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Theatre Education in the Academy:Major Impacts of Minor Differences Matt Omasta (bio) and Drew Chappell (bio) Most university theatre faculty members were likely introduced to the performing arts during childhood, perhaps participating in school plays, taking drama classes, or watching professional performances. Nevertheless, the field of K-12 theatre education remains enigmatic within the academy. Although theatre historians usually have training in directing and performance studies scholars understand Stanislavski’s approaches to acting, relatively few theatre faculty likely know what plays dominate high school theatre stages (until this year, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast was the most-produced high school musical for six years straight). While they probably read Romeo and Juliet in high school, faculty may be unfamiliar with the pedagogical rationales for introducing that specific play at that particular point in the curriculum. Few theatre faculty likely know offhand what percentage of students typically take a high school theatre course at all (approximately 23 percent). Throughout this essay we use the term theatre education to refer to the field of study concerned with instruction in theatre and drama in elementary and secondary schools. Theatre education includes instruction in the art form itself, integrating drama with other subjects, and engagement in extracurricular theatre activities. While theatre education faculty often teach and research a variety of subjects, including applied theatre and theatre for young audiences, in this essay we discuss their role in preparing students for careers as K-12 teachers specializing in theatre and drama. Shannon Jackson posits that one’s “disciplinary identity occurs, like any identity formation, when one is in the presence of an Other”; these “encounters produce a psychic structure that exacerbates what Sigmund Freud called the ‘narcissism of minor differences’” (31). While Jackson is referring to the differences between, for example, theatre history and performance studies faculty, in this essay we assert that the differences between all theatre faculty are, relatively, minor. While theatre education faculty and, for example, playwriting faculty may have very different expertise, core to both of their roles (at most universities) is a commitment to research/creative activity, teaching, and service. They share many of the same students, attend the same faculty meetings, and serve under common departmental mission statements. We posit that in many departments, however, theatre education students and faculty are perceived as “Others,” and that minor differences among programs can result in major misunderstandings, power imbalances, and a priori priorities that merit further investigation. In this essay we describe theatre education’s liminal and marginal place in the academy, and discuss historical and contemporary factors contributing to this positioning. We reveal how this peripheral status disadvantages not only theatre education students and faculty, but also those in performance, production, theatre history, and performance studies. We conclude by explicating the value that theatre education programs offer their departments, universities, and communities, and articulate how a more equitable place for theatre education could foster a climate conducive to cultivating a socially and critically engaged citizenry. [End Page 185] The Disciplinary Location of Theatre Education in the Academy Theatre education occupies a liminal space in the academy, “caught between” two seemingly disparate fields: theatre (the study of performing arts) and education (the study of teaching and learning). Indeed, a frequently discussed topic at theatre education conferences is how faculty and students in the field are sometimes located (literally) between two entirely different colleges within a university, answering to two sets of administrators with different expectations. While liminality describes theatre education’s space between theatre and education, Alexis de Tocqueville’s concept of “separate spheres” is an apt metaphor for how theatre education programs function within theatre departments.1 A recent National Association of Schools of Theatre (NAST) survey found that a strong majority of NAST-accredited departments do not offer degrees in theatre education. Just 1.8 percent offered theatre education master’s degrees, 15 percent offered baccalaureate programs, and only a single institution offered a doctoral program in the field (HEADS 11–14). Students interested in teaching theatre, therefore, have a much smaller pool of institutions at which they can pursue their studies than students interested in other theatrical domains. In the small numbers of accredited theatre education...
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