Playing with Theory in Theatre Practice

MEGAN ALTRUZis Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at Austin, USA,where she teaches in the Drama and Theatre for Youth MFA program. As a theatre scholar, as well as a community-based teaching artist, her work focuses on Applied Theatre and Digital Media with/for young people, drama-based pedagogy, and the development of new work. JULIA LISTENGARTENis Julia Listengarten is Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies at the University of Central Florida. Her research interests include avant-garde theory and performance, translation theory, and nationalism. Her translation of Christmas at the Ivanovs' premiered Off-Broadway at Classic Stage Company and was included in Theater of the Avant-Garde, 1890-1950. She is the author of Russian Tragifarce: Its Cultural and Political Roots and co-editor of Theater of the Avant-Garde: 1950-2000. She has contributed to various books and theatre periodicals including Theatre Research International, Slavic and Eastern European Performance, and Scenography International. M. VAN DUYN(Vandy)WOOD is a visual artist and theatrical designer from Central New York, USA. She is currently an Associate Professor of Design and the Coordinator of the MFA Design program for the University of Central Florida's Conservatory Theatre, USA.Vandy has been designing professionally for theatre and video since 1986 and specializes in the development of new works.

Introduction.- PART I: CONTEXTUALIZING THEORY AND PRACTICE.- Introduction to Part I.- The Function of Theory at the Present Time?; M.Fortier.- Approaching Theory: Scholar and Practitioner; M.Van de Water.- 'There is a World Elsewhere': The Endgame of Theory and Practice; M.Kobialka.- PART II: INTERROGATING THEORY IN THEATRE PRACTICE: PRODUCTIVE TENSIONS, QUESTIONS AND IMPLICATIONS.- Introduction to Part II .- Immediate Bodies: Media Theory and Theatre; S.Bay-Cheng.- Authenticity in Children's Theatre and Art; S.Etheridge Woodson.- Theatrical Nationalism and Subversive Affirmation; S.Wilmer.- Sensual Engagements: Understanding Theories of the Senses and their Potential Applications within Theatre Practice; S.DiBenedetto.- Active Dramaturgy: Using Research to Inspire Creative Thought; L.Inez Brown.- Intuition in Practice: Emotion and Feeling in the Artistic Process; H.Feiner.- Resisting Binaries: Theory and Acting; J.Lutterbie.- Moving Spectators Toward Progressive Politics by Combining Brechtian Theory with Cognitive Science; B.McConachie.- PART III: CASE STUDIES: ACTIVATING THEORY WITHIN AND THROUGH THE PRODUCTION PROCESS.- Introduction to Part III.- Theatre is Theory: A Case Study of Ghosting; H.Blau.- Cyrano's Intercultural Voyages in India; D.McManus.- (Re)presenting Silenced Voices: Negotiating Multiple Landscapes Through Body, Voice and Architecture; J.Listengarten & C.Niess.- Voice and the Venus: Opening up Voice and Speech with Post-Colonial Theories; L.Dougherty.- Theoretical Terrain and Performance Practice: An Actor's Journey into the Uncharted Territory of Landscape Theatre; B.Hanemann.- Under the Influence; A.Mello.- Modulating Theory: Breaking New Ground in Musical Theatre Study; J.Bell.- Tongues of Stone: making Space Speak...Again and Again; C.Brown & D.Hannah.- Seven Instructions: A Dialogue; M.Rohd & S.Scrofano.- Index.