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The Applied Theatre Reader Chapter 1 Summary

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“Theatre is a form of knowledge; it should and can also be a means of transforming society. Theatre can help us build our future, rather than just waiting for it.” (Boal) Applied theatre is an umbrella term that covers theatre and drama in non-traditional settings with marginialised members of societies; with focus customarily on relevant social and cultural issues of those socieities. The Applied Theatre Reader by Tim Prentki and Sheila Preston consists of chapters by various authors who have experienced and been involved with the practice of applied theatre first-hand, and who share these experiences in the book. Three chapters that I found interesting and engaging were Chapter 7 (“Lift your mask”), Chapter 39 (“Is this the play?”), and Chapter …show more content…

The chapter focuses on the use of interactive theatre to promote safe sex for teenagers. “Are we there yet?” is a combined play and workshop created by health professionals and educators as a means of educating teens on the practice of safe sex, and the risks associated with unprotected sexual intercourse. Statistically, 3 in 10 American teenagers will be pregnant at least one time before the age of 20, with close to 750,000 teen pregnancies happening in America annually; an issue that is the leading reason for teenage girls in America dropping out of high school, with over 50% never graduating. (DoSomething.org) With an alarming rise of teens engaging in sexual intercourse at young ages, the risk of STDs become more evident with, “young people between the ages of 15 to 24 [accounting] for 50% of all new STDs.” (DoSomething.org) “Are we there yet?” is a play that aims to prevent theses risks through education on the issue via interactive theatre. It was established by Concrete Theatre alongside Planned Parenthood Edmonton. The play takes a comedic approach in addressing the topic of sex; using driving a car as a metaphor for sex (for example, gearshift lever = boy parts, glove compartment = girl parts, headlights = breasts). This engages the young audience who would instantaneously feel more comfort in engaging in a sex-related discussion. Selman states that humour is, “too often lost in discussions of popular and educational theatre.” (Selman) Laughter allows what many young audience members would deem an embarrassing topic to become a humorous, enjoyable one. Many characters are included in the play with varying personalities to allow the audience to find one that they can relate to and care about. Approximately half of the performance involves audience interaction, making it a heavily engaging piece of theatre. This active engagement with

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The cast of the play are unaware of the audience, however, the audience is able to listen to dialogue that occurs throughout the theater, whether it is in the headsets between technicians, on stage between the actors playing their characters in the play and between the director and actors who make adjustments when necessary. The third fourth wall was at its edge of breaking, where the audience is almost unable to tell whether what they are experiencing is real or not. As an observer of the rehearsal of this play, this wall was broken when I understood that what I was watching was a rehersal of a play, of a rehearsal of a play. It was difficult to describe or understand when the cast of 10 out of 12 were actually in or out of character. The complexity of this play lies in the use of metatheatre, which has been exploited to its fullest extent

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This week’s discussion, “How America is Oversexed and under Educated” has brought up a sensitive topic that is typically viewed by the average American household as some type of taboo, hidden secret, sin, private or personal topic that is never openly discussed outside the confines of the household. The family usually allows this sensitive topic to be handled at the school level for sex education awareness or behind closed doors at the home by parents or a relative. However, today’s assertion that sex is everywhere in America is probably one of the biggest understatements that you could ever make about America’s culture. The sexual exploitation measures that are founded throughout our society to sell or buy items that elicits the natural instinctive

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Capitol Theatre is at the current Capitol Building, located near City Hall MRT station. It is at the junction of North Bridge Road and Stamford Road. The theatre was built earlier in 1929. It was opened in 1930 and was one of the finest cinemas at that time. It cost $800,000 to buy the land and construct this theatre.

