Applied Theatre – serie

The APPLIED THEATRE series is a major innovation in applied theatre scholarship: each book presents new ways of seeing and critically reflecting on this dynamic and vibrant field. Volumes offer a theoretical framework and introductory survey of the field addressed, combined with a range of case studies illustrating and critically engaging with practice.Series Editors: Sheila Preston and Michael BalfourApplied Theatre: Economies addresses a notoriously problematic area: applied theatre’s relationship to the economy and the ways in which socially committed theatre makers fund, finance or otherwise resource their work.Part One addresses longstanding concerns in the field about the effects of economic conditions and funding relationships on applied theatre practice. It considers how applied theatre’s relationship with local and global economies can be understood from different theoretical and philosophical perspectives. It also examines a range of ways in which applied theatre can be resourced, identifying key issues and seeking possibilities for theatre makers to sustain their work without undermining their social and artistic values.The international case studies in Part Two give vivid insights into the day-to-day challenges of resourcing applied theatre work in Chile, Canada, the UK, New Zealand, Hong Kong and the US. The authors examine critical issues or points of tension that have arisen in a particular funding relationship or from specific economic activities. Each study also illuminates ways in which applied theatre makers can bring artistic and social justice principles to bear on financial and organizational processes.

The APPLIED THEATRE series is a major innovation in applied theatre scholarship: each book presents new ways of seeing and critically reflecting on this dynamic and vibrant field. Volumes offer a theoretical framework and introductory survey of the field addressed, combined with a range of case studies illustrating and critically engaging with practice.Series Editors: Sheila Preston and Michael BalfourApplied Theatre: Economies addresses a notoriously problematic area: applied theatre''s relationship to the economy and the ways in which socially committed theatre makers fund, finance or otherwise resource their work.Part One addresses longstanding concerns in the field about the effects of economic conditions and funding relationships on applied theatre practice. It considers how applied theatre''s relationship with local and global economies can be understood from different theoretical and philosophical perspectives. It also examines a range of ways in which applied theatre can be resourced, identifying key issues and seeking possibilities for theatre makers to sustain their work without undermining their social and artistic values.The international case studies in Part Two give vivid insights into the day-to-day challenges of resourcing applied theatre work in Chile, Canada, the UK, New Zealand, Hong Kong and the US. The authors examine critical issues or points of tension that have arisen in a particular funding relationship or from specific economic activities. Each study also illuminates ways in which applied theatre makers can bring artistic and social justice principles to bear on financial and organizational processes.

The APPLIED THEATRE series is a major innovation in applied theatre scholarship: each book presents new ways of seeing and critically reflecting on this dynamic and vibrant field. Volumes offer a theoretical framework and introductory survey of the field addressed, combined with a range of case studies illustrating and critically engaging with practice.Series Editors: Sheila Preston and Michael BalfourApplied Theatre: Economies addresses a notoriously problematic area: applied theatre''s relationship to the economy and the ways in which socially committed theatre makers fund, finance or otherwise resource their work.Part One addresses longstanding concerns in the field about the effects of economic conditions and funding relationships on applied theatre practice. It considers how applied theatre''s relationship with local and global economies can be understood from different theoretical and philosophical perspectives. It also examines a range of ways in which applied theatre can be resourced, identifying key issues and seeking possibilities for theatre makers to sustain their work without undermining their social and artistic values.The international case studies in Part Two give vivid insights into the day-to-day challenges of resourcing applied theatre work in Chile, Canada, the UK, New Zealand, Hong Kong and the US. The authors examine critical issues or points of tension that have arisen in a particular funding relationship or from specific economic activities. Each study also illuminates ways in which applied theatre makers can bring artistic and social justice principles to bear on financial and organizational processes.

Applied Practice: Evidence and Impact in Theatre, Music and Art engages with a diversity of contexts, locations and arts forms – including theatre, music and fine art – and brings together theoretical, political and practice-based perspectives on the question of ‘evidence’ in relation to participatory arts practice in social contexts. This collection is a unique contribution to the field, focusing on one of the vital concerns for a growing and developing set of arts and research practices. It asks us to consider evidence not only in terms of methodology but also in the light of the ideological, political and pragmatic implications of that methodology.In Part One, Matthew Reason and Nick Rowe reflect on evidence and impact in the participatory arts in relation to recurring conceptual and methodological motifs. These include issues of purpose and obliquity; the relationship between evidence and knowledge; intrinsic and instrumental impacts, and the value of participatory research. Part Two explores the diversity of perspectives, contexts and methodologies in examining what it is possible to know, say and evidence about the often complex and intimate impact of participatory arts. Part Three brings together case studies in which practitioners and practice-based researchers consider the frustrations, opportunities and successes they face in addressing the challenge to produce evidence for the impact of their practice.

