대사가 정선되어 있고, 청소년의 마음을 나타내는 인상적인 대사들이 많았다. 다만 생동감이 없는 어휘나 시대 흐름에 벗어난 지문은 앞으로 수정을 해야 한다. 이 연구는 한국청소년연극축제 가운데 희곡으로 정리된 창작극제의 일부 성과를 살피는 한계를 가 지고 있다. 이런 연구의 제한점을 극복하여, 창작극제나 한국청소년연극축제 전체를 연구하고, 희곡뿐만 아니라 공연이나 그 밖의 여러 측면을 탐구하여 우리나라 청소년연극 연구를 더 활성화하기를 기대한다.

Sense Of Multikulturalisme: Potensi Integrasi Dalam Kelompok Teater Pelajar SMA Di Kota Solo

In general, this study departs from a large scheme of research on Sense of Multiculturalism initiated by the Center for Theater Studies and Social Integration. This is a basic research to explore the potencies that exists among adolescents, both related to the conflict as well as efforts to integrate in high school theater groups. Problems of this research include; first, what potencies that can lead them into conflict areas? What potencies that develops in youth theater groups that can anticipate and strengthen the social integration? Data collection is done by interview, observation, and documentation. The results of this study indicate that the potencies that directs group members into conflict is due to the impartiality experienced by students participating in theater extracurricular activities, both from the school as well as from their family. But their potencies in integration is strongerthan the potencies in conflict, namely independence, maturity, togetherness, cooperation, and kinship among members of the student theater group. Keywords: integration, conflict, students theater

"Wie praat hier?" Die rol van die verwerker in die aanpassing van 'n roman na 'n jeugteaterproduksie met kulturele en geografiese verskuiwings

Hierdie artikel ondersoek die verwerkingsproses van die roman Dis ek, Anna deur Anchien Troskie (onder die skuilnaam Elbie Lötter) na 'n jeugteaterdrama getiteld Dis ek, Annatjie. Hierdie jeugteaterdrama is opgevoer deur hoërskoolleerders onder leiding van 'n professionele teatermaker vir 'n toneelkompetisie wat 'n tydsbeperking van 45 minute gestel het. Keuses moes dus gemaak word ten opsigte van die storiegegewens in die bronteks. Om die relevansie van die verhaalgegewens vir die leerders te verhoog, is kulturele aanpassings gemaak met taal as 'n belangrike merker, en die milieu is verplaas na die geografiese en sosiale omgewing van die leerders. Die posisie van die teksverwerker en regisseur word in hierdie artikel geproble-matiseer, aangesien hulle profiel verskil van die leerders se kultuur- en milieuprofiel. Kwessies rondom kulturele toe-eiening word derhalwe in die artikel vooropgestel. Die bevindinge uit hierdie praktykgerigte navorsing sluit in dat die samewerkende prosesse tussen die teatermaker en die deelnemende leerders van kardinale belang is. Die kulturele en geografiese verskuiwings bied verder vir die deelnemende leerders 'n geleentheid om identiteitskwessies aan te spreek, terwyl die tematiek van die verhoogproduksie relevante sosiale kwessies vir die deelnemers en teikengehoor bevat. Hierdie gevolgtrekkings kon slegs gemaak word omdat die aanpassings-proses nie 'n individu- of outeursgerigte proses was nie, maar die behoeftes en kennis van die leerders in die proses vooropgestel het. Die deelnemende aard van die proses verseker nie net dat die teikengehoor aanklank by die verwerking vind nie, maar dit bewerkstellig ook 'n outentisiteit wat bydra tot die geloofwaardigheid van die verwerking.

Learning My True Colors: Race, Sexuality, and Adultism in LGBTQA Youth Theatre

Learning My True Colors: Race, Sexuality, and Adultism in LGBTQA Youth Theatre

“Fear of what we don’t know”: Grappling with diversity in a youth theatre program

ABSTRACT This article examines how youth participants in a community-based theatre program confronted and grappled with issues of diversity and difference while rehearsing and performing a play about Ruby Bridges and school desegregation. It draws on data from an ethnographic study examining ways in which an interracial, intergenerational cast perform work about the Civil Rights movement. The research explicates how artistic practice can be used as a tool to name social injustices and to counteract educational contexts that reproduce inequality. It contributes to the knowledge base of out-of-school learning contexts that inform contemporary approaches to learning in the arts.