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Professor Ross Government 2306 8 February 2015 Is Abstinence-only education the correct approach for Texas? Owning one of the highest rates of teen pregnancies in the Union, Texas has an abstinence only approach in sexual education to try to reduce pregnancies? In addition to this, Texas ranks first as being the top spender in sexual education, but can’t get solidified results out of its spending. Texas doesn’t teach anything about contraception, how the Texas Department of State Health Services has said that the mission of the program is to delay sexual actions among teenagers until they are old enough, and the use of abstinence only education to protect children from explicit content only to find out in their own way leads to curiosity

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Your Complete Introduction to The Amazing World of Safer Sex!”readers were greeted in the first of twenty-six pages with the following message: “Did you know that with the notable exception of abstinence, condoms are the best available method of preventing sexually transmitted diseases, including … AIDS? … This manual was written specifically with the concern of AIDS in mind… You will be shown how to use [latex devices] to reduce your chances of exposure to the Human Immunodeficiency Virus….” It is in this manual where readers are presented with lists of dozens of sexual acts, and dividing each of them into three sections, “Safe”, “Probably Safe”, and “Unsafe”.

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In the previously used example, the couple’s innocence regarding sex education is undoubtedly funny, but it is also troublesome. Works of art are not meant to communicate one affect, and the play follows in this tradition by perpetuating the complicated dichotomy of feeling both amused and concerned by and for the

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Sex education in general is taught in most United States high schools, and the curriculum typically falls under three separate types, only one of which can even be remotely considered a viable education. The first and potentially most damaging is coined “Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage programs” which do what it sounds like they do: advocate waiting to have sex until marriage. They typically have little to no information about what sex actually consists of outside of biological names for various organs, and have no information about contraceptives, the risks of teen pregnancy or topics such as rape or sexual assault. The second type is “Abstinence-Only”, which of course advocates that students wait to have sex, though perhaps not specifically until marriage. However, unlike the “Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage”, it does provide essential information about some topics.

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So far in Introduction to Theatre we have done many great projects leading up to the midterm project. However, this assignment, the midterm project has hands down been my favorite. For this assignment we were given groups and a fable to adapt to a certain situation. The situation our group was given was “The City Mouse” and we were told to adapt this into a situation like the one we have here at Presbyterian College. Therefore, we had to collaborate our ideas and begin to create the context for a script.

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It is uncommon in the United States that sex education accentuates learning about sexual desire or pleasure, especially for girls. American culture harbors apprehension and discord about sex, complicating how girls communicate and view their sexuality, relinquishing any sexual confidence they should possess. American teenagers, commonly grow up hearing jokes about women’s bodies and sexuality lending to masculinizing sex and exerting power over women. In cultures where this is prominent behavior, such as America, males talk in a much more crude manner about sex and women, reinforcing a warped sense

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The origins of theatre are not known for certain because there are a collection of ideas and theories behind the origins, but one thing that we can be certain about is that ancient theatre in comparison to modern day theatre has changed and there must be reasons for these changes. I for one think that these elements range from large scale events to subtly changes in society and how we interpret ideas in general. Although the change in theatre is clear, in my opinion they were dependant on factors including Gender and equality, Theatre styles, Practitioners and Technology, but others may disagree that these were primary factors. In order to give a clear view on how theatre has changed I will be focusing on two relatively recent century’s in

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This is due to the physically development stage this age group in entering. Furthermore, Advocates for Youth (n.d.) reports that when children learn open, honest, and direct communication regarding sexuality, later in life it can help them make responsible and healthy sexual choices. The curriculum classes will take place at the local elementary school as an after-school program. The curriculum class will only be available to the families who have children at each individual school.

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This essay will be exploring two of Bowell and Heap’s six elements; role and frame. With close reference to the theatre in education performance piece and the reading, this essay will critically analyse and discuss how each element was useful in the creating of the Applied theatre piece, and how it influenced our experience as a group. The element of role is best described as ‘another fundamental of theatre and central to all performance forms is the taking of a role.’ (Bowell & Heap, 2001).

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Both show how Interaction plays a role of shifting the artwork-audience relationship, transforming artist intent, and bridging the gap between a desirable experience and an actual audience experience. Cycle 2: Start from

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Introduction 1. Attention Getter: The provision of sex education in schools has been a controversial subject matter among different education stakeholders ranging from parents to educators. A focus, however, on the prevalence of adolescents’ abortion, pregnancy, and HIV and AIDS rates indicates significantly high rates.

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Society is learning to be much more open about sex. The exposure of casual talk about safe sex practices at home and with doctors must be a part of the incentive of this trend.

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