The purpose of this project was to broaden my skill set and responsibilities within a well-established theatre company by transitioning from performer to director. I would accomplish this goal by using my extensive knowledge of the inner-workings of the Redlands Theatre Festival, while applying my own set of techniques, philosophies, and judgments. The project was based around the Redlands Theatre Festival’s (RTF) production of The Hot L Baltimore, written by Lanford Wilson, performed by resident actors and the acting company of RTF. I was given the opportunity to direct the play under the supervision of the Artistic Producing Director and founder of the then 40-year-old theatre company. The assignment had one main component: directing a successful production in an already-established company of experienced theatre artists. This main task was riddled with myriad complications in its production methodology. Contributing factors to the success of this project included thorough research of the period and material, a strong background in acting, creativity and the willing suspension of disbelief amongst performers and audience, trial and error, and the drive to share my passion of theatre. Many opinions and critiques were available upon the opening of the production and I am confident that this project was a success, in many ways. The play was well-received by audiences, as well as a positive and educational experience for the performers. Upon the completion of the project, I have a deeper understanding of the specialized techniques that are required, and necessary, for me to amass future successes in similar endeavors with the Redlands Theatre Festival.

This thesis presents a workbook for creating a course that combines researching both theatre for young audiences and devised theatre to create a touring production and company. Devised theatre is a form of theatre where the script originates from collaborative creation, improvisation, and physical movement. This course explored the past, present and future of theatre for young audiences both domestically and abroad. Students worked in a collaborative effort devising and producing a TYA piece based on Hans Christian Anderson’s The Snow Queen and studied the child audience through reading assignments and practical experience. This thesis is intended to showcase the value of teaching college undergraduate how to perform TYA productions as well as to show how devised theatre can help foster the actor’s creativity and help to reach a whole new generation.

Theater programs that focus solely on the influence of the Stanislavski system are neglecting students’ opportunity to experience additional approaches to performance study that focus more readily on the sensations of the human body and the practices of improvisation to prepare actors to be able to stay present and respond truthfully within any moment. The pedagogical work of Jacques Copeau and Jacques Lecoq, which relies on improvisation, paired with more recent stylings of improv teachers such as Viola Spolin, Keith Johnstone, and Del Close reignite a modern sensation of play, found uninhibited in the world of nature, such as the expressive freedoms found in infants. These techniques bring out a truthful style of performance that is tailored to the individual, instead of tailoring the individual to the style. Not only are these performance methodologies useful to the performance artist, but they also hold proven in communities outside of the arts, helping people understand different perspectives, and improve their compacity for empathy and communication.

Original exercises based on the work of Sanford Meisner (as well as Viola Spolin, Jeffrey Agrell and others) are presented in a hypothetical voice studio to address truthfulness, point of view, and "reality of doing" on the vocal recital stage. The exercises present a way of addressing work on the "self" before work on the "role."

Using the research methods from grounded theory and action research, the study examines a research method used for the development of a Group Devised Performance Piece. It details and analyses the process used in the transactional system of change and action/interaction resulting from the specific conditions that surrounded the Group Devised Performance, and examines the products of that process: the written script and the final performance. The study was conducted with a group of HSC 2 Unit Drama students at a non-government high school in March 1996. The performance formed part of an assessment program for these students and was student devised and student driven. The research methods included the collection of data in questionnaires, the maintaining of detailed daily records, video tapes, photographs and the compilation of the written script. Like any series of rehearsals, the process produced surprising and unplanned consequences (outcomes) and provided an environment that encouraged interaction and involvement, companionship and competition, / Master of Arts (Hons) (Performance)

This research investigates the drama eduction form of playbuilding, and particularly the phenomenon of kinaesthetic teaching and learning which is aimed at enhancing group imagination and creativity. Playbuilding is a process whereby groups of students devise and act in their own plays using a variety of dramatic elements and theatrical conventions. This research explores the playbuilding learning experiences of two secondary school drama classes and the playbuilding teaching experiences of four drama teachers. The research underpins current drama and theatre education praxis that relates to learning through embodiment, symbolic creativity, and the purpose and function of metaxis in a secondary drama classroom. The study relied on qualitative research grounded theory techniques, focus groups, student workbooks, classrooms practices, closed questionnaires, face to face interviews and videotaped materials. Central to this research are the phenomena of imagining and creating that occur in secondary drama playbuilding groups learning through a group kinaesthetic paradigm. This study concludes that there is a paradigm which identifies secondary drama students as group kinaesthetic learners, and that kinaesthetic teaching and learning practices open up pedagogic spaces in playbuilding that significantly improve the effectiveness of group embodied learning in drama education / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

In the last fifty years, there has been a concern in the theatre world especially in Europe, about how to train actors to be open and responsive. One of the most respected and well-known teachers in this area is Monika Pagneux who taught for many years in Paris and now aged in her seventies, works as a freelance artist around the world. Her area of expertise is movement for actors. The aim of her work is to develop not only a responsive body but also an open and alive actor who is able to be creative in a disciplined yet risk-taking manner. This thesis is an investigation of the world of Monika Pagneux, including her fundamental principles and platforms of teaching movement for actors. A portrait of her work will be drawn and her influence on other performing arts practitioners. The data comes from three sources: my own field notes based on six weeks of classes in Australia and Paris, additional class notes by a movement expert and ten responses to an open ended questionnaire by former students. Their answers provide insights into the impact of her teaching professionally, in their lives and how they were transformed by her practice.

