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Theater Arts

• "Survival": A White Teacher's Conception of Drama with Inner-City Hispanic Youth
  Profiles how and why a White, upper-middle-class teacher who was trained in aspects of play production and theater education changed her conception of educational drama as she worked in an inner-city magnet school with impoverished, inner-city Hispanic youth. Discusses culture shock, cross-cultural functioning, and survival in terms of ethos, gang subculture, language, and staff authority.
• Beyond the Boundaries of Tradition: Cultural Treasures in a High School Theatre Arts Program
  Argues that canonical plays must be critically engaged rather than "handed down," with students discovering much about themselves and each other through their own engagement. Describes how a high-school acting class examined the dramatic work of Latino/a playwrights for their in-class scene work, and used student experiences to create their own scenes about experiences with prejudice.
• Beyond the Boundaries of Tradition: Cultural Treasures in a High School Theatre Arts Program
  Argues that canonical plays must be critically engaged rather than "handed down," with students discovering much about themselves and each other through their own engagement. Describes how a high-school acting class examined the dramatic work of Latino/a playwright for their in-class scene work, and used student experiences to create their own scenes about experiences with prejudice.
• Beyond the Popular and Politically Correct: Multicultural Education and the Reform of Theatre Pedagogy
  Multicultural education is still a relatively new trend in the American system of higher education. As with any new pedagogy, there is a tendency to reduce the genuine possibility of educational reform to mere superficiality--good intentions lacking substance.
• Borrowing a Cup of Culture: An Example of Creating an Original, Cross-Cultural Theatre for Youth Production
  Describes infusing a non-western form or style of theatre into a play from the traditional American or European canon. Notes that the intention was not necessarily to accurately re-create complex and beautiful cultural theatre, but to spur the interest of the audiences and encourage them to delve deeper into those cultures.
• Interrupting "Truths," Engaging Perspectives, and Enlarging the Concept of "Human" in Classroom Drama
  Summarizes the author's doctoral dissertation research--a longitudinal, multi-case study of drama practices at the tenth-grade level in a Catholic secondary school for girls. Examines the ways drama education engages girls' experiences and personal/cultural knowledge and expands the perspectives and discourses available to them.
• Multiculturalism and Diversity in Drama/Theatre Education: A Preconference
  Describes how the 1998 Multiculturalism and Diversity in Drama/Theatre Education: A Preconference came about, and briefly describes its activities and success. Offers ideas for future activities, and reminds readers of the critical necessity for action around issues of multiculturalism and diversity that transforms dreams into reality.
• Placing "Diverse Voices" at the Center of Teacher Education A Pre-Service Teacher's Conception of "Educacion" and Appeal to Caring
  Presents a case study of the way in which one preservice male teacher of color constructed his drama work with culturally diverse elementary school children. Identifies three key dimensions in his perspective on teaching that center around being a caring teacher who knows his students, balances motivation and discipline, and implements a "real" curriculum in a culturally affirming classroom environment.
• World Rhythms: Students Make Cultural Connections through Music and Dance
  Describes several programs in which music and dance are used to unlock doors that stereotypes of race, gender, language, religion, or ability have kept shut. Exposure to the music and dance of other cultures helps children's awareness of the diversity of the world and people's essential similarities.