Creativity in Theatre by Unknown

Creativity in Theatre by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783319789286
Publisher: Springer International Publishing


What seems critical about this response is, first, that the student is affirming the effectiveness, indeed necessity, of the verbatim approach of “asking about [people’s] lives.” And second, as Nedelsky suggested, the level of joy experienced is attributable to and commensurate with the degree of legitimacy and agency ascribed to the creative self within a significant relational setting (i.e., in the context of community).

A second strand of documentary theatre, often intersecting and blurring the definition of verbatim theatre is what Ryan Claycomb describes as oral history plays or staged oral history. The illustrious Alex Haley argued that the publication of oral history could operate as a vehicle of hope that spreads a convincing awareness that typically marginalized stories still “happen to be a matter of disciplined documented dedicated truth” (1973, p. 25). Its narrative form, replete with oppositional, non-traditional trajectories and an emphasis on the notion of community over the individual (Claycomb 2003, p. 98), seems well-suited for the agitating creative selves that fill the drama classroom. Year 2 student Brittney (female, Caucasian) felt her groups’ engagement with oral history technique facilitated a creative process that “was really, really special” because it opened the door to the expression of “stuff…they [as students] don’t really like to talk about with other people a lot” and was legitimized and entrenched by the perceived success of “educat[ing]” audiences “who may not understand things that you’re dealing with” (individual interview January 14, 2016). She additionally understood that the communal aspect of the work (“when we were all sitting in circles and groups, just, like, talking about our stories and just being open”) was significant to the outcomes because it not only “brought us a lot closer as a group” but because the trust it engendered facilitated conditions in which she and her classmates could “help them portray their story.” Importantly, for students like Brittney, even the solemn responsibility to engage in the creative act of depicting her classmate’s self, “made me feel good about myself” (emphasis added).

In Year 1, the students developed their verbatim performance work, primarily built from interviews they carried out with peers about their hopes for, and worries about, their futures. In Year 2, the students built their oral history performance work from personal stories shared by classmates, inspired by personal objects they brought into the class. We are not suggesting that all the students felt the satisfaction of self-creation as they journeyed through the prescribed verbatim (Year 1) or oral history (Year 2) curricula, despite their adherence to each style. Some of the less positive reaction may be accounted for by the social pedagogy of the classroom. The students were given a significant and comparatively unusual degree of autonomy in their group work and operated with sparse specific instruction and supervision.15 Though many students saw this approach as a strength,16 it could lead to power imbalances. In such instances, students who had less social privilege and/or capacities, might withhold responses—“I don’t want to go somewhere…I’m not wanted” (Mya, female, Somali,



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