The APPLIED THEATRE series is a major innovation in applied theatre scholarship: each book presents new ways of seeing and critically reflecting on this dynamic and vibrant field. Volumes offer a theoretical framework and introductory survey of the field addressed, combined with a range of case studies illustrating and critically engaging with practice.Series Editors: Sheila Preston and Michael BalfourApplied Theatre: Economies addresses a notoriously problematic area: applied theatre’s relationship to the economy and the ways in which socially committed theatre makers fund, finance or otherwise resource their work.Part One addresses longstanding concerns in the field about the effects of economic conditions and funding relationships on applied theatre practice. It considers how applied theatre’s relationship with local and global economies can be understood from different theoretical and philosophical perspectives. It also examines a range of ways in which applied theatre can be resourced, identifying key issues and seeking possibilities for theatre makers to sustain their work without undermining their social and artistic values.The international case studies in Part Two give vivid insights into the day-to-day challenges of resourcing applied theatre work in Chile, Canada, the UK, New Zealand, Hong Kong and the US. The authors examine critical issues or points of tension that have arisen in a particular funding relationship or from specific economic activities. Each study also illuminates ways in which applied theatre makers can bring artistic and social justice principles to bear on financial and organizational processes.

Applied Theatre: Ethics explores what it means for applied theatre practice to be conducted in an ethical way and examines how this affects the work done with communities and participants. It considers how practitioners can balance aesthetics and ethics when creating performance, particularly with relatively inexperienced and often vulnerable groups of people who are being asked to both tell and stage their stories. The two sections bring together theoretical and practical ways for theatre-makers to examine the ethics of their applied theatre projects.Part One offers an overview of critical debates and the editors' reflections on their own practice. It introduces readers to ethics in applied theatre, informed by the thinking of philosophers, scholarly literature and the editors' own experience, including Indigenous perspectives on ethics and theatre. For applied theatre practitioners, it provides recommendations for community-based ethical approaches working with principles of voice, agency, care, service, collaboration, presence, relationality and reciprocity.Part Two presents a range of international case studies that explore how the theories and issues are worked out in a variety of diverse practices. It considers ethics from varying critical perspectives and contexts, including projects in Greece, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Philippines and Canada. Covering work with participants of many ages, the case studies include the work of a professional dance theatre company working with people in substance abuse recovery in the UK, interactive drama used in an educational context in Nigeria, and the complexities around an applied theatre project on race in the US.

Applied Theatre: Ethics explores what it means for applied theatre practice to be conducted in an ethical way and examines how this affects the work done with communities and participants. It considers how practitioners can balance aesthetics and ethics when creating performance, particularly with relatively inexperienced and often vulnerable groups of people who are being asked to both tell and stage their stories. The two sections bring together theoretical and practical ways for theatre-makers to examine the ethics of their applied theatre projects. Part One offers an overview of critical debates and the editors'' reflections on their own practice. It introduces readers to ethics in applied theatre, informed by the thinking of philosophers, scholarly literature and the editors'' own experience, including Indigenous perspectives on ethics and theatre. For applied theatre practitioners, it provides recommendations for community-based ethical approaches working with principles of voice, agency, care, service, collaboration, presence, relationality and reciprocity. Part Two presents a range of international case studies that explore how the theories and issues are worked out in a variety of diverse practices. It considers ethics from varying critical perspectives and contexts, including projects in Greece, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Philippines and Canada. Covering work with participants of many ages, the case studies include the work of a professional dance theatre company working with people in substance abuse recovery in the UK, interactive drama used in an educational context in Nigeria, and the complexities around an applied theatre project on race in the US.

