Creative Practice Showcases
University of San Jorge
Theatre for Audiences with Neurological, Physical, and Cognitive Challenges
Creative Practice Showcase Margot Marie Wood
Theatre for audiences with complex challenges is a small but growing niche art form. It is a form of Applied Theatre in that it falls `outside mainstream theatre performance and/or with marginalized communities` (Thompson & Jackson 2006:92). It is based on the belief that marginalized audiences should have access to quality arts experiences specifically devised for their needs. Arts experiences can help participants to become more flexible in their thinking about themselves, their limitations and possibilities. Much of the daily life of the disabled person may be taken up by frustration. Arts experiences allow them to break through these barriers. What is the aesthetic language of theatre for audiences with complex needs? The creation of Performing Arts experiences for audiences with sensory, neurological, and cognitive challenges is a growing art form. There is a need for critical analysis of the aesthetic language and set of principles that underlie the practice. A series of 66 performances for audiences with complex needs were undertaken in 2019 in an attempt to identify common elements within the practice. The study was therefore practice-based with elements of creative research. As a critical analysis, it involved analysis of and reflection on the underlying principles of the theatrical form. Variations in presentation, as determined by audience demographics, were noted. The specific demands placed on performer/facilitators were documented. The study will be continued into 2021 to formulate comprehensive general guidelines with regards to the necessary theatre aesthetics for theatre practitioners wishing to undertake this form of theatre.
Black Love : Expressions of Blackness Through Arts-based Research and Pedagogy View Digital Media
Creative Practice Showcase Robin Scully, Andrea N. Baldwin
This paper details the work done as part of a transdisciplinary creative pedagogical project entitled Black love: Expressions of Blackness through arts-based research and pedagogy as a part of a year-long community engagement fellowship. For this fellowship the authors built on their previous work on Black Love, combining the creative arts, interdisciplinary pedagogy, and research to develop experiential and project-based learning opportunities in two university-level courses and art exhibitions at a university gallery. The purpose of this project was to encourage and amplify student voices, preparing them to recognize the importance of creativity, scholarship, leadership, community engagement, and social justice initiatives both on campus, in the local community, nationally, and globally. The project was also designed to help students see themselves as change agents and to demonstrate the various ways in which their movements and communities can benefit from an art-centered, interdisciplinary approach which has its epistemological and pedagogical foundations in marginalized, minoritized, and transnational experiences. Our study focuses on our approach to this project, which we believe has the ability to build a network of empowered creative scholars and student leaders who are engaged and can make a difference locally and globally.
Amaranthine Lamentation: Hopes and Fears of Living with the Pandemic
Creative Practice Showcase Saral Surakul
The world has experienced social anxiety caused by the coronavirus starting in 2019. Several countries choose the lockdown, border closures, and social distancing to keep COVID at bay. After two years of havoc, the ever-evolving virus is still with us. The overwhelming/false information, financial pressure, and social isolation impact people's mental health in all dimensions. The Amaranthine Lamentation series concretizes the abstract ideas of worries, fears, and anxiety living with the pandemic through red painted-face girls, symbolizing emotions and sentiments. The four images center around four keywords: 1. Lamentation: Many people experienced grief and loss caused by COVID. The image illustrates deaths using ill and deceased animals as metaphors, grieved by nurses in black. 2. Levitation: Traveling has been a challenge related to health safety, closed borders, and flight cancellations. The author communicates the idea using an oxymoron of a floating elephant balloon carrying a young girl in the sky. 3. Isolation: Most countries select home isolation and social distancing as the top priority to control COVID. This picture depicts a tea party reflecting social distancing when everyone sits apart in the witch’s' circles. 4. Anticipation: We may not eradicate COVID, but we hope life will return to normal shortly. The last image portrays a flower growing from a deceased body signifying the ray of hope. The author's art blends daily societal issues with computer graphics emulating the works of old masters. The images are created digitally in advanced 3D software called 3dsMax and printed on canvas.
