Johnny Saldaña New One-Man Autoethnodrama "Second Chair"

I had an opportunity today to connect with Johnny Saldaña Professor and Associate Director, Katherine K. Herberger College of Fine Arts, School of Theatre and Film, Arizona State University, Tempe. Johnny is the author of the book, "Ethnodrama: An Anthology of Reality Theatre" , and is considered a leader in North America in the research based theatre genre "ethnodrama". We are pleased to inform you about his newest autoethnodrama project, "Second Chair". CM

Johnny Saldaña at Arizona State University (ASU), developed a 30-minute, one-man autoethnodrama titled "Second Chair," which explores the reminiscences by an older adult of his high school band years and his quest to become first chair clarinetist through an epiphanic challenge.

The play is a metaphor for the feelings of lesser status experienced by the marginalized individual in a competitive mainstream society.

The play was commissioned for performance at the second annual Narrative Inquiry in Music Education conference in February 2008 at ASU. Since then, Saldaña has performed the piece for a Phoenix valley LGBTQ youth group, and at the September 2008 Seventh Qualitative Research Conference in Health and Social Care at Bournemouth University, UK. He has also been invited to present "Second Chair" as the keynote address for the Arts and Learning Special Interest Group meeting at the April 2009 American Educational Research Association conference in San Diego.

The full play script and related commentary will appear in a future issue of the journal "Research Studies in Music Education."

New York University Drama Project Recruiting for Participants

A notice today from Joe Salvatore, New York University:

Recruiting Participants for New Drama Project About Class and Socioeconomic Status

I am writing to ask for your assistance in recruiting potential participants for a research project that I am conducting on class and socioeconomic status.

I am inviting NYC-based participants to take part in an interview theater project to learn more about how people living and/or working in New York City feel about class and socioeconomic status. I am the principal investigator, and I'm working with a team of nine student researcher/actors to create the work. Following the interview process, we will create a performance script from the interview transcripts, and "The Class Project" will be presented as a theatre piece in the fall mainstage slot for the Program in Educational Theatre at the Steinhardt School.

The performance dates will be October 24-November 2, 2008.

Contact: Joe Salvatore, Teacher, Program in Educational Theatre

New York University at 212.998.5266

email: _js1655@nyu.edu_

Faculty of Education and Social Work, Sydney Symposium on Applied Theatre

International Symposium on Applied Theatre: Engagement and Transformation

Call for Papers, October ll - 12, 2007
University of Sydney

Applied Theatre: Engagement and Transformation aims to stimulate debate and discussion about future developments in applied theatre, research and practice. The forum will provide an opportunity for practitioners, academics and policy makers to share their practice. The papers, workshops and presentations will examine the issues related to applied theatre and
the potential for this approach to transform and engage communities and individuals.

We invite presentations that reflect the following cross-cutting themes:

• Research methodologies and approaches in Applied Theatre
• Applied Theatre: transforming communities
• Applied Theatre in the workplace
• Theoretical understanding of Applied Theatre and Social Policy
• New methods and contexts for Applied Theatre
• Applied Theatre and Education: Continuities discontinuities
• Exploring further collaborative research opportunities (grants, publications).

The conference will run over two days and will feature a combination of keynote speakers,
workshops and presentations.

"Applied Theatre' is a portmanteau term for social interventions and policy directions informed by drama theory and theatre methodologies. The field has evolved and features theoretical and practical approaches informed by social work, sociology, juvenile justice, prisons and medicine (especially mental health). According to Ackroyd (2000) Applied Theatre practitioners ... share a belief in the power of the theatre form to address something beyond the form itself."
from the website at:
http://www.proflearn.edsw.usyd.edu.au/teachers/2007/applied_theatre_engagement_transformation.shtml




For more information about this conference see:
http://www.proflearn.edsw.usyd.edu.au/teachers/2007/resources/AppliedTheatre_Call4Papers2.pdf

http://www.proflearn.edsw.usyd.edu.au/teachers/2007/applied_theatre_engagement_transformation.shtml

See our "Crossing Borders" posts on drama and research
http://ccahtecrossingborders.blogspot.com/search?q=drama+research

Alzheimer's, Drama and Research, New Performance Seeks to Foster Humanistic Approach to Dementia Care Practice

Ethnodramatic Production to Help Enhance Communication and Relationships

CCAHTE Journal Advisory Board members include leaders in the creative arts, health, training and education as well as researchers and scientists working at the intersections of the arts and sciences. Continuing our reporting on CCAHTE Journal Advisory Board members and their ongoing projects this morning, we present information about a new ethnodramatic production by Pia C. Kontos, Ph.D., Research Scientist, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute and Assistant Professor, Department of Public Health Sciences, The University of Toronto.

Below we present brief excerpts from the paper, “Expressions of Personhood in Alzheimer’s, Moving from Ethnographic Texts to Performing Ethnography", Pia C. Kontos and Gary Nagalie, University of Toronto as published in Qualitative Research, 2006. (excerpts published with author permission.)

There were three main goals in developing the ethnodramatic production “Expressions Of Personhood in Alzheimer’s”

1) to provide an accessible presentation of research to audiences of diverse disciplinary backgrounds

2) to recover the experiential immediacy of the body present in the original data-gathering setting, which, in the case of this dramatic production, permits a powerful demonstration of how selfhood is manifested in gesture and action

3) to create a space to engage in a form of social inquiry that resonates simultaneously with critique and the envisioning of new possibilities (Denzin, 1997).

