Dear Talking members
Please see the below message and invitation to members to attend a talk by Heidi Schoenenberger on Thursday from 1-2pm on zoom.
School of English and Creative Arts Seminar Series 2021/22
presents
Is the play the thing?
Engagement practices surrounding theatre performance
October 28th, 2021 -1-2pm
Click on this link on the day to gain access to this talk:
https://nuigalway-ie.zoom.us/j/92772333431?pwd=ak5SMzRVczVLMFVrVkNEdWlnSExVZz09
Meeting ID: 927 7233 3431
Passcode: 587931
Please mute your microphone on entering the meeting.
Abstract:
This presentation considers the child/young person’s entire experience of attending a theatre event with a school class, from booking the tickets to travelling back to the classroom and engaging in drama or other artistic activities. I focus on the right of the child to both access and participate in arts and cultural experiences and the reality of that happening in the context of Galway City. Mostly, I look at the live (and sometimes digital) performance as a jumping-off point for further engagement both before and after performances. In the presentation I define a central aspect of my PhD study which I call extended performance engagement (EPE). Examples of EPE include but are not limited to pre-show workshops, lobby displays, teacher resource guides/packs, question and answer sessions, and post-performance workshops. These can be in-person at the theatre venue, in-person at school, or pre-recorded as asynchronous videos. The presentation will talk about my experience in an Irish primary school delivering an extended post-performance workshop and what it has revealed to me about the aims of Extended Performance Engagement and drama engagement in Irish classrooms. It will then go on to talk about the shift that these engagement practices have faced during the pandemic and how the artists responsible for creating and facilitating these experiences are re-envisioning EPE.
Photo Credit: Interactive Lobby Museum from My Friend Selma by Terra Incognita Arts