Reconciling the Essentialist and Progressive Views in Drama Education: Teaching Theatre History, Style, Genre, Content, and Form through Process Drama, Improvisation, Primary Sources, and Adolescent Literature at the Middle School Level

Abstract

The Purpose of this research was to developed a theory and method for teaching theatre history at the middle school level. The theory has been based on the parallels between essentialist theatre training programs and the progressive creative drama tradition. The history of theatre training and creative drama were compared and parallels were drawn. The method proposed using the best of both traditions by experimenting with a wide variety of ideas, themes, teaching methods, and periods in teaching theatre history. Six model units for teaching ancient Greek theatre, Shakespeare, Commedia Dell Arte, Bunraku, Melodrama, and Experimental Theatre were outlined.