Applied Theatre: Ethics explores what it means for applied theatre practice to be conducted in an ethical way and examines how this affects the work done with communities and participants. It considers how practitioners can balance aesthetics and ethics when creating performance, particularly with relatively inexperienced and often vulnerable groups of people who are being asked to both tell and stage their stories. The two sections bring together theoretical and practical ways for theatre-makers to examine the ethics of their applied theatre projects. Part One offers an overview of critical debates and the editors'' reflections on their own practice. It introduces readers to ethics in applied theatre, informed by the thinking of philosophers, scholarly literature and the editors'' own experience, including Indigenous perspectives on ethics and theatre. For applied theatre practitioners, it provides recommendations for community-based ethical approaches working with principles of voice, agency, care, service, collaboration, presence, relationality and reciprocity. Part Two presents a range of international case studies that explore how the theories and issues are worked out in a variety of diverse practices. It considers ethics from varying critical perspectives and contexts, including projects in Greece, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Philippines and Canada. Covering work with participants of many ages, the case studies include the work of a professional dance theatre company working with people in substance abuse recovery in the UK, interactive drama used in an educational context in Nigeria, and the complexities around an applied theatre project on race in the US.

Applied Theatre: Women and the Criminal Justice System offers unprecedented access to international theatre and performance practice in carceral contexts and the material and political conditions that shape this work. Each of the twelve essays and interviews by international practitioners and scholars reveal a panoply of practice: from cross-arts projects shaped by autobiographical narratives through to fantasy-informed cabaret; from radio plays to film; from popular participatory performance to work staged in commercial theatres. Extracts of performance texts, developed with Clean Break theatre company, are interwoven through the collection.Television and film images of women in prison are repeatedly painted from a limited palette of stereotypes – ‘bad girls’, ‘monsters’, ‘babes behind bars’. To attend to theatre with and about women with experience of the criminal justice system is to attend to intersectional injustices that shape women’s criminalization and the personal and political implications of this. The theatre and performance practices in this collection disrupt, expand and reframe representational vocabularies of criminalized women for audiences within and beyond prison walls. They expose the role of incarceration as a mechanism of state punishment, the impact of neoliberalism on ideologies of punishment and the inequalities and violence that shape the lives of many incarcerated women. In a context where criminalized women are often dismissed as unreliable or untrustworthy, the collection engages with theatre practices which facilitate an economy of credibility, where women with experience of the criminal justice system are represented as expert witnesses.

Applied Theatre: Ethics explores what it means for applied theatre practice to be conducted in an ethical way and examines how this affects the work done with communities and participants. It considers how practitioners can balance aesthetics and ethics when creating performance, particularly with relatively inexperienced and often vulnerable groups of people who are being asked to both tell and stage their stories. The two sections bring together theoretical and practical ways for theatre-makers to examine the ethics of their applied theatre projects.Part One offers an overview of critical debates and the editors' reflections on their own practice. It introduces readers to ethics in applied theatre, informed by the thinking of philosophers, scholarly literature and the editors' own experience, including Indigenous perspectives on ethics and theatre. For applied theatre practitioners, it provides recommendations for community-based ethical approaches working with principles of voice, agency, care, service, collaboration, presence, relationality and reciprocity.Part Two presents a range of international case studies that explore how the theories and issues are worked out in a variety of diverse practices. It considers ethics from varying critical perspectives and contexts, including projects in Greece, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Philippines and Canada. Covering work with participants of many ages, the case studies include the work of a professional dance theatre company working with people in substance abuse recovery in the UK, interactive drama used in an educational context in Nigeria, and the complexities around an applied theatre project on race in the US.

Applied Theatre: Voice is a unique exploration of the conceptual and practical understandings of voice in relation to applied theatre.Voice is fundamental to much practice that takes place in applied and community performance and is regularly the go-to word to articulate community involvement and engagement, be that in terms of creativity, or social, cultural and political activity. Yet often in these references, the preciseness of what we mean by voice is lost. Is voice in applied theatre simply another word for representation, as in ‘finding’ or ‘giving’ voice? Or is voice also referring to the material, sonic and embodied phenomenon of human communication, when we consider the relationship between voice, performance and social justice?In this book, voice in applied theatre is critically examined in a range of practical case studies, discussing both its symbolic and material function, demonstrating the necessity of considering both when working in applied and community spaces. In Part One, voice as a concept is introduced, discussing recent theorizations of voice and why they are significant to applied theatre. Part Two introduces the case studies, exploring divergent understandings of why the voice matters in community practice.

