Annotation
Socially Engaged Theatre is a practical seminar developed by Reka Deak. It will take place during the summer semester 2023/2024, focusing on socially engaged theatre methods: Forum Theatre, Sociometry and Documentary Theatre.
Students interested in the use of theatre in community or educational settings are welcomed. No theatre experience is required. The students will be invited to investigate, discover, rethink and undertake actions to reach their communities and express issues that genuinely concern them via theatre work.
Students will gain theoretical, critical, practical knowledge to explore and connect with their more intimate or broader communities through developing ideas or initiatives. The curriculum will take the shape of a laboratory to express themes related to issues that concern them and their communities. This seminar, by tackling social issues and searching for an identity through supporting self-knowing and social issues mapping, conceivably will make the participating students more responsible and conscious.
Lessons will encourage students by introducing them to possibilities of the above-mentioned theatre methods. These methods will serve in creating a safe, inspiring and comfortable teaching environment to express authentic issues related to personal and social themes.
On completion of this seminar, the students will be able to:
● Grasp the foundation, key theories of socially engaged theatre.
● Apply socially engaged theatre forms in wide range of settings
● Applying skills of awareness, articulation and collaboration
● Facilitate short workshops in their context.
Course requirements and examination:
Students will be awarded 3 credits if:
A) attend: maximum of 3 absences (tracked on the attendance sheet) are accepted.
B) Students will be evaluated through exam papers (zkouška)
● One short written or presented assignment during the semester (max 30 points)
● Project paper - either a documentation of developing practice or researching seminar topics, both including personal lessons learned ( max 70 points)
Grading system 91 - 100 points: A - excellent (outstanding performance with only minor mistakes) 81 - 90 points: B - very good (above average performance with some mistakes) 71 - 80 points: C - good (overall good performance with a number of notable mistakes) 61 - 70 points: D - satisfactory (acceptable performance with significant mistakes) 51 - 60 points: E - sufficient (performance fulfils only minimum criteria) less than 51 points: F - insufficient/failed (more effort needs to be made)
Syllabus
During the summer semester which contains 17 lessons, each lasting 90 minutes, students will sequentially learn the Socially Engaged Theatre methods to achieve a theoretical and practical grounding as follows:
Lesson 1-3 - Introduction: focus on how to establish an ensemble and begin to develop individual and group skills prior to leading off discovering methods.
Lesson 4-6 Sociometry: Jacob Levy Moreno embodied dynamic groupings, called sociometry will be explored with acting, improvisation and spontaneity.
Lesson 7-10 Forum Theatre: through a selection of case studies, key practices, we will highlight Boal’s invention.
Lesson 11-14 Documentary theatre: By drawing on journalism, lessons will focus on how to present the truth of an event and open up dialogue, as well raise awareness.
Lesson 15-17 - Capstone
Obligatory reading:
Students will use essential readings from selected books to place the central strands of the seminar’s course work in a historical context and interpret the key artistic, pedagogical, and cultural theories that inform them.
Augusto., A., 2013. Theatre of the Oppressed. Theatre Communications Group.
Forsyth, A. and Megson, C., 2011. Get real. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire
[England]: Palgrave Macmillan.
Freire, P., 1972. Pedagogy of the oppressed. [Place of publication not identified]:
Penguin Education.
Kumashiro, K.K.m 2000 Toward a Theory of Anti-Oppressive Education, [Place of publication not identified]: Review of Educational Research.
Moreno, J., 1941. Foundations of sociometry. [S.l.]: Beacon House.