PhD / This thesis considers actors as ‘manual philosophers’; it engages the proposition that acting can reveal aspects of existence and Being. In this sense, forms of acting that analyse and engage with lived experience of the world offer a phenomenological approach to the problem of Being. But rather than arrive at abstract, general conclusions about the human subject’s relationship to the world, at least some approaches to acting investigate the structures of experience through those experiences themselves in a lived, physical way. I begin with the troubled relationship between philosophy and theatre and briefly consider the history of attacks on actors. I suggest that at the heart of antitheatricality is what Jonas Barish (1981: 3) calls ‘ontological queasiness’: theatre poses a problem in the distinction between ‘what is’ and ‘what is not’. Turning to phenomenology as a particular way of doing philosophy that challenges any dualistic understanding of subjectivity, I reflect on Martin Heidegger’s Being and Time as a lens for viewing the process of performing and preparing for a role. Heidegger emphasises the intermeshed relationship between the human subject, Dasein (Being-there), and the world to the point that it is impossible to consider one without the other. I have chosen three of the most influential theatre and acting theorists of the twentieth century and examine how each uncovers aspects of existence that are presented in Heidegger’s phenomenology. Firstly, I consider Constantin Stanislavski’s ‘system’ which emphasises action for a purpose within an environment, the individual’s relationship to objects in the world and its involvement with other people who share the same type of Being in the world. Secondly, I examine Antonin Artaud’s conception of theatre that seeks to resist the structures of Being, the way the world is interpreted by others (the ‘They’) and the way that the world gets handed over to consciousness for the most part. In many respects, Artaud’s theatre is the embodiment of Anxiety, a world-revealing state where Being becomes apparent. Thirdly, I discuss Bertolt Brecht’s theatre practice as an attestation to authenticity (a truthful engagement with human existence as possibility) through the medium of performance. Brecht seeks to engage audiences in philosophical debate and change the world. Like Heidegger, Brecht also stresses the historical and temporal constitution of the human subject, whilst emphasising practicality in theatre making. By examining these approaches to performance as case studies, this thesis rethinks the notional intersection of philosophy and theatre, concentrating on process rather than literary analysis. This application of phenomenology is new in that it does not merely consider theatre analysis from an ‘ideal’ audience point of view (i.e. provide a phenomenology of theatre). By focusing on acting, I emphasise the development of artistic creation and becoming, and show how certain types of acting are phenomenological. The bold upshot here is a conception of philosophy that acknowledges various theatre practices as embodied forms of philosophical practice. Furthermore, theatre might well be thought of as phenomenological because it can be an investigation of Being firmly entrenched in practical action and performance. Conversely, philosophy is more than just words on a page; it is a performed activity. Actors can be considered manual philosophers in so far as they engage with the problem of Being not in mere abstraction but in the practical challenges of performance.

This study combined a number of behaviour modification strategies into a programme aimed at changing behaviours of delinquent and acting out children. The programme was used at Duffield Place, a small special school where such children were referred when it was deemed that they could no longer be catered for in their home schools. An examination was made of the five main theories of delinquency (Psychoanalytic, Biological, Conditionability, Sociological and Social Learning) and seven behavioural procedures commonly used with delinquent and acting-out children (systematic adult attention and feedback, token economies, contracting, stimulus change, assertiveness training, time out and generalization training). The first seven children to finish the programme in 1981 were then examined, using a case study approach, to answer two questions - 1. Can acting out and delinquent children be removed from their home schools and be taught various skills that will generalize when they are returned to a home school? 2. Can the. programme be assessed by the staff and consultants working at the centre? Criteria used to evaluate effectiveness were the number of offences involving police contact, whether the child remained in school until he or she was fifteen years old, whether the home school reported a decrease in aggressive/disruptive behaviours and whether there was an increase in measured self-esteem and attainments. Most criteria were met with most children and maintained so the evaluation met the needs of the public schools system. However functional relationships between particular interventions and behaviour changes were not established and evaluation by personnel other than those at the centre would be necessary to establish these relationships. Results from programmes like that at Duffield Place should provide a more complete theoretical basis for working with delinquent and acting-out children.

In the last fifty years, there has been a concern in the theatre world especially in Europe, about how to train actors to be open and responsive. One of the most respected and well-known teachers in this area is Monika Pagneux who taught for many years in Paris and now aged in her seventies, works as a freelance artist around the world. Her area of expertise is movement for actors. The aim of her work is to develop not only a responsive body but also an open and alive actor who is able to be creative in a disciplined yet risk-taking manner. This thesis is an investigation of the world of Monika Pagneux, including her fundamental principles and platforms of teaching movement for actors. A portrait of her work will be drawn and her influence on other performing arts practitioners. The data comes from three sources: my own field notes based on six weeks of classes in Australia and Paris, additional class notes by a movement expert and ten responses to an open ended questionnaire by former students. Their answers provide insights into the impact of her teaching professionally, in their lives and how they were transformed by her practice.