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From Commodity to Conversation: Applied Theatre, Public Higher Education, and the Miami University Theatre Department

Coaker, Jaime Morgan
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3752-1454
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1448290982

Abstract Details

2015, Master of Arts, Miami University, Theatre.
This creative thesis in applied theatre is from a participant research perspective focused on building community in Miami University’s theatre department. Borrowing from Zygmunt Bauman’s theory of liquid modern communities, I argue that America’s big business corporatized public higher education system has changed as community has changed overtime. This change reveals community from being defined synonymously with society to individualization. `Liquid moderns’ now use community as a commodity to meet their individualistic needs as a means of happiness and yet still find themselves truly alone. Though affecting all academic departments, this framework goes against the inherent community building discipline of theatre. Borrowing from Friends Provident, Michael Rohd, and Dale Savidge, I use applied theatre techniques to create spaces for conversation, empowerment, relationships, and transformation through performance, asset-based community building methods, civic practice, and spiritual and personal healing. According to Hans Georg Gadamar, Anthony P. Cohen, and Zygmunt Bauman, community in academia is through continuous deep engagement, interpretation, and conversation. In three different workshop groups, I engage liquid moderns in conversation through creative spaces for the purpose of empowering them in the direction of true community.
Ann Elizabeth Armstrong, PhD (Advisor)
Julia Guichard, MFA (Committee Member)
Kate Rousmaniere, PhD (Committee Member)
92 p.
Higher Education; Personal Relationships; Theater
applied theatre, public higher education, theatre department, conversation, dialogue, social change

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Coaker, J. M. (2015). From Commodity to Conversation: Applied Theatre, Public Higher Education, and the Miami University Theatre Department [Master's thesis, Miami University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1448290982

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Coaker, Jaime. From Commodity to Conversation: Applied Theatre, Public Higher Education, and the Miami University Theatre Department. 2015. Miami University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1448290982.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Coaker, Jaime. "From Commodity to Conversation: Applied Theatre, Public Higher Education, and the Miami University Theatre Department." Master's thesis, Miami University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1448290982

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

miami1448290982
653
© 2015, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License From Commodity to Conversation: Applied Theatre, Public Higher Education, and the Miami University Theatre Department by Jaime Morgan Coaker is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by Miami University and OhioLINK.