Applied Theatre: Voice is a unique exploration of the conceptual and practical understandings of voice in relation to applied theatre. Voice is fundamental to much practice that takes place in applied and community performance and is regularly the go-to word to articulate community involvement and engagement, be that in terms of creativity, or social, cultural and political activity. Yet often in these references, the preciseness of what we mean by voice is lost. Is voice in applied theatre simply another word for representation, as in ''finding'' or ''giving'' voice? Or is voice also referring to the material, sonic and embodied phenomenon of human communication, when we consider the relationship between voice, performance and social justice? In this book, voice in applied theatre is critically examined in a range of practical case studies, discussing both its symbolic and material function, demonstrating the necessity of considering both when working in applied and community spaces. In Part One, voice as a concept is introduced, discussing recent theorizations of voice and why they are significant to applied theatre. Part Two introduces the case studies, exploring divergent understandings of why the voice matters in community practice.

Applied Theatre: Voice is a unique exploration of the conceptual and practical understandings of voice in relation to applied theatre. Voice is fundamental to much practice that takes place in applied and community performance and is regularly the go-to word to articulate community involvement and engagement, be that in terms of creativity, or social, cultural and political activity. Yet often in these references, the preciseness of what we mean by voice is lost. Is voice in applied theatre simply another word for representation, as in ''finding'' or ''giving'' voice? Or is voice also referring to the material, sonic and embodied phenomenon of human communication, when we consider the relationship between voice, performance and social justice? In this book, voice in applied theatre is critically examined in a range of practical case studies, discussing both its symbolic and material function, demonstrating the necessity of considering both when working in applied and community spaces. In Part One, voice as a concept is introduced, discussing recent theorizations of voice and why they are significant to applied theatre. Part Two introduces the case studies, exploring divergent understandings of why the voice matters in community practice.

Applied Theatre: Voice is a unique exploration of the conceptual and practical understandings of voice in relation to applied theatre.Voice is fundamental to much practice that takes place in applied and community performance and is regularly the go-to word to articulate community involvement and engagement, be that in terms of creativity, or social, cultural and political activity. Yet often in these references, the preciseness of what we mean by voice is lost. Is voice in applied theatre simply another word for representation, as in ‘finding’ or ‘giving’ voice? Or is voice also referring to the material, sonic and embodied phenomenon of human communication, when we consider the relationship between voice, performance and social justice?In this book, voice in applied theatre is critically examined in a range of practical case studies, discussing both its symbolic and material function, demonstrating the necessity of considering both when working in applied and community spaces. In Part One, voice as a concept is introduced, discussing recent theorizations of voice and why they are significant to applied theatre. Part Two introduces the case studies, exploring divergent understandings of why the voice matters in community practice.

This book explores and critiques the concept of participation in applied theatre both theoretically and practically.Participation is one of the concepts central to applied theatre practice, but it’s mostly considered when engaging with communities in applied theatre, while the term itself is under-theorized in applied theatre discourses. This study examines and unpacks participation as a tool to foster community engagement and decolonize research and knowledge production in applied theatre practice, especially regarding representation, equity and access. What does participation even mean? What are the new and existing paradigms and frameworks in participation discourses? How do these frameworks impact participation from ethical, sociocultural, economic and aesthetic perspectives? And in what ways can applied theatre practitioners re-conceptualize and re-position participation meaningfully in their work? Through case studies drawn from a diverse range of places including Kenya, Brazil and Canada, this book presents discourses on and experiences of participation for the purpose of repositioning it.

This book explores and critiques the concept of participation in applied theatre both theoretically and practically.Participation is one of the concepts central to applied theatre practice, but it''s mostly considered when engaging with communities in applied theatre, while the term itself is under-theorized in applied theatre discourses. This study examines and unpacks participation as a tool to foster community engagement and decolonize research and knowledge production in applied theatre practice, especially regarding representation, equity and access. What does participation even mean? What are the new and existing paradigms and frameworks in participation discourses? How do these frameworks impact participation from ethical, sociocultural, economic and aesthetic perspectives? And in what ways can applied theatre practitioners re-conceptualize and re-position participation meaningfully in their work? Through case studies drawn from a diverse range of places including Kenya, Brazil and Canada, this book presents discourses on and experiences of participation for the purpose of repositioning it.

