Theatre Education and Theatre

for Young Audiences

By Kenya Thompson and Alyssa
Landroche
Theatre Education at Utah State University
Theatre Ed at USU has two different majors within the program:

● Certified (K-12)
● Applied Theatre
Certified (K-12)
Certified (K-12): You get a teaching license to teach in any grade K-12. By the end of your 4-year
degree you will be able to teach theatre in any grade K-12.

● Your job is to introduce drama to the students and teach them according to the State’s Drama
Core Standards. For example...
○ Standard 7–8.T.CR.3: Use form and structure to create a scene or play with a beginning, middle, and end that includes
full character development, believable dialogue, and logical plot outcomes.
○ Standard 7–8.T.CO.3: Examine contemporary social, cultural, or global issues through different forms of drama theatre
work.
○ Standard 1.T.P.8: Develop audience awareness in dramatic play and experiences.
○ Standard 1.T.CR.5: Create character through imagination, physical movement, gesture, sound and/or speech and facial
expression.

Question: How many of you took a theatre class in high school? What was your experience?
Applied Theatre
Applied theatre is theatre for social change.

● Certified is in the schools. . . Applied is in the community

Many of the methods of Applied theatre came from Augusto Boal.

Augusto Boal was a director and politician from Brazil who believed that theatre should not only
address social issues but strive to change and create discussion about those social issues.

● He founded “Theatre of the Oppressed” which turns the audience into “spectators”. He believed
that the audience should take an active role in the theatre they were watching.
● He also created theatrical processes to explore social issues such as image theatre, forum
theatre, and invisible theatre
Applied theatre Cont.
● Image theatre: Creating an image with your body to represent a certain situation or emotion.
You can also string together the images to create a story.
○ Why would image theatre be effective in addressing and challenging social issues?
● Forum theatre: A scene where a protagonist and an antagonist. The protagonist is trying to
achieve something. The audience gives suggestions to the protagonist on how to reach their
goal. The purpose of this exercise is not to solve the problem of the protagonist (the scene
never gets resolved), but is to explore different possibilities and ideas to overcome the
antagonist to reach their goal.
● Invisible theatre: This type of theatre is done in a non-theatre environment, usually around
people who don’t know they are the audience of a performance. The actors perform a scene to
see how the audience around them reacts.
○ Ex. “What would you do”
A commercialized look at “Invisible theatre”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqC1igL0kuE
Applied theatre cont.
Applied theatre also deals a lot with devised material.

Devising is creating an original play based off of members of the ensemble or the community.

When material is taken from sources other than the ensemble is called an “Ethnodrama”.

Examples at USU:

● Encounter
● Facing Depression
Facing Depression
Classes
● Applied Theatre ● Methods of Teaching
Theatre 7-12

● Drama Across the

Curriculum ● Theatre for Young
Audiences
● Methods of Teaching
Drama K-6
http://www.aate.com/benefi
ts-of-theatre-ed
Spectrum of Difference
Theatre For Young Audiences
Spectrum of Difference:

Theatre for Young Audiences should provide a

solely ENTERTAINING experience for young
people.
Theatre for Young Audiences
Spectrum of Difference:

Theatre for Young Audiences should provide a

solely EDUCATIONAL experience for young
people.
ASSITEJ - International Association of Theatre for Children and Young People

“ASSITEJ recognizes the right of all children and young people to enrichment
through the arts and their own cultural traditions, especially theatre culture.
Theatre respects its young audiences by presenting their hopes, dreams, and fears;
it develops and deepens experience, intelligence, emotion, and imagination; it
inspires ethical choices; it increases awareness of social relationships; it
encourages self-esteem, tolerance, confidence, and the free expression of
opinions. Above all, it helps future generations find their place and voice in
society.”
Theatre for Young Audiences
Spectrum of Difference:

Theatre for Young Audiences plays should

consist of ADULT actors and should be
performed for a wide variety of age groups.
Theatre for Young Audiences
Spectrum of Difference:

Theatre for Young Audiences plays should

consist of young performers and be
performed primarily for young audience.
Theatre for Young Audiences
Spectrum of Difference:

TYA plays should discuss social issues.

What is “appropriate” for young audiences?
What topics should TYA discuss? How should
these topics be presented?
Theatre for Young Audiences
A TYPE of theatre: For young people, about young people.

1. AGE OF AUDIENCES:
a. Theatre for the Very Young (0-5)
b. Theatre for Young Audiences (6-18)
i. Lower Elementary
ii. Upper Elementary
iii. Junior High
iv. Teens
c. Theatre for Young Adults (18-25) (International)
d. Family Theatre (multigenerational)
2. Performed in schools, touring to schools and in professional companies.
TYA Plays
And Then Came Tango- Controversy around Roy and Silo, two male
penguins, who raise an egg together (based on real events)
Transition of Doodle Pequeno- Bullying, gender identity and gender
roles
Wrestling Season- Rumors, bullying, sexual orientation, homophobia
The Yellow Boat- Death, HIV/AIDS,
The Arkansaw Bear- Family, grief, death
TYA Plays Continued…
Step on a Crack- Family relationships,
With Two Wings-Disabilities, alienation
Matilda the Musical- empowering young people to take charge of their
own story
Herby Alice Counts Down to Yesterday- social roles, “popularity”
Sideways Stories from Wayside School- resilience, persistence, learning
Professional TYA Companies Mission Statements:
(basically all revolve
● Lexington Children’s Theatre (Lexington, KY) around)
● Children’s Theatre Company (Minneapolis, MN) creates imaginative and
● Boston’s Children’s Theatre (Boston, MA) compelling theatre
experiences for young
● Louisville Children’s Theatre (Louisville, KY) people and families.
● Seattle’s Children’s Theatre (Seatle, WA)
gives voice to young artists,
● 24th Street Theatre, Los Angeles empowering them to find their
place in the world. We do this by
● Adventure Stage Chicago providing intensive professional
training that fuels the production
● Alliance Theatre, Atlanta of bold, relevant and innovative
● Childsplay, Tempe, Ariz. theatrical experiences for
audiences of all ages.
● Omaha Theater Company, Omaha, Neb.
● Oregon Children’s Theatre, Portland, Ore. Life skills and lessons