Process Drama in Education: General Considerations
Process over Product. Product over Process. This is a discussion many Drama educators have to deal with. Products with Theater classes are the performances, scripts, set designs, etc: the end results that culminate with something that can be assessed for grades, portfolios and transcripts, and normally for a larger sharing then just the normal day to day classes. The process part gets you there, and it still has it’s points where assessment of the ongoing work is visible and viable.
Process Drama is an ongoing delving into a storyline, based usually on a theme &/or subject. The students and teacher explore their subject matter In Role, and this does not run for just a couple of classes. I have run Process Dramas that have taken months due to the interaction, twists and turns, and new thoughts that the students have brought into the situations. Sometimes the discoveries take the work into an area that wasn’t initially planned, and this leads to new learning, new ideas. There is no wrong idea when you are creating.
When using actual historical action and theory, deep research needs to be explored, facts integrated into the ongoing interactions, to really examine how decisions were arrived at, how conclusions were made, and why. When the idea behind the work is more abstract, there is not always a “final answer.” Decisions, opinions vs. facts, looking at the story idea through various points of view (POV), and more can foster and hone critical thinking, leaps into creative problem solving, and opening up dialogue that may have never entered their consciousness.
The 9 session program that just ended for me was theme driven. It was not run in a Drama classroom, but an English class where they had read the book The Bully already and had started The Outsiders. Using the abstract ideas of bullying, the students went into role, working out the different sides and view points of a small community afflicted with an event that went too far.
This past Monday, the students had a chance to discuss all that had occurred during the previous eight sessions. They talked about their learning moments:
- how it felt to be in the shoes of someone else;
- how switching roles, after playing one part for a number of sessions, caused some confusion, some a different sense of power, and some to really see how it feels to be on the other end;
- how easy it is to be blamed for something when you are just associated with a group;
- how easy it is to just yell and over talk one another so nothing can ever be solved;
- how writing a journal of their feelings in and out of character created questions and connections they may not have had before;
- how having to problem solve, without using any form of violence, brought them to some new view points
They all agreed that this is not always a black and white problem. There are considerations of WHY the bully is a bully, under what circumstances the power role reverses, and how bullying is NOT just a problem for students but also with the adults in society.
Parents, siblings, teachers, police, politicians, business people (at all levels): all have their instances of bullying, of people becoming bullies in different situations, of power shifts and socio/economic shifts. So..we discussed what can be done in the schools.
What can be done with adult bullies? Have you been an adult bully? Why?
Part 2: I will discuss of the feedback, my learning curve during this process, and a few other tidbits.
May 12, 2011 @ 11:01:31
I love reading your blogs, your writing style is smooth and easy to follow. Awesome!
May 12, 2011 @ 11:19:21
Thank you so much. I’m glad your son is better and now you are back to writing yours. I’ve been enjoying it as well.
May 12, 2011 @ 14:32:11
Stuart I love that you and I still use the term process drama. I find so many TAs, especially those coming out of recent Ed. theater programs don’t use this term and get stuck in the umbrella of “applied theater”. The process is the part that always intrigued me more as an actress and so it is why I prefer to focus on that for my work as a TA. It is so hard to get across to some TAs that drama/theater (the use of those two terms can be another blog – yes?) does not automatically mean there is a show at the end.
May 12, 2011 @ 14:43:11
Hi Lisa..yeah, I’m sick of there having to always be “product.” I once had an interview to be a High School THEATER teacher, not drama (yes, there is a blog there), and the entire interview was: “What are your productions values?”. At the end, when they asked me if I had any questions for them, I said: “Don’t you want to know about how I approach Teaching? What my process during the school day/year would be?” The interviewers looked at each other. Needless to say, I did not get that job.
I think the idea of what you’re stating above is a lot of what the schools (principal/parents) are really looking for: what razzle dazzle can you give me, as opposed to seeing Theater Arts as having any real educational value. You know my feelings on one of the Ed Theater programs from a certain University. I feel that the best PROCESS DRAMA is one that leaves the participants wanting to know more, learn more, question more, discuss more..not “here is your answer! Done. Now, on to the next thing.” That type engages for a while. Open ended, if it’s touched you, will keep touching you, if you are inquisitive enough, or po’d enough.