This book explores and critiques the concept of participation in applied theatre both theoretically and practically.Participation is one of the concepts central to applied theatre practice, but it''s mostly considered when engaging with communities in applied theatre, while the term itself is under-theorized in applied theatre discourses. This study examines and unpacks participation as a tool to foster community engagement and decolonize research and knowledge production in applied theatre practice, especially regarding representation, equity and access. What does participation even mean? What are the new and existing paradigms and frameworks in participation discourses? How do these frameworks impact participation from ethical, sociocultural, economic and aesthetic perspectives? And in what ways can applied theatre practitioners re-conceptualize and re-position participation meaningfully in their work? Through case studies drawn from a diverse range of places including Kenya, Brazil and Canada, this book presents discourses on and experiences of participation for the purpose of repositioning it.

This book explores and critiques the concept of participation in applied theatre both theoretically and practically.Participation is one of the concepts central to applied theatre practice, but it’s mostly considered when engaging with communities in applied theatre, while the term itself is under-theorized in applied theatre discourses. This study examines and unpacks participation as a tool to foster community engagement and decolonize research and knowledge production in applied theatre practice, especially regarding representation, equity and access. What does participation even mean? What are the new and existing paradigms and frameworks in participation discourses? How do these frameworks impact participation from ethical, sociocultural, economic and aesthetic perspectives? And in what ways can applied theatre practitioners re-conceptualize and re-position participation meaningfully in their work? Through case studies drawn from a diverse range of places including Kenya, Brazil and Canada, this book presents discourses on and experiences of participation for the purpose of repositioning it.

At once both guide book and provocation, this is an indispensable companion for students and practitioners of applied theatre. It addresses all key aspects: principles, origins, politics and aesthetics in a concise and accessible style designed to appeal both to those who have recently discovered this sub-discipline and to experienced practitioners and academics.Part 1 is divided into two chapters. The first introduces the sub-discipline of Theatre for Development, covering its origins, principles and history, and providing an overview of theatre for development in Western contexts as well as in Africa, Asia, the Indian Subcontinent and Latin America. The second focuses upon theoretical and philosophical issues confronting the discipline and its relationship to contemporary politics, as well as considering its future role.Part 2 consists of seven chapters contributed by leading figures and current practitioners from around the world and covering a diverse range of themes, methodologies and aesthetic approaches. One chapter offers a series of case studies concerned with sexual health education and HIV prevention, drawn from practitioners working in Vietnam, Papua New Guinea, Southern Africa, and China. Other chapters include studies of intercultural theatre in the Peruvian Amazon; a programme of applied theatre conducted in schools in Canterbury, New Zealand, following the 2010 earthquake; an attempt to reinvigorate a community theatre group in South Brazil; and an exchange between a Guatemalan arts collective and a Dutch youth theatre company, besides others.

Applied Theatre: Aesthetics re-examines how the idea of ''the aesthetic'' is relevant to performance in social settings. The disinterestedness that traditional aesthetics claims as a key characteristic of art makes little sense when making performances with ordinary people, rooted in their lives and communities, and with personal and social change as its aim. Yet practitioners of applied arts know that their work is not reducible to social work, therapy or education. Reconciling the simultaneous autonomy and heteronomy of art is the problem of aesthetics in applied arts. Gareth White''s introductory essay reviews the field, and proposes an interdisciplinary approach that builds on new developments in evolutionary, cognitive and neuro-aesthetics alongside the politics of art. It addresses the complexities of art and the aesthetic as everyday behaviours and responses. The second part of the book is made up of essays from leading experts and new voices in the practice and theory of applied performance, reflecting on the key problematics of applying performance with non-performers. New and innovative practice is described and interrogated, and fresh thinking is introduced in response to perennial problems.

Applied Theatre: Research is the first book to consolidate thinking about applied theatre as research through a thorough investigation of ATAR as a research methodology. It will be an indispensable resource for teachers and researchers in the area.The first section of the book details the history of the relationship between applied theatre and research, especially in the area of evaluation and impact assessment, and offering an examination of the literature surrounding applied theatre and research. The book then explores how applied theatre as research (ATAR) works as a democratic and pro-social adjunct to community based research and explains its complex relationship to arts informed inquiry, Indigenous research methods and other research epistemologies. The book provides a rationale for this approach focusing on its capacity for reciprocity within communities. The second part of the book provides a series of international case studies of effective practice which detail some of the key approaches in the method and based on work conducted in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and the South Pacific. The case studies provide a range of cultural contexts for the playing out of various forms of ATAR, and a concluding chapter considers the tensions and the possibilities inherent in ATAR.This is a groundbreaking book for all researchers who are working with communities who require a method that moves beyond current research practice.

