THEATRE MANAGEMENT INVESTIGATION OF FEMALE PROMISCUITY: PREGNANCY AND ABORTION IMPACT ON UNIVERSITY EDUCATIONAL THEATRES IN NIGERIA

This study investigates promiscuity impacts, pregnancy impacts and abortion impacts of female undergraduates on management of the University of Benin educational theatre program, with implications on general theatre practice including Muson and Nollywood, in Nigeria. There are widespread speculations that female undergraduate theatre students are promiscuous and therefore highly prone to pregnancies and abortions for reasons or factors not confirmed by research. At least no such specific extensive study has been carried out in the University of Benin Theatre on this topic. Yet many female students are branded and treated merely as ‘debased females and prospective prostitutes’, and do not enjoy the goodwill, support, respect and honor their counterparts in the social, basic and environmental sciences as well as other fields of academic studies enjoy. This would be tantamount to a great disservice and injustice that need to be urgently addressed if a rigorous academic inquiry proves otherwise. Not to mention the undiscovered negative impacts the problem may have had, or currently be having on the training and practice of theatre arts in Nigeria: hence this investigation. The methodology, the subjects of study and study sample were carefully and systematically determined. The findings are mostly positive regarding the negative behavior investigated. Hence the recommendations point to measures aimed at checking and restricting these vices as well as their impact to a minimum as well as towards improving the moral, academic and managerial framework of educational theatre programs in Nigeria.

Theatre Connect: Key Strategies for Facilitating LGBTQQ Youth Theatre Programs

Youth who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (LGBTQQ) often experience heterosexism, homophobia, prejudice, and bullying in addition to the typical demands of adolescent development. Applied theatre programs have been shown to empower youth, improve mental health and well-being, and create positive identity and interpersonal relationships and, as such, have the potential to strengthen a range of protective factors for LGBTQQ youth. However, when programs engage participants in personal narratives, practitioners must be prepared to deftly navigate between the two domains of theatre in health and drama therapy. Since 2017, the University of Florida’s (UF) Center for Arts in Medicine has offered an afterschool theatre program for LGBTQQ youth in partnership with clinicians from UF Health’s Youth Gender Clinic and faculty in the Mental Health Counseling training program in the College of Education. Theatre practitioners lead the program in partnership with mental health professionals, who participate in sessions and are “on call” for participants. Program facilitators have developed a set of guidelines for organizations attempting to start LGBTQQ or other youth theatre programs in their local communities, which include the following recommendations: (1) prioritize safe and ethical practice through creating sustainable partnerships between mental health counsellors, experienced theatre practitioners, and local LGBTQQ organizations; (2) develop a clear contract between participants and facilitators regarding program goals; (3) utilize Baim’s drama spiral as a conceptual tool and limit program activities to the first four spiral rings; (4) emphasize “play” and skill building rather than LGBTQQ topics.

Music and Theatre Making In Canadian Prisons

The benefits of engaging in theatre- and music-making have been well proven for various populations. (see Črnčec et al. 2006; Lehmberg and Fung 2010; Salur et al 2017, etc.) These benefits are particularly significant for individuals who have experienced trauma, especially incarcerated individuals. (see Kyprianides and Easterbrook 2020; Reid 2019, etc). Music and theatre programs vary in Canada, and are present in many Canadian prisons. In this paper, I examine two programs more closely: the grass roots program Pros and Cons at The Joyceville Institution in Kingston, Ontario, which involves a collaboration between volunteer musicians and a group of incarcerated men, and Diane Conrad’s work with a young offender’s facility in Alberta Canada, where she employed devised theatre techniques to create meaningful theatrical pieces within the prison’s walls. Both these programs are working towards a similar goal: preparing the incarcerated individuals to return to society through practicing and rehearsing healthy community and citizenship through collaborative music and theatre. While this is an admirable goal for this work, the conversation surrounding music and theatrical work in prisons has been focused on its rehabilitative aims and properties. In this presentation I will explore the features of both programs, examine the rehabilitation goals and the focus on rehabilitation in the literature on prison-based music and theatre programs, and discuss ways that Transformative Justice and the Abolitionist movement can be supported through these arts-based initiatives.

Backstage Divas

Many towns in the United States play host to afterschool musical theatre programs for children. Typically, these programs are directed by women who become well known in their communities and powerful figures in the lives of the children they teach. This chapter calls this figure a “backstage diva.” She is the female musical theatre director who runs afterschool and summer pay-to-play programs, teaching kids dance and theatre by directing them in several shows a year. This familiar figure is a disciplined leader and powerful mentor who, though invisible in theatre history, teaches musical theatre–obsessed kids to sing and dance and act and shapes them into triple-threat performers. This chapter begin with a brief biography of a backstage diva, including how she built her business. It then offers a history of musical theatre studios in the United States. The bulk of the chapter follows the working process of a backstage diva in northern California from auditions through rehearsals and performance. Finally, it explains her legacy and what kids say they learned from her.

Signature pedagogy in theatre arts

Critique in undergraduate theatre programs is at the heart of training actors at all levels. It is accepted as the signature pedagogy and is practiced in multiple ways. This essay defines critique and presents the case for why it is used as the single most important way that performers come to understand the language, values, and discourse of the discipline. In actor training, critique is used in the studio, classroom, and rehearsal hall as the way that students learn to take theory and practical skills and apply them through choices that are clear and justifiable, demonstrating an understanding of text and dramatic style. The focus is on where and how critique is used, who is doing the critique in what setting, and how students learn and grow through this process. This is discussed in relationship to the development of self and community and preparation for the professional world.