Incite/Insight Spring-Summer 2019 Incite_Insight—Spring_Summer 2019 Final | 页面 21

Insights From Around the Nation—
in Alabama’s Teaching
Theatre Course
WRITTEN BY ALEX ATES
WRITTEN BY DR. MONICA PRENDERGAST
The cast of The University of Alabama’s production of “The Christians” | Photo by Porfirio Solozano
This article originally appeared in
The University of Alabama’s Teaching
Hub blog as is accessible online
through that platform.
As I exasperatingly jogged between
terminals to catch the connecting
flight from Boston, Massachusetts
to Birmingham, Alabama, I couldn’t
help but reel with delight by how
wildly this semester was functioning.
One day, I would be working with
undergraduates in Boston, the
next, in Tuscaloosa. As flexible
educators learn, there is creativity
in contradiction and a curious fuel
released through academic mania.
Jetting back and forth between
The University of Alabama, where
I was directing a production and
instructing two courses (in addition
to earning my MFA), and Emerson
College where I was directing a new
musical, I had to adapt and modify
my work as an educator to embrace
the travel dynamic.
Method
For the Teaching Theatre
Performance course I instruct, I
devised a unique tech-integrated
opportunity. While I was in Boston
directing at Emerson, The University of
Alabama students consumed essays
written by relevant practitioners
associated with the Boston area.
Students then emailed me a specific
and detailed question for the author
based on their reading. These
INCITE/INSIGHT 21