At once both guide book and provocation, this is an indispensable companion for students and practitioners of applied theatre. It addresses all key aspects: principles, origins, politics and aesthetics in a concise and accessible style designed to appeal both to those who have recently discovered this sub-discipline and to experienced practitioners and academics.Part 1 is divided into two chapters. The first introduces the sub-discipline of Theatre for Development, covering its origins, principles and history, and providing an overview of theatre for development in Western contexts as well as in Africa, Asia, the Indian Subcontinent and Latin America. The second focuses upon theoretical and philosophical issues confronting the discipline and its relationship to contemporary politics, as well as considering its future role.Part 2 consists of seven chapters contributed by leading figures and current practitioners from around the world and covering a diverse range of themes, methodologies and aesthetic approaches. One chapter offers a series of case studies concerned with sexual health education and HIV prevention, drawn from practitioners working in Vietnam, Papua New Guinea, Southern Africa, and China. Other chapters include studies of intercultural theatre in the Peruvian Amazon; a programme of applied theatre conducted in schools in Canterbury, New Zealand, following the 2010 earthquake; an attempt to reinvigorate a community theatre group in South Brazil; and an exchange between a Guatemalan arts collective and a Dutch youth theatre company, besides others.

Applied Theatre: Research is the first book to consolidate thinking about applied theatre as research through a thorough investigation of ATAR as a research methodology. It will be an indispensable resource for teachers and researchers in the area.The first section of the book details the history of the relationship between applied theatre and research, especially in the area of evaluation and impact assessment, and offering an examination of the literature surrounding applied theatre and research. The book then explores how applied theatre as research (ATAR) works as a democratic and pro-social adjunct to community based research and explains its complex relationship to arts informed inquiry, Indigenous research methods and other research epistemologies. The book provides a rationale for this approach focusing on its capacity for reciprocity within communities. The second part of the book provides a series of international case studies of effective practice which detail some of the key approaches in the method and based on work conducted in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and the South Pacific. The case studies provide a range of cultural contexts for the playing out of various forms of ATAR, and a concluding chapter considers the tensions and the possibilities inherent in ATAR.This is a groundbreaking book for all researchers who are working with communities who require a method that moves beyond current research practice.

Applied Theatre: Research is the first book to consolidate thinking about applied theatre as research through a thorough investigation of ATAR as a research methodology. It will be an indispensable resource for teachers and researchers in the area.The first section of the book details the history of the relationship between applied theatre and research, especially in the area of evaluation and impact assessment, and offering an examination of the literature surrounding applied theatre and research. The book then explores how applied theatre as research (ATAR) works as a democratic and pro-social adjunct to community based research and explains its complex relationship to arts informed inquiry, Indigenous research methods and other research epistemologies. The book provides a rationale for this approach focusing on its capacity for reciprocity within communities. The second part of the book provides a series of international case studies of effective practice which detail some of the key approaches in the method and based on work conducted in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and the South Pacific. The case studies provide a range of cultural contexts for the playing out of various forms of ATAR, and a concluding chapter considers the tensions and the possibilities inherent in ATAR.This is a groundbreaking book for all researchers who are working with communities who require a method that moves beyond current research practice.

At once both guide book and provocation, this is an indispensable companion for students and practitioners of applied theatre. It addresses all key aspects: principles, origins, politics and aesthetics in a concise and accessible style designed to appeal both to those who have recently discovered this sub-discipline and to experienced practitioners and academics.Part 1 is divided into two chapters. The first introduces the sub-discipline of Theatre for Development, covering its origins, principles and history, and providing an overview of theatre for development in Western contexts as well as in Africa, Asia, the Indian Subcontinent and Latin America. The second focuses upon theoretical and philosophical issues confronting the discipline and its relationship to contemporary politics, as well as considering its future role.Part 2 consists of seven chapters contributed by leading figures and current practitioners from around the world and covering a diverse range of themes, methodologies and aesthetic approaches. One chapter offers a series of case studies concerned with sexual health education and HIV prevention, drawn from practitioners working in Vietnam, Papua New Guinea, Southern Africa, and China. Other chapters include studies of intercultural theatre in the Peruvian Amazon; a programme of applied theatre conducted in schools in Canterbury, New Zealand, following the 2010 earthquake; an attempt to reinvigorate a community theatre group in South Brazil; and an exchange between a Guatemalan arts collective and a Dutch youth theatre company, besides others.

