Teachers have an undeniable influence on youth, on whose shoulders tomorrow rests. It is vital for teachers to be conscious of their role in both the local and global community in order to facilitate occasions for students to develop a sense of global consciousness. By imparting to students the desire to learn and to explore their interactions with things, people and experiences, and actively pursue knowledge, they develop critical literacy skills required to both acquire understanding and be(come) understood. Through this research study, the implications of applying David Diamond’s community drama work called Theatre for Living, as an effective and critical literacy practice to enhance social conciousness within a middle school, is assesssed. The program was implemented in a split grade 7/8 and grade 8 classroom in southwestern Ontario. The study exemplifies for educators a practical yet significant step for initializing and developing a broad sense of awareness in students; that is the sense of global consciousness.

This thesis document presents a case study of a professional development playbuilding process at a public elementary school located in Austin, Texas. The study argues that playbuilding is a form of participatory action arts-based research particularly when positioned within the professional development setting. This qualitative study uses a narrative thematic analysis of the playbuilding process and workshop performance to examine how reflective and reflexive practice is situated within playbuilding as professional development. The document concludes with a discussion of the limitations and transformative potential of playbuilding and argues for the creation of critical pedagogical professional learning communities for teachers in school settings. / text

Teachers have an undeniable influence on youth, on whose shoulders tomorrow rests. It is vital for teachers to be conscious of their role in both the local and global community in order to facilitate occasions for students to develop a sense of global consciousness. By imparting to students the desire to learn and to explore their interactions with things, people and experiences, and actively pursue knowledge, they develop critical literacy skills required to both acquire understanding and be(come) understood. Through this research study, the implications of applying David Diamond’s community drama work called Theatre for Living, as an effective and critical literacy practice to enhance social conciousness within a middle school, is assesssed. The program was implemented in a split grade 7/8 and grade 8 classroom in southwestern Ontario. The study exemplifies for educators a practical yet significant step for initializing and developing a broad sense of awareness in students; that is the sense of global consciousness.

Teachers have an undeniable influence on youth, on whose shoulders tomorrow rests. It is vital for teachers to be conscious of their role in both the local and global community in order to facilitate occasions for students to develop a sense of global consciousness. By imparting to students the desire to learn and to explore their interactions with things, people and experiences, and actively pursue knowledge, they develop critical literacy skills required to both acquire understanding and be(come) understood. Through this research study, the implications of applying David Diamond’s community drama work called Theatre for Living, as an effective and critical literacy practice to enhance social conciousness within a middle school, is assesssed. The program was implemented in a split grade 7/8 and grade 8 classroom in southwestern Ontario. The study exemplifies for educators a practical yet significant step for initializing and developing a broad sense of awareness in students; that is the sense of global consciousness.

This MFA Thesis traces my work as a joker (a la Theatre of the Oppressed) and facilitator through a three-year-long project with a trans applied theatre troupe. The troupe explored several techniques, including Image Theatre, Playback Theatre, storytelling exercises, and somatic movement. In three semester-long workshops, the troupe focused work around three sets of techniques. In the first workshop, the troupe explored the community-based interview process of Undesirable Elements, as designed by Ping Chong in collaboration with Talvin Wilks and Sara Zatz. These techniques were interrogated using queer and trans temporalities. In the second unit, the troupe practiced Augusto Boal’s “Cops in the Head” techniques from The Rainbow of Desire, utilizing a sociological perspective to examine the “ghosts” these techniques produce. In the final semester, I devised techniques specifically for and about transgender people, invoking trans theory and queer theory to explore issues of naming, trauma, and trans possibilities. Through this work I argue that techniques designed for cisgender bodies require adaptation to find success in transgender communities. I argue that the future of this work is not transforming existing techniques to suit our needs, rather it is creating techniques with transgender bodies and identities at the core.

