Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2024, Theatre

This reflective practitioner research study explores the potentials for the reimplementation of effective university theatre outreach programming for K-12 schools in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, as both populations navigate shifting education cultures. Through this study, the researcher asks the questions: How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected and continues to affect our respective learning communities? What factors are influencing the specific needs and preferences from theatre education programs? What are the challenges of creating a program that addresses the needs of two distinct education sectors? How do critical and creative pedagogies in theatre education inform a way forward that empowers all individuals involved? Utilizing the 2023 Ohio State University Theatre Performance and Education Outreach School Tour as a case study, this inquiry investigates the ways in which the tour structure may provide a space for students and teachers to participate in critical pedagogies and dialogical practices within the classroom structure. Through examination of historical archive review, teacher interviews, and observational reflection, this study concludes with recommendations for practical strategies that encourage our respective educational communities to lean on each other's expertise nd to center the voices of and lived experiences of multi-generational students within the creative practice.

Committee: Claudia Wier (Committee Member); E.J. Westlake (Advisor) Subjects: Theater

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2021, Theatre

Looking at the intersection of applied theatre practice and matters of rural and intragroup stigma, this dissertation argues that by sharing stories rural youth co-create social and cultural capital. Such capital, in turn, supplements existing long-term efforts to address stigma and to a certain extent offsets the limited opportunity structures that impact rural young people. Drawing on three case studies conducted over the 2019-2020 academic year, I detail the influence of rural and intragroup stigma on the social and cultural capital of the young rural participants, as well as the subsequent impacts of applied theatre practice. While all three case studies prioritize participant experience, they otherwise vary: from an in-school residency facilitated in rural Wisconsin to an after-school program observed in Nelsonville, Ohio to a touring youth ensemble formally based in Baraboo, Wisconsin. Although not broadly generalizable, the variety of case studies provides a breadth of examples intended to spark future applied theatre practice and research with rural young people.

Committee: Ana Puga PhD (Advisor); Beth Kattelman PhD (Committee Member); Katherine Borland PhD (Committee Member); Christine Morris PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Theater

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2011, Cross-Cultural, International Education

As arts educators seek to defend their programs, and scholars explore human development in a rapidly globalizing world this paper explores how involvement in the dramatic arts may influence the development of identity among a group of teenage students in the country of Ghana. The literature reviewed for this study includes analyses of native, colonial and postcolonial cultures in the country as well as the educational environment that surrounds the participants. Since contemporary Ghanaian culture melds tribal and colonial practices in both education and the arts, this literature helps illuminate the initial research findings. Observations of rehearsals and interviews with twenty students contributed to the data in this qualitative case study that seeks to explain ways that students construct identity within an extra-curricular theatre group in modern Ghana. Ultimately, the data suggest that a high school drama club may help students develop their cultural identities by offering a space for students to experience and affirm long-standing traditions, discuss diversity with fellow actors and audiences, and construct a new culture through diverse performances.

Committee: Bruce Collet PhD (Advisor); Christopher Frey PhD (Committee Member); Scott Magelssen PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Art Education

Master of Arts, University of Akron, 2011, Theatre Arts-Arts Administration

The crisis facing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) adolescents today is overwhelming. With greater amounts of research becoming available to the public, and with current models of how the performing arts are proven to aid in the development of adolescents, there could be a direct correlation between theatre and reducing the risk factors associated with LGBT youth. The purpose of this study is to provide a persuasive argument in favor of theatre programming for LGBT youth. Throughout the second chapter of this study, I intend to examine the risk factors associated with LGBT adolescence in an effort to prove demonstrable need for LGBT Youth-centered programming. A combination of factors contributes to the high risk factors associated with LGBT adolescents. Rejection and lack of support from families, religious groups, and society enhance the adolescent's isolation and belief that there is “something wrong” with them. Constant pressures at school, including verbal and physical harassment and assaults, lack of supportive peers, and teachers who either do not have the training or desire to guide them, make their daily education an agonizing experience. These challenges, along with further stress created by their own ethnic groups, psychiatric professionals, and the justice system, all combine to place LGBT students at alarmingly high risk for behaviors and consequences such as drug and alcohol abuse, social isolation, poor relationships, homelessness, prostitution, disease, chronic depression, and suicide. Without assistance, they may never make it through adolescence to adulthood, and if they do, they may have difficulties adjusting and becoming successful, contributing members of society. Chapter III will discuss and assess different methods recommended to decrease at-risk behavior in both LGBT adolescents and adolescents in general. My intent is to prove that theatre encompasses all these methods, and can theoretically be a means of assisting the de (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Durand Pope (Advisor); Kathleen Kelly (Committee Member); James Slowiak (Committee Member) Subjects: Arts Management; Educational Sociology; Fine Arts; Gender Studies; Glbt Studies; Mental Health; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Performing Arts; Psychology; Social Work; Theater; Theater Studies