And so she plays her part: An autoethnographic exploration of body image, consent, and the young actor

ABSTRACT Through the lens of the author’s experiences as a former young actor, adult TYA practitioner, and individual in recovery for an eating disorder, this autoethnographic exploration weaves together personal narratives to examine youth bodies, body image, consent, and the role of the adult for young in youth theatre and theatre education spaces.

“Little Theater” in Twenty-First-Century China

This article provides an overview of China’s little theater since the turn of the millennium, arguing that present changes must substantially be considered in terms of responses of troupes and playwrights to the present commercial challenges faced by spoken theater troupes. By and large these shifts can be identified as part of popularization or fashionability. Specific strategies include attracting white-collar audiences with plots focused on romantic and extramarital embroilments, the challenges of technology, and an emphasis on the styles and trends of the leisure class. Formal experimentation is combined with genre plurality and a fragmentation of consciousness that is drawn from web culture. Highlighted cases include the Beijing Youth Theatre Festival and the little theater productions of the Beijing People’s Art Theatre.

Questioning collaborative devising in a post-truth era: Crafting theatre with youth

ABSTRACT Devising often emphasizes nonhierarchical and collaborative modes of creating performance. As such, it holds promise for young people seeking to develop their agency as emergent artists. In 2016–17, Rachel Turner-King worked with The Belgrade’s Canley Youth Theatre (Coventry, UK) to explore their feelings about regional political issues, Brexit, the election of Donald Trump, and the rise of “fake news”. However, privileging democratic co-creation raises questions about the director’s role and responsibility in the creative process. Drawing on Richard Sennett’s discussion of craftsmanship, this paper focuses on the methods used to craft theatre with youth by considering the interconnections between an “ethics of care” and the artistic processes of dramaturgy.

Researching and devising youth theatre: Loss of voice and agency through parachute theatre

ABSTRACT This paper explores the process in which applied theatre workshops were utilized to research and devise a theatre performance with a group of young people in a rural town in the interior of British Columbia, Canada. The project explored the topic of gun violence and specifically took its stimulus from the 2011 terrorist attack in Norway where 77 young people were gunned down at a summer camp by white supremacist Anders Brevik. The paper explores many facets of the project, including the importance of creating spaces where the young people would feel safe to work and how applied theatre strategies were utilized during this process for both data collection and devising processes with the intention of creating social change. The writer shares how as part of the project's plan, an invited external theatre practitioner came to direct the final portion of the project and in this step the intention of the project quickly changed from the way the young participants had intended. The article reflects on the many lessons that came with the process and changes the writer might implement for the future.

From Classroom to Stage to Community: The Francophone Youth Theater Experience

This study recounts a unique collaboration in which an undergraduate French literature class was invited to perform the opening play for a theater festival geared toward high school foreign language students. What began as a traditional literature seminar evolved into a student-led performance project that allowed DePaul University to interact with the local community. The reading and analysis of plays, paired with process-oriented drama activities in the classroom, helped students gain the skills and confidence necessary to create, stage, and perform in their own production, and presented a valuable opportunity to promote the study of French to a younger audience.

