Applied Theatre: Ethics

List of contents

List of Figures
Notes on Contributors

PART ONE - How We Can Be Together

1. Introduction: Being Together, Kirsten Sadeghi-Yekta (University of Victoria, Canada) and Monica Prendergast (University of Victoria, Canada)

2. Indigenous Perspectives on Ethics and Theatre, Ruby Peter (Quw'utsun' Tribes, Canada) Kim Senklip Harvey (theatre practitioner, Canada), Deneh’Cho Thompson (University of Saskatchewan, Canada), Thomas Jones (University of Victoria, Canada), and Jill Carter (University of Toronto, Canada) with Kirsten Sadeghi-Yekta (University of Victoria, Canada)

3. Ethical Discourse in Applied Theatre: An Historiographic and Curricular Literature Review, Monica Prendergast (University of Victoria, Canada)

4. A Dialogue with James Thompson: Paper Airplanes, Good Care and Working Alongside Each Other, Kirsten Sadeghi-Yekta (University of Victoria, Canada)

PART TWO - Examples of Togetherness

5. Towards a ‘First Philosophy’ of Applied Theatre: Practice of Freedom Embedded in Responsibility for the Other, Syed Jamil Ahmed (University of Dhaka, Bangladesh)

6. For an Ethic of Critical Generosity: Facilitating Productive Discomfort in Applied Theatre Praxis, Dani Snyder-Young (Northeastern University, USA)

7. Off the Record: Can We Just Have a Conversation? An Ethics of Acceptance Approach for Applied Theatre Practice and Research, Trudy Pauluth-Penner (University of Victoria, Canada)

8.‘ Dark Night Ends’: The Ethics of Vulnerability in Applied Theatre, Zoe Zontou (Liverpool Hope University, UK)

9. Responsibility for the Other: An Ethic of Care in Applied Theatre Practice in Greek Refugee Camps, Anita Hallewas (UNSW, Australia)

10. Tensions & Ethics of Engagement: Utilizing Applied Theatre in the Context of Police Training, Yasmine Kandil (University of Victoria, Canada)

11. Ethics of Precarity in Applied Theatre: A Case Study from Nigeria, Taiwo Afolabi (University of Regina, Canada, and University of Johannesburg, South Africa)

12. Research Ethics as Censorship in Applied Theatre, Sheila Christie (Cape Breton University, Canada)

13. Colonial Adventurism in Applied Theatre: An Ethical Self-Critique, Dennis D. Gupa (University of Victoria, Canada)

14. Locked-down with Ikigai. Initial Thoughts on the Essential Void, Ruwanthie de Chickera (theatre practitioner, Sri Lanka)

Index

About the author

Dr. Kirsten Sadeghi-Yekta is Assistant Professor of Applied Theatre in the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Victoria in Canada. Her research interests are theatre in war and (post)-conflict zones, theatre in developing settings, indigenous theatre, and more specifically the meaning of language revitalization, global economics, aesthetics, social justice and human rights within the field of applied theatre. Kirsten has published articles in Research in Drama Education and chapters in a variety of theatre publications. Her research has been supported by different scholarships, including SSHRC’s Partnership Development Grant; SSHRC’s Insight Development Grant; and the Prince Bernhard Scholarship for excellent research capacities, which is administered under the auspices of His Royal Highness Prince Carlos de Bourbon de Parma. She has published a variety of chapters and articles.Dr. Monica Prendergast is Professor of Drama/Theatre Education in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction at the University of Victoria in Canada. Her research interests are drama-based curriculum and pedagogy, applied drama/theatre, and arts-based research. Monica’s books include Applied Theatre, Applied Drama, Teaching Spectatorship, Staging the Not-yet, Drama, Theatre and Performance Education in Canada, and Web of Performance. She has co-edited and co-authored two international award-winning textbooks: Applied Theatre (2010/2016, 2nd edition) and Applied Drama (2013). These books have been adopted as course texts in applied theatre programs in many countries worldwide. Ethics is the subject of a chapter in Applied Theatre and is woven throughout the drama structures included in Applied Drama.Michael Balfour is Head of School and Professor of Theatre and Performance at University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Michael’s research explores applied theatre and performance work in a range of social contexts. Michael has authored or edited 8 books, and over 50 book chapters and academic journal articles. His most recent publications include Performing Arts in Prisons: Creative Perspectives (2019), and Applied Theatre: Understanding Change (2018) with Kelly Freebody, Michael Anderson and Michael Finneran. He is the series editor of the Methuen Drama applied theatre book series, that brings together leading international scholars to engage with and advance key themes in the field of applied theatre.

Summary

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.

Product details

• Authors: Balfo, Monica Prendergast, Kirsten Sadeghi-Yekta
• Assisted by: Monica Prendergast (Editor), Prendergast Monica (Editor), Kirsten Sadeghi-Yekta (Editor), Michael Balfour (Editor of the series)
• Publisher: Methuen Drama
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 28.02.2022
• EAN: 9781350161320
• ISBN: 978-1-350-16132-0
• No. of pages: 296
• Dimensions: 146 mm x 218 mm x 22 mm
• Series: Applied Theatre
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Art > Theatre, ballet; World, PERFORMING ARTS / Theater / History & Criticism, Theatre Studies, Ethics & moral philosophy, Ethics and moral philosophy