Incite/Insight Spring-Summer 2019 Incite_Insight—Spring_Summer 2019 Final | Page 26

Stepping into Action: Possible
Convergences Between Process
Drama and Francophone Theatre
Education Practices
WRITTEN BY JOHN THIEL
John Thiel working with students in Québec | Photo by Noël Li
In my learning of approaches to
theatre education as a graduate
student and classroom drama
teacher, I have often been struck
by the relatedness of concepts
that drive practices in the field,
even among traditions arising from
different communities, cultures,
and theoretical and ideological
perspectives. I have wondered how
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understandings of the practice
of theatre and drama with young
people are shared across traditions.
Are there meaningful points of
connection between theatre
education communities that could
contribute to a richer understanding
of our work as teachers and
learners? As I have been researching
the teaching and learning of theatre
as practiced in Québec, I have kept
this question in mind.
My own theatre teaching with
K-5 students in the United States
is influenced by the work of
Anglophone practitioners of
process drama. In view of the ways
understandings of best practices in
theatre education can be limited by