Palgrave Studies In Play, Performance, Learning, and Development – serie

A social updraft provides cultural meditational means that include people in a current headed "upward," allowing people of atypical makeups to become fully involved in significant cultural activity that brings them a feeling of social belonging.

In this book, the authors share stories of creative, community based collaborations to illustrate how educators can use the arts to expand creative thinking and promote social justice beyond the classroom.

A social updraft provides cultural meditational means that include people in a current headed "upward," allowing people of atypical makeups to become fully involved in significant cultural activity that brings them a feeling of social belonging.

This book draws on the author’s experience as a storyteller, drama practitioner and researcher, to articulate an emerging dialogic approach to storytelling in participatory arts, educational, mental health, youth theatre, and youth work contexts.

This book draws on the author’s experience as a storyteller, drama practitioner and researcher, to articulate an emerging dialogic approach to storytelling in participatory arts, educational, mental health, youth theatre, and youth work contexts.

This book considers the state of contemporary theatre education in Great Britain is in two parts. The second half attends to 21st century theatre education, proposing a more explicit correlation between contemporary theatre and theatre education.

This book considers the state of contemporary theatre education in Great Britain is in two parts. The second half attends to 21st century theatre education, proposing a more explicit correlation between contemporary theatre and theatre education.

This is the first book length study of performance activism. While Performance Studies recognizes the universality of human performance in daily life, what is specifically under investigation here is performance as an activity intentionally entered into as a means of engaging social issues and conflicts, that is, as an ensemble activity by which we re-construct/transform social reality.  Performance Activism: Precursors and Contemporary Pioneers provides a global overview of the growing interface of performance with education, therapy, conflict resolution, civic engagement, community development and social justice activism. It combines an historical study of the processes by which, over the course of the 20th Century, performance has been loosened from the institutional constraints of the theatre with a mosaic-like overview of the diverse work/play of contemporary performance activists around the world.  Performance Activism will be of interest to theatre and cultural historians, performance practitioners and researchers, psychologists and sociologists, educators and youth workers, community organizers and political activists.

This is the first book length study of performance activism. While Performance Studies recognizes the universality of human performance in daily life, what is specifically under investigation here is performance as an activity intentionally entered into as a means of engaging social issues and conflicts, that is, as an ensemble activity by which we re-construct/transform social reality.  Performance Activism: Precursors and Contemporary Pioneers provides a global overview of the growing interface of performance with education, therapy, conflict resolution, civic engagement, community development and social justice activism. It combines an historical study of the processes by which, over the course of the 20th Century, performance has been loosened from the institutional constraints of the theatre with a mosaic-like overview of the diverse work/play of contemporary performance activists around the world.  Performance Activism will be of interest to theatre and cultural historians, performance practitioners and researchers, psychologists and sociologists, educators and youth workers, community organizers and political activists.

This book examines applied theatre projects that bring together diverse groups and foster intercultural dialogue. Based on five case studies and informed by play theory, it argues that the playful elements of theatre processes nurture a unique intimacy among diverse people.

This book examines applied theatre projects that bring together diverse groups and foster intercultural dialogue. Based on five case studies and informed by play theory, it argues that the playful elements of theatre processes nurture a unique intimacy among diverse people.  However, this playful quality can also dampen explicit conversations about participants’ cultural differences, and defer an interrogation of people’s own entrenchment in systemic power imbalances. As a result, addressing these differences and imbalances in applied theatre contexts may require particular strategies.

How and why does improvisational theater (improv) serve the learning and development of adults in higher education?

This book theorises and articulates new models of understanding ‘change’ in current applied theatre practice with young people. It extends and amplifies current discourses in the discipline of applied theatre, challenging and rethinking some of its tensions, particularly in relation to the concept of impact and what this means in practice.Applied theatre projects can struggle to attain evidence and sustain change beyond an initial intervention, this is arguably because what is valued and ‘witnessed’ as change for communities can often feel overlooked if they do not meet impact agendas or indicators. It is a key issue that, critically, needs further attention as our field develops and with increasing global pressure on the practitioner to account for and justify the ‘impact’ of their work.This book explores current models of practice and related theoretical concerns that will enable students and practitioners to gain insights into innovative practices that aim for change from applied theatre practitioners in the UK, Singapore, and New Zealand. The book thereby intends to focus on different models of practice happening in geographically urban contexts with young people to provide readers with a rich array of projects to engage with detailed case studies of current thinking around what change means in applied theatre practice. To understand how change manifests and make a case for nuancing the way we might articulate and value change, this book offers a conceptual framework around the role of witnessing and change to consider new ways to argue for the worth of practice that may challenge current impact agendas, but importantly locates the lived experience of participants and practitioners directly engaged in practice at the heart of this articulation of conversation about what counts.