Expressions of Personhood in Alzheimer’s is a production that not only re-presents embodied expressions of selfhood in Alzheimer’s disease, but also critically exposes depersonalizing tendencies of treatment contexts and caregiving relationships that are a consequence of an assumed loss of selfhood that is widely associated with the cognitive deficiencies that lie at the core of dementia. It is our contention that this ethnodramatic production has the potential to open a space for seeing the humanity of persons with dementia, and for envisioning the prospect of a truly humanistic approach to dementia care practice.

As part of the development process Kontos created a partnership with ACT II Studio, a theatre school and creative drama centre for older adults, which is part of the Seniors Education Programs in Ryerson University’s G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education, Toronto, Canada. ACT II Studio has a demonstrated history of developing socially relevant dramas for public presentation. Their director, Vrenia Ivonoffski, agreed to provide artistic directorship.

The collaborative process began with a meeting between Kontos, Ivonoffski, and a group of interested actors. All were provided with descriptions of the research participants who feature in the five vignettes. Five actors committed to the project, all having had some personal experience with Alzheimer’s disease, which was agreed upon by Kontos and Ivonoffski as necessary background to sensitize them to the general condition of the illness and, as much
as possible, to the nuances of embodiment in the lived experience of the illness.

The development of Expressions of Personhood in Alzheimer’s is part of a larger research agenda to humanize the practice of dementia care. With the production now complete, we are embarking upon the next stage of our research, which involves the performance of this drama and focus groups we are conducting with nurses and ancillary health care professionals in three different long-term care facilities. It is anticipated that responses to the performance by the focus group participants will serve as a springboard for discussion about embodied selfhood, and how perceiving a broader range of behaviour as meaningful could enhance communication and the development of interpersonal relationships, and how this could ultimately improve the quality of caregiving and the quality of life of those living with Alzheimer’s disease.

Contact info: Pia C. Kontos: Department of Public Health Sciences University of Toronto 11035-550 University Avenue Toronto, ON M5G 2A2CanadaTEL: (416) 597-3422, ext. 7609FAX: (416) 597-7105Email: kontos.pia@torontorehab.on.ca

Qualitative Research http://qrj.sagepub.com/

ACT II Studios, Toronto http://www.ryerson.ca/~act2/activities.html

Collaborative Research: Drama Helps Explore Difficult Situations

An interesting report (excerpt) from the Vancouver Island Health Authority site
at http://www.aginghealthresearch.ca/VIHARegionalPage.html demonstrates how drama
can be applied to help foster teamwork in collaborative research projects.

Collaborative Research Teams: Using Drama to Explore Difficult Situations

On November 3rd, the third workshop in our Collaborative Research Workshop series was held in the Medical Sciences Building at UVic. This series is a collaborative effort between the University of Victoria's Centre on Aging and VIHA’s Research and Academic Development department, with the goal of increasing our combined capacity to conduct high-quality health-related research. Support for this workshop was received from UVic Office of Research Services; Victoria Palliative Research Network New Emerging Team; BC Network for Aging Research, Rural and Remote Health Research Network, and the Disability Health Research Network and involved participation from the Centre on Aging, School of Nursing, Applied Theatre Department, as well as VIHA’s Research and Academic Development Department and RP1.

Using a technique called “Forum Theatre”, events based on real-life scenarios were adapted for the stage. Audience members were given an opportunity to reflect upon the incidents/events and to become involved in the process of changing how the scenario unfolded, and then review the event from a new perspective.

The audience included researchers and students from the University of Victoria as well as health providers from VIHA who were interested in increasing their knowledge and skills in the collaborative research process as well as networking with others interested in partnering to conduct research. "


Another winning example of the creative arts practically applied in research, action and practice.
Cheryl.

Northampton Conference Arts and Health, Drama in Research and Performance Highlighted

We heard today from Dr. Ross Prior about an
Arts and Health Conference in Northampton.
We are pleased to blog post this news for The University of Northampton,
CM.


Inspiring Transformations: The Arts and Health
Conference University of Northampton UK

An international conference hosted in collaboration with the Schools of The Arts and Health in September will focus on the interactive relationships of The Arts, Health and Sciences. The UK event will bring together professionals across disciplines to share research and experiences, explore the potential of partnerships, and establish ongoing collaborations.

Date: September 3-6, 2007
Location: The University of Northampton, UK (Avenue Campus)

Abstract deadline: June 1, 2007

This conference will especially be of interest to:
Applied theatre practitioners/researchers
Health professionals
Social scientists
Arts/theatre practitioners
Biomedical scientists
Arts/drama therapists
Neuroscientists
Psychologists
Theatre companies


Keynote speakers:

Gavin Clayton, director, MK, Arts for Health
Dr. Gaynor Sadio, Occupational Therapist, University of Brighton
Professor Bill Ribbans, Ph.D. Honorary Orthopaedic Surgeon to the English National Ballet
Professor Robert J. Landy, Ph.D. Drama Therapist, New York University

Website: http://www.northampton.ac.uk/artsandhealth/

For general inquiries please contact: Karen Haines,
telephone: +44 (0) 1604 892373, email: karen.haines@northampton.ac.uk

Remember Me for Birds And True Stories About Aging and Autonomy

I would like to inform our blog visitors that we recently downloaded excerpts from the research based performance, "Remember Me for Birds" about aging and mental health at Youtube.
The original M.A. performance took place for clinicians, geriatricians and social workers at The Rene Cassin Institute of Social Gerontology of Quebec in April 2003.

The research based performance advanced through several evolutions as it became a full one hour ethnodrama which toured for professional audiences, universities and medical schools between 03-05.

See a video clip from the performance about aging and mental health here.

See more performances and visit the blog about the book "Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice" here