1st Edition
Toward a Just Pedagogy of Performance Historiography, Narrative, and Equity in Dramatic Practice
This book is a compendium of resources largely by and for artists and scholars interested in engaging in conversations of justice, diversity, and historiography in the fields of theatre and performance studies.
For these students, and for the future instructors in our field who will use this book, we hold a tripartite hope: to expand, to enable, and to provide access. In its whole, we intend for this book to provoke its readers to question the narratives of history that they’ve received (and that they may promulgate) in their artistic and scholarly work. We aim to question methods and ethics of reading present in the western mode of studying drama and performance history. The contributions in the book—not traditional chapters, but manifestos, experiences, articles, conversations, and provocations—raise questions and illuminate gaps, and they do not speak in a unified voice or from a static position. These pieces are written by artists, graduate students, teachers, administrators, and undergraduates; these are expressions of hope and of experience, and not of dogma.
This book is aimed toward instructors of undergraduates, both graduate students and faculty at all levels of seniority within theatre and performance studies, as well as at artists and practitioners of the art that wish to find more just ways of viewing history.
Preface by Charles O’Malley
Interlude: What / How
by Willow James
Part One: Our Art
The Alternative Canon: A Collaborative Discussion Panel One: A Look at the Past
A Conversation with Sharai Bohannon, David Clauson, Monty Cole, Lavina Jadhwani, Coya Paz, Denise Yvette Serna, and Dan Smith
On the Move: A Methodology for Teaching Theater Histories of Latinxs in the Americas
by Nahuel Telleria
Roundtable on Teaching and Studying Asian Theatre in the American Academy
A Conversation with Arnab Banerji, Jyana S. Browne, Po-Hsien Chu, Tarryn Chun, Jennifer Goodlander, Claire Pamment, Shayoni Mitra, Yining Shang, and Satoko Shimazaki. Facilitated by Amanda Culp
Interlude: An Intimate Night with Theatrical Black Excellence.
by Cleopatra Mavhunga
Part Two: Our Field
The Alternative Canon: A Collaborative Discussion Panel Two: Practices for the Present
A Conversation with David Clauson, Monty Cole, Kee-Yoon Nahm, Coya Paz, Denise Yvette Serna, and Dan Smith
When We Meet: Intercultural Theatre Before and After the Coronavirus Pandemic
by Nikhil Mehta
Choosing the “Best” Translation for Plays Outside the Western Canon on the Syllabus
by Kee-Yoon Nahm
The Geography of Our Discernment: What it Means to Show Up as Our Full Selves
by Nithya Nagarajan and Zainab Syed
From Dissertation Page to Stage: Applying Graduate Studies to the Regional Theater Production Process
by Taylor Barfield
Responsible Gatekeeping: Or, Questions I'm Asking Myself
by Kari Olmon
Interlude: The Lesser of Two Evils(?): How Not To Create Spaces for Brown Trans Artistry
by Catherine Alam-Nist
Part Three: Our Teaching
The Alternative Canon: A Collaborative Discussion Panel Three: Toward Utopia
by A Conversation with Sharai Bohannon, David Clauson, Kee-Yoon Nahm, and Dan Smith
How Liberal Arts Theatre Programs Are Failing Their Students of Color
by Miranda Haymon
Interlude: Double Communication: Artist as Critic and Critic as Artist
by Lil Wenker
Close Reading: How Do Texts Perform?
by Ariel Sibert and Charles O’Malley
On the Ethics of Reading: A Suggestion and a Plea
by Charles O’Malley
Better Worlds through Pedagogy: A Vision for the Theater Classroom
by Jake Allen, Kyara Mahlan, and Kelli Shermeyer with contributions by Allison Bialas and Elyssa Armenta
Adaptation as Historiography: An Approach for Undergraduate Teaching
by Elise Morrison
Biography
Charles O'Malley is a writer and dramaturg.
