Incite/Insight Spring-Summer 2019 Incite_Insight—Spring_Summer 2019 Final | Page 12

with an inexperienced billionaire
overseeing the attempt to dismantle
teachers’ unions and public
education in favour of private charter
schools for those who are fortunate
enough to be able to afford them.
The times we are living through are
grim. Where do we hold on to hope
when all around us we are witness to
plutocracy over democracy, violence
over peace, ignorance over wisdom?
I have personally found hope in
the form of young activists who are
taking to the streets and raising
their voices high in the name of
issues such as ending gun violence,
addressing climate change and
fighting for gender equity and the
rights of minorities. After the horrible
attack on Parkland School in Florida,
I was inspired by the students who
stood up and faced the cameras
and microphones without fear, and
with plenty of anger, to denounce the
insanity of American gun laws. It did
not surprise me to find out that these
students were experienced in theatre,
as well as part of a strong debating
program. Their theatre training,
and ability to hold their ground
while making an argument, gave
them the power to speak through
their grief, and to lead a movement
against gun violence. When Emma
Gonzalez stood at the March for
Our Lives rally in Washington and
stayed silent for the amount of time
it took the gunman to erase 17 lives,
she well understood the power
of performance. Similarly, Greta
Thunberg in Sweden has sparked a
global youth movement fighting for
the future in the face of irreversible
climate change. This young w`oman
has Asperger’s Syndrome, yet this
supposed ‘disability’ has become a
strength in her fierce focus on saving
the planet, and her being completely
unintimidated by those in power. In
the UK, young people have rallied
in their attempt to stop a decision
made by their elders to leave the
European Union; these young people
voted up to 70% to Remain and are
demanding that their parents and
grandparents who voted Leave not
jeopardize their future as citizens of
Europe.
These young people, and many
more, are speaking truth to power,
and using the tools of theatre and
performance to assist them. Our
special issue later this year, co-edited
by Gus Weltsek and Clare Hamoor,
will focus on these matters more
closely. I am excited to see how that
issue might inspire readers of YTJ to
take bolder risks themselves in the
kind of theatre and performance
work they are doing with young
people at this crucial moment.
This general issue also contains
much to inspire: [in TYJ] you will
read about research theorizing the
impact of drama education field
founders on pre-service teachers,
on theatre for early years/theatre for
the very young, on new models for
rehearsing Shakespeare, and on an
innovative Canadian youth program
in opera. All of these diverse national/
international authors accomplish
their task, which is to convince the
reader of the educational importance
that lies in the intersections between
theatre/performance, education
and young people. Of course, they
are also preaching to the converted,
in that readers of YTJ are already
believers in the positive power of
drama and theatre for and with
young people. So I suppose my
challenge to readers during my time
as Editor is to wonder out loud: What
you are doing in advocating for
the future of the performing arts in
education and in culture and society?
What risks have you taken to ensure
the strength and sustainability of
our field? Where does your hope lie
in these dark times, and how do you
keep it burning? With whom are you
standing as an ally, and to whom are
you turning your back? Whose hands
are you holding, and toward whose
are you reaching? What must yet be
done?
Dr. Monica Prendergast is a
professor of Drama Education at the
University of Victoria in Canada.
Heading to New York City this summer
for AATE’s National Conference?
Check out the NYC A-Z List for insider recommendations:
aate.com/new-york-a-z
INCITE/INSIGHT 12