Thesis (EdD) Australian Catholic University, 2005. / Submitted as a partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Education. Bibliography: p. 213-229. Also available in an electronic version via the internet.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Liberty University, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Children's Theatre, although appreciated by participants, has largely been marginalized, even by practitioners in theatre. It is still viewed as a lesser form oftheatre and as a dumping ground for resources from adult theatre. There are two main areas of focus as far as the field of drama for children is concerned. Both areas are based on the notion that play is an important and beneficial part of child development and that dramatic play is a natural development of free play. This study examines the similiarities and differences between the two approaches. The one area concerns itself with creative or educational drama where the child participates in drama activities, usually within a classroom situation. The other area, which is, in fact, the main focus of this study, concerns itself with theatrical presentation for children, i.e. Children's Theatre. Children's Theatre, with adults as the performers, is the most familiar form of Children's Theatre and yet, the one form which directly influences most children, in particular through participation in the school play, is Children's Theatre where children are the performers themselves, in other words, a form of participational theatre. This form of theatre has the potential for influencing children's lives immensely and yet it is often left to persons with no expertise in the field to lead such projects. The opportunity for truly enriching the participants' lives is often lost through poor methodology. Historically, the aims and values set for Children's Theatre have also undergone development to the point where a synthesis has been reached where equal emphasis is to be placed on the quality of the end product as well as the process by which such end product has been reached. A number of problems and issues specific to working in Children's Theatre are examined as they occur in different settings. These include problems concerning script, venue, the child audience and audience participation and problems dealing specifically with the process of directing a cast of children. Possible solutions to these problems are investigated. An approach, based on the theories of practitioners in the field, as well as the results of a number of practical projects, will be formulated. The practical projects will be used to investigate certain viewpoints expressed by practitioners in the field. The approach formulated should not only encourage work of a high artistic standard but should also be based on sound educational principles. Central to this is the approach and style of the director who, in Children's Theatre, is far more than just a director of a theatrical presentation. The director in Children's Theatre is always teacher and director at once. / AFRIKAASNE OPSOMMING: Kinderteater, alhoewel gewild onder deelnemers, is grootliks gemarginaliseer, selfs deur praktisyns in teater. Dit word steeds gesien as 'n mindere teatervorm en 'n stortingsterrein vir hulpbronne van volwasse teater. Daar is twee hoof fokusareas wat drama vir kinders aanbetref. Beide areas is gebaseer op die idee dat spel 'n belangrike en voordelige aspek van kinderontwikkeling is en dramatiese spel 'n natuurlike ontwikkeling van vrye spel. Hierdie studie ondersoek die ooreenkomste en verskille tussen die twee areas. Die een area fokus op kreatiewe of opvoedkundige drama waar die kind deelneem aan drama aktiwiteite, gewoonlik binne 'n klaskamer opset. Die ander area, wat die fokusarea van hierdie studie is, is gemoeid met verhoogaanbiedings vir kinders, dus Kinderteater. Kinderteater, waar volwassenes die spelers is, is die meer bekende vorm van Kinderteater en tog is Kinderteater waar kinders die optreders is, die vorm wat meer kinders beïnvloed, veral deur deelname aan die skoolproduksie. Hier is kinders self die optreders in 'n vorm van deelnemende teater. Hierdie vorm van Kinderteater het die potensiaal om kinders gewelding te beïnvloed en tog word dit dikwels oorgelaat aan persone sonder die nodige kennis op die gebied om sulke projekte te lei. Die geleentheid om kinders positief te verryk raak verlore as gevolg van swak metodologie. Histories het die waardes en oogmerke rondom Kinderteater onwikkeling ondergaan tot die punt waar 'n sintese bereik is waar klem gelê word op die kwaliteit van beide die finale produk en die proses waardeur die eindproduk bereik is. 'n Aantal probleme en kwessies wat eie is aan werk binne Kinderteater sal ondersoek word soos hulle voorkom binne verskeie opsette. Hierby word ingesluit probleme met teks, speelarea, die kindergehoor en gehoordeelname en probleme wat spesifiek handeloor die proses van regie vir kinders as spelers. Moontlike oplossing vir hierdie probleme salondersoek word. 'n Benadering gebaseer op die teorieë van praktisyns op die gebied sowel as die uitslae van 'n aantal praktiese projekte, sal geformuleer word. Die praktiese projekte sal gebruik word om die menings van praktisyns op die gebied te ondersoek. Die benadering moet werk van 'n hoogstaande artistieke gehalte bevorder en moet gebaseer wees op deurgronde onderwysbeginsels. Sentraal tot so 'n benadering is die aanslag en styl van die regisseur wat in Kinderteater veel meer moet wees as bloot 'n regisseur van 'n verhoogopvoering. Die regisseur in Kinderteater is altyd beide onderwyser en regisseur.

