Serious Play: The Uses of Theatre-Based Strategies in Community Partnership

Loading...
Thumbnail Image

Date

2019-04

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Ohio State University. Office of Outreach and Engagement

Research Projects

Organizational Units

Journal Issue

Abstract

We will highlight the work of InterACT and Be The Street, two key community engagement partnerships rooted in the Department of Theatre, seeded with cross-disciplinary Ohio State campus investment, and flourishing among scores of campus and community partners. We will also detail the Department of Theatre's developing Graduate Certificate in the Pedagogy of Civic Practice and Public Performance, which builds upon our disciplinary expertise toward the application of theatre and performance strategies to community partnerships and social change activities. In addition to contextualizing our current work and our developing training capacities, we will involve attendees in hands-on exercises that deploy performance in our civic practice. Our goal, then, is both to share our best practices via case studies and to offer tangible, useful takeaways that participants can put to use in their own partnerships.

Description

In this lecture/demonstration, we will highlight the work of InterACT (https://theatre.osu.edu/undergraduate/getting-involved/create/interact) and Be The Street (https://u.osu.edu/bethestreet/). These two key community engagement partnerships are rooted in the Department of Theatre, seeded with cross-disciplinary Ohio State campus investment, and flourishing amongst scores of campus and community partners. We will also detail the Department of Theatre's developing graduate certificate in the Pedagogy of Civic Practice and Public Performance (https://theatre.osu.edu/pcp3conference), which builds upon our community engagement partnerships as well as our broader disciplinary expertise toward the application of theatre and performance strategies to community partnerships and social change activities. All three of these initiatives pull together toward the imagining of a sustainable, just future and the development of resilient, courageous students and partners. In addition to contextualizing our current work and our developing training capacities, presenters will involve attendees in hands-on exercises that deploy performance in our civic practice. Our goal, then, is both to share our best practices via case studies and to offer participants tangible, useful takeaways they could put to use in their own partnerships. Our target audience members are Ohio State faculty, staff, and partners who use (or are interested in using) the strategies of theatrical performance in their community partnerships.
AUTHOR AFFILIATION: Jennifer Schlueter, associate professor, Ohio State Department of Theatre, schlueter.10@osu.edu (Corresponding Author); Elizabeth Wellman, associated faculty, Ohio State Department of Theatre; Moriah Flagler, postdoctoral researcher, Ohio State Department of Theatre and Department of Comparative Studies

Keywords

community-engaged devising, civic practice, applied theatre

Citation

Engaged Scholars, v. 7 (2019).