<p>By means of text creation I approach, reflect upon and try a number of aspects of my own professional existence as a joker in forum theatre and as a forum play pedagogue.This essay is structured like the days of a week and it specifically relates three problematic situations: first, a Monday containing a case of discrimination during the performance, then, a glimpse from a Wednesday when I failed to use the time with enough consideration of our common work and, finally, a Thursday when I was professionally questioned.These three situations are described thoroughly and then they are tried by me. This is carried out partly by reasoning, partly by using for example sociological, pedagogical and above all philosophical texts in order to widen my understanding of my existence as joker and forum play pedagogue. When writing this essay I really realized the importance of taking the reactions of the spec-tators into consideration. I have had the opportunity to develop thoughts about the way in which reflection is created and thoughts about different layers of reflection. I have also pondered over the way in which I distinguish between forum play and therapy as a forum play pedagogue. Yet another question I consider is to what extent the interaction between myself and my clients influences the performance of my work. I have also included thoughts about in what way a person’s professional position and power influence our common work.Finally, my intention is to make my text in some way illustrate its contents. The importance of striving towards this aspect became more and more obvious as the text developed. Among other themes I have focused on for example norms, constructions of time and language metaphors. When writing this essay, I have detected gaps, or inconsistencies, in my performance where ways of thinking are contradictory. I believe these gaps, or inconsistencies, to be the very means for a continued dialogue in the future.</p> / <p>Genom textskapande närmar jag mig, reflekterar och prövar några sidor av min egen yrkestillvaro som joker i forumteater och som forumspelspedagog. Essän är strukturerad som en vecka och rymmer tillbakablickar på tre problematiska situationer: en måndag med diskriminering under en föreställning, en glimt från en onsdag där jag inte disponerade tiden med tillit till det gemensamma arbetet, och en torsdag då jag blev ifrågasatt i mitt yrke.Situationerna gestaltas ingående genom texten och därefter prövar jag dem. Detta sker dels genom eget resonerande, dels via genomlysning med hjälp av texter till exempel hämtade från fälten sociologi, pedagogik och yrkeskunnande men i synnerhet genom filosofiska texter. Arbetet med essän har gjort mig observant på vikten av att uppmärksamma publikreaktioner. Jag har fått möjlighet att utveckla tankar om hur reflektion görs, hur den uppstår och tankar om olika lager av reflektion. Vidare har jag begrundat hur man som forumspelspedagog drar gränsen mellan arbete med forumspel och terapi. Essäskrivandet har likaså fått mig att fundera över hur samspelet med mina uppdragsgivare påverkar utförandet av uppdraget. Genom essän har jag också belyst tankegångar om hur personers ställning och makt påverkar mitt arbete. Jag har genom texten i sig velat ge gestalt åt delar av dess innehåll. Denna aspekt växte sig starkare allteftersom texten växte fram. I texten har jag också belyst till exempel normer, tidskonstruktioner och språkets metaforer. Genom att skriva essän har jag fått syn på glipor där sätt att tänka delvis går emot varandra. Jag menar att just glipor skapar möjlighet till fortsatt dialog.</p>

By means of text creation I approach, reflect upon and try a number of aspects of my own professional existence as a joker in forum theatre and as a forum play pedagogue.This essay is structured like the days of a week and it specifically relates three problematic situations: first, a Monday containing a case of discrimination during the performance, then, a glimpse from a Wednesday when I failed to use the time with enough consideration of our common work and, finally, a Thursday when I was professionally questioned.These three situations are described thoroughly and then they are tried by me. This is carried out partly by reasoning, partly by using for example sociological, pedagogical and above all philosophical texts in order to widen my understanding of my existence as joker and forum play pedagogue. When writing this essay I really realized the importance of taking the reactions of the spec-tators into consideration. I have had the opportunity to develop thoughts about the way in which reflection is created and thoughts about different layers of reflection. I have also pondered over the way in which I distinguish between forum play and therapy as a forum play pedagogue. Yet another question I consider is to what extent the interaction between myself and my clients influences the performance of my work. I have also included thoughts about in what way a person’s professional position and power influence our common work.Finally, my intention is to make my text in some way illustrate its contents. The importance of striving towards this aspect became more and more obvious as the text developed. Among other themes I have focused on for example norms, constructions of time and language metaphors. When writing this essay, I have detected gaps, or inconsistencies, in my performance where ways of thinking are contradictory. I believe these gaps, or inconsistencies, to be the very means for a continued dialogue in the future. / Genom textskapande närmar jag mig, reflekterar och prövar några sidor av min egen yrkestillvaro som joker i forumteater och som forumspelspedagog. Essän är strukturerad som en vecka och rymmer tillbakablickar på tre problematiska situationer: en måndag med diskriminering under en föreställning, en glimt från en onsdag där jag inte disponerade tiden med tillit till det gemensamma arbetet, och en torsdag då jag blev ifrågasatt i mitt yrke.Situationerna gestaltas ingående genom texten och därefter prövar jag dem. Detta sker dels genom eget resonerande, dels via genomlysning med hjälp av texter till exempel hämtade från fälten sociologi, pedagogik och yrkeskunnande men i synnerhet genom filosofiska texter. Arbetet med essän har gjort mig observant på vikten av att uppmärksamma publikreaktioner. Jag har fått möjlighet att utveckla tankar om hur reflektion görs, hur den uppstår och tankar om olika lager av reflektion. Vidare har jag begrundat hur man som forumspelspedagog drar gränsen mellan arbete med forumspel och terapi. Essäskrivandet har likaså fått mig att fundera över hur samspelet med mina uppdragsgivare påverkar utförandet av uppdraget. Genom essän har jag också belyst tankegångar om hur personers ställning och makt påverkar mitt arbete. Jag har genom texten i sig velat ge gestalt åt delar av dess innehåll. Denna aspekt växte sig starkare allteftersom texten växte fram. I texten har jag också belyst till exempel normer, tidskonstruktioner och språkets metaforer. Genom att skriva essän har jag fått syn på glipor där sätt att tänka delvis går emot varandra. Jag menar att just glipor skapar möjlighet till fortsatt dialog.

Augusto Boal developed Theatre of the Oppressed as a way of using the symbolic language of the dramatic arts in the examination of power relations in both the personal and social contexts. Boal understood that symbolic realities directly influence empirical reality and that drama, as an art form that employs the narrative and the event, serves as a powerful interface between symbols and actuality. In the dramatic process, the creation and the environment from which it emerges are inevitably transformed in the process of enactment. These transformations manifest in the context of power relations - in the context of the receptors ability to make decisions and to engage in actions, and the communicators ability to influence the receptors opinions and behaviour. This thesis will examine two different practices in which symbolic realities have been utilised in the context of human relations of power. Primarily, this thesis examines the theory and practice of Theatre of the Oppressed as it has developed.