Revolution auf der Bühne

Artikelbeginn:[English title and abstract below] Setzt man bei der Darstellung revolutionärer Prozesse im Kindertheater in den 1960/70er Jahren an, so liegt der Fokus auf einer Zeit gesellschaftlicher Umbrüche und politisch-sozialer Bewegungen, die für die Geschichte des Kinder- und Jugendtheaters von besonderer Bedeutung ist (vgl. Schneider 1984). Wie andere Intellektuelle und KünstlerInnen auch wurden Theaterschaffende von den Protesten und dem Klima der Veränderung und des Aufbruchs vielfältig angeregt. Revolution On StageInsights into the Conditions, Developments and Effects of Emancipatory Children’s Theatre This article provides an overview of the origin and development of emancipatory children’s theatre in the 1960s and 1970s in Western Germany. The modification of structures in children’s theatre is analysed based on a taxonomy of changes in themes, forms and functions. The analysis shows an increasing politicisation of scripts and plays in theatres for the young and the foundation of new theatres and groups with mainly political goals like GRIPS and Rote Grütze. New formats like Mitspiel [playing along-], Mitmach [participating-] and Vorführ [demonstrating-] theatre emerged alongside the ideas of the German student movement of 1968. Children’s theatres became places for developing a critical perspective on society with major innovations being presented first in independent theatre groups and later adopted in modified forms in municipal theatres. This shift of emphasis still affects contemporary children's and youth theatre. These days, theatres and theatre groups producing professional children's and youth theatre are located in most German cities. Theatre work for young audiences takes a variety of forms and genres, deals with a diversity of themes and includes the participation of the audience and their experiences. Current political affairs and issues of interest and relevance to today’s youth are still at the centre of the theatre productions; however, the focus nowadays is less instructional.

‘Am I not beautiful?’: cultural identity and the process of co-authorship

ABSTRACTThis case study of a community youth theatre project interweaves reflective descriptions of practice, data excerpts and analysis to examine young people’s exploration of cultural identity through theatre in a regional city in Australia. The process undertaken to create this work is theorised in relation to concepts of cultural difference and cultural diversity, cultural representation and local identity. The article examines the process of generating group authorship of a play, the role and responsibilities of a practitioner in this process and the ‘real life’ consequences of creating applied theatre works that address issues of race, culture and identity in a contemporary Australian context.

Features of Volodymyr Morskoy’s theatrе criticism (1920–1940 years)

Features of Volodymyr Morskoy’s theatrе criticism (1920–1940 years)

I Love You I Love You: Aesthetics of love in a culturally diverse youth theatre ensemble

ABSTRACTAlthough love is rarely addressed in applied theatre and drama scholarship, it is nevertheless often present in participatory theatre practice. The Traction Youth Theatre Ensemble was based in a culturally diverse and vibrant satellite city south of Brisbane, Australia. While I was evaluating Traction’s potential to promote social cohesion, I found that feelings and expressions of love informed and formed the aesthetics of the ensemble process, its ritualized daily practices, and its performances. I argue that love deserves our scholarly attention if we are to continue pursuing ideals of social justice in intercultural participatory youth theatre practice and research.

YOUTH THEATRE ART NON-FORMAL EDUCATION IN THE CONTEXT OF DRAMA PEDAGOGY HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT

Nowadays not only formal but also non-formal education plays a significant role in the context of lifelong learning. By getting involved in various non-formal education activities, with overall and personality development, children and young people socialise, gain new experiences, and acquire new social roles. The wider the spectrum of non-formal education activities, the more possibilities there are for each child and young person to find the most suitable to get involved in according to their interests, needs, abilities, future intentions and goals. One of the forms of non-formal education for children and youth is theatre art non-formal education, which finds its theoretical methodological base in drama pedagogy. School drama clubs, optional course of public speech, drama studio etc. have a significant role and contribute to the promotion of students’ personality development and socialisation. The aim of this article is to give a theoretical justification of the youth theatre art non-formal education in the context of drama pedagogy historical development. The approaches, principles, new methods of drama pedagogy were and are currently used by teachers-practitioners in many countries not only in the drama non-formal education but also throughout formal education – by including drama elements as learning techniques and methods across different subjects, thus making the drama pedagogy universal, constantly present everywhere and at all times.

Creating welcoming spaces in the city: exploring the theory and practice of ‘hospitality’ in two regional theatres

ABSTRACTThis paper explores the relationship between notions of ‘access’ and ‘hospitality’ by focusing on two practice-led research interventions conducted in two regional arts venues in the culturally and ethnically diverse city of Coventry, UK. By conceptualising Warwick Arts Centre and The Belgrade Theatre as potential sites of hospitality, I consider the ways they might offer young people spaces of access, conviviality, and belonging in this multicultural city. Drawing on Jacques Derrida’s notion of ‘conditional’ and ‘unconditional’ hospitality, both cases offer examples of devised youth theatre practice that aimed to renegotiate the ‘host/guest’ binary towards more meaningful and convivial relationships.