Applied Theatre: Aesthetics re-examines how the idea of ''the aesthetic'' is relevant to performance in social settings. The disinterestedness that traditional aesthetics claims as a key characteristic of art makes little sense when making performances with ordinary people, rooted in their lives and communities, and with personal and social change as its aim. Yet practitioners of applied arts know that their work is not reducible to social work, therapy or education. Reconciling the simultaneous autonomy and heteronomy of art is the problem of aesthetics in applied arts. Gareth White''s introductory essay reviews the field, and proposes an interdisciplinary approach that builds on new developments in evolutionary, cognitive and neuro-aesthetics alongside the politics of art. It addresses the complexities of art and the aesthetic as everyday behaviours and responses. The second part of the book is made up of essays from leading experts and new voices in the practice and theory of applied performance, reflecting on the key problematics of applying performance with non-performers. New and innovative practice is described and interrogated, and fresh thinking is introduced in response to perennial problems.

At once both guide book and provocation, this is an indispensable companion for students and practitioners of applied theatre. It addresses all key aspects: principles, origins, politics and aesthetics in a concise and accessible style designed to appeal both to those who have recently discovered this sub-discipline and to experienced practitioners and academics.Part 1 is divided into two chapters. The first introduces the sub-discipline of Theatre for Development, covering its origins, principles and history, and providing an overview of theatre for development in Western contexts as well as in Africa, Asia, the Indian Subcontinent and Latin America. The second focuses upon theoretical and philosophical issues confronting the discipline and its relationship to contemporary politics, as well as considering its future role.Part 2 consists of seven chapters contributed by leading figures and current practitioners from around the world and covering a diverse range of themes, methodologies and aesthetic approaches. One chapter offers a series of case studies concerned with sexual health education and HIV prevention, drawn from practitioners working in Vietnam, Papua New Guinea, Southern Africa, and China. Other chapters include studies of intercultural theatre in the Peruvian Amazon; a programme of applied theatre conducted in schools in Canterbury, New Zealand, following the 2010 earthquake; an attempt to reinvigorate a community theatre group in South Brazil; and an exchange between a Guatemalan arts collective and a Dutch youth theatre company, besides others.

Applied Theatre: Aesthetics re-examines how the idea of 'the aesthetic' is relevant to performance in social settings. The disinterestedness that traditional aesthetics claims as a key characteristic of art makes little sense when making performances with ordinary people, rooted in their lives and communities, and with personal and social change as its aim. Yet practitioners of applied arts know that their work is not reducible to social work, therapy or education. Reconciling the simultaneous autonomy and heteronomy of art is the problem of aesthetics in applied arts. Gareth White's introductory essay reviews the field, and proposes an interdisciplinary approach that builds on new developments in evolutionary, cognitive and neuro-aesthetics alongside the politics of art. It addresses the complexities of art and the aesthetic as everyday behaviours and responses. The second part of the book is made up of essays from leading experts and new voices in the practice and theory of applied performance, reflecting on the key problematics of applying performance with non-performers. New and innovative practice is described and interrogated, and fresh thinking is introduced in response to perennial problems.

Applied Theatre: Research is the first book to consolidate thinking about applied theatre as research through a thorough investigation of ATAR as a research methodology. It will be an indispensable resource for teachers and researchers in the area.The first section of the book details the history of the relationship between applied theatre and research, especially in the area of evaluation and impact assessment, and offering an examination of the literature surrounding applied theatre and research. The book then explores how applied theatre as research (ATAR) works as a democratic and pro-social adjunct to community based research and explains its complex relationship to arts informed inquiry, Indigenous research methods and other research epistemologies. The book provides a rationale for this approach focusing on its capacity for reciprocity within communities. The second part of the book provides a series of international case studies of effective practice which detail some of the key approaches in the method and based on work conducted in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and the South Pacific. The case studies provide a range of cultural contexts for the playing out of various forms of ATAR, and a concluding chapter considers the tensions and the possibilities inherent in ATAR.This is a groundbreaking book for all researchers who are working with communities who require a method that moves beyond current research practice.