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