Thesis(MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2008. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2009. / Title from PDF title page (University of Texas Digital Repository, viewed on July 30, 2009). Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

In 1999, Austin-based Rude Mechanicals theatre ensemble created Grrl Action, an autobiographical writing and performance program for teenage girls, one of many advocacy and empowerment programs focused on female youth nationwide. Still today, Austin-area girls come together each summer to generate original performances based on their own life experiences. Their final collaborative production, which combines solo work with group pieces and covers topics as disparate as body image and illegal immigration, illuminates the ways that girls perform different, multiple, and shifting identities, both collectively and individually. This dissertation posits Grrl Action--part of a more general trend towards collective autobiography in girls' cultural production--as an ideal lens through which to examine the complexity of teenage girls' identity performance(s) in the United States today. I situate Grrl Action as an embodied site where girls deliberately play with (and among) multiple selves onstage and, in effect, challenge commercial constructions of female adolescence and expand the very definition of girlhood. As a former Program Director and Instructor for Grrl Action, I build on what Dwight Conquergood might call my role as ethnographic "co-performer" to examine not only live theatre events, but also the material circumstances that create them. My introduction provides an overview of identity performance discourse outside of theatre settings and posits my study of Grrl Action as a means of borrowing back the language of performativity for girls exploring their identities in theatrical settings. Chapter One focuses on girls' performances of non-normative sexuality to examine how Grrl Action might be considered a new kind of feminist theatre collective. Chapter Two looks at girls' I- and you-statements to analyze the ways that female youth cast both themselves and their audiences in nuanced "definitional ceremonies." Chapter Three centers on girls' tears and traumatic testimony to situate Grrl Action as a site of affective transference between girl-performers and women-spectators. My conclusion is self-reflexive, as I suggest ways that women who work with girls might put their own identity performances on the line both inside and outside programs like Grrl Action. / text

Thesis (M.F.A.)--University of Central Florida, 2008. / Adviser: Julia Listengarten. Includes bibliographical references (p. 107-108).

Thesis (MDram (Drama))--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / In Britain provision is made for students with a low Basic Skills level (literacy and numeracy) to continue with their post-GCSE education in a low level vocational course. These low level courses aim to teach students basic, life and vocational skills necessary to progress to the next level. This study aims to find a pedagogy which is suited to the needs of these marginalised students and transforms them from spectators into spect-actors. Two programmes were designed, implemented, managed and measured by this study in order to find the pedagogy best suited to the needs of these students. Programme 1 was based on ideas by the educationalists Kolb, Petty, Honey and Mumford; and aimed to empower students with the basic and life skills necessary for progression. Programme 1 failed as the mostly narrative pedagogy was associated with a similar pedagogy used in schools. Assessment methods were unsuitable and the course paid more attention to the needs of the group than the needs of the individual. Programme 2 aimed to actively involve students in the learning of skills essential to progression and was based on theatrical techniques. Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed techniques, especially Forum Theatre, formed the basis of the student-centred programme. Boal’s interactive theatre techniques, together with ideas taken from Aristotle, Artaud, Brecht, Heathcote and Freire formed the pedagogy of an interactive course where the focus fell on the needs of the individual student. This study found that Programme 2 was successful. Students took to the taskbased interactive course where all solutions to problems were found by means of active investigation, no theorem was learned without application and no action took place without a purpose. Students changed from spectators into spectactors with a view that the world is not stagnant but transformable. Achievement and success rates back up the findings. The interactive pedagogy using theatre techniques to teach can be applied across the curriculum and it is suggested that such courses should run alongside main stream academic courses to accommodate the learning of all students.