The third piece of literature I will be reviewing is taken from an article by Joan Lazarus who teaches theatre education at the University of Texas at Austin. This article can be found through the following link: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:iipa:&rft_dat=xri:iipa:article:fulltext:iipa00575292 accessed through Athens.
The themes throughout this article are important to my ongoing discussions in my professional field surrounding the perceptions of musical theatre. I am looking to gain further insight behind the differing teaching methods of musical theatre and Lazarus has experienced many and explaining how she feels early inclusion of theatre education may have positive implications to academia. In America their society is more open to musical theatre with long historical links and its inclusion within mainstream education already being historically well established.
Lazarus writes from her own experiences and shares the many styles of teaching she has witnessed in others on her search to discover a more beneficial way of instilling knowledge and allowing progression for her pupils. In her observations Lazarus has found when children are directed to do something they often don't understand the reasoning behind why they do things so aren't able to bring substance to that action. The following exert really sheds some light on the potential teaching methods can have for future progression.
"What should I do?" Kent asked. He was working on a scene from the show. He was shifting back and forth on his feet, and his arms, dangling at his sides, seemed heavy and awkward. Kent meant, "What should I do with my body? Should I move? Look somewhere? Stand?"
I said, "Well, Jeff," (his character's name), "where are you at this moment?'
"In my room."
"What are you doing when this scene begins?"
"Avoiding my parents."
"Okay," I said. "Here are some props you can work with if you'd like. Use whatever you need. This is your room. What might you be doing right now, at this specific moment, to avoid your parents?"
The rehearsal progressed with me just asking questions, side-coaching, and encouraging him and his scene partner to try many different choices. The students explored and improvised action and dialogue related to the scene and then worked from the script. By the end of that rehearsal, they had found staging, business, line readings, and powerful moments of action and interaction that were comfortable for them and compelling for an audience. I did not tell them what to do, when to do it, or how to do it, as I used to do. I did not say "I want you to." I just prompted them to consider the dramatic truth of each moment of the scene. I helped them generate choices for those moments, and then we shaped those choices into playable action. They made the choices. They felt like actors. This is a whole new way of directing for me, but, with practice, I have come to love creating theatre in this way, in tandem with students.
Being in tandem with her student’s not just spoon feeding them but by side-coaching as she puts it clearly open up endless amounts of potential displayed in her pupils something which empowered me to want to try and develop in my own teaching practices.
I would like to further my understanding and teaching skills continuing to develop new training methods. In part this side-coaching approach is something that comes naturally to me in the sense that I continually question my reasoning behind the career choices I make and assess others actions around me. These questions led me to bring about answers and understanding of choices I make and maybe could do the same for others.
Another issue addressed by Lazarus is the ethical implications and responsibilities that lay with theatre teachers a topic which I believe should be at the forefront of all educators minds addressing whenever adults are engaged in dynamic educational and artistic experiences with children twelve- to eighteen-years-old, many questions arise. There are other important questions related to material studied and produced with young people. What is age appropriate in a secondary school theatre program? What is too much, not enough, or the right combination of exposure to contemporary societal issues for children twelve- to eighteen-years-old? What is the balance between what is age-appropriate, what is socially responsible, and what is academically relevant?
All these questions brought me right back to my initial inquiry questions and I feel that these may be questions that could bring further expansion to my search for answers. Lazarus’s techniques brought about significant change in her pupils which could be necessary for me in order to find out what is needed /what I could do to improve mine and others future in the musical theatre industry.
Joan Lazarus: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:iipa:&rft_dat=xri:iipa:article:fulltext:iipa00575292
This article is adapted from Signs of Change: New Directions in secondary Theatre Education, Joan Lazarus. Copyright © 2004 Heinemann, Portsmouth, NH. Reprinted by permission. (Accessed 27.04.11)
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