Theatre and Bullying: A Useful Tool for Increasing Awareness About Bullying and Victimization (continued)

The post-show debriefing would begin by following-up and elaborating on the question and answer session that took place after the play. This would then lead to working with a few scenes using Forum Theatre techniques (8). In brief, students in small groups (4-6) would be given the description of a short scene from the play (1 minute) where a conflict arose. They would be asked to role play it as best as possible, keeping the essence of what was happening versus memorizing lines. After rehearsing a few times, the students would play out their scene for another group whose task was to try and find ways to prevent, change, or manage the negative behavior. After presenting the short scene once, the students repeated it with the intent now of possibly being interrupted by the viewers who were given the opportunity to stop the scene at any moment and replace a character in hopes of addressing or changing the negative behavior. What we discovered was that although the play impacted the students, survey and focus group responses strongly pointed out how pre and post-show activities were key learning sites that allowed for deep personal connections (7, 9).

Thus there are three components to this process: the pre-show activities, the play itself, and the post-show activities.

• The pre-show became a mechanism to “hook” students, increasing their attention and recognition.
• The dramatic play acts as an important stimulus for thinking about bullying and other topics.
• The post-show activities became a site for applying their learning.

There are other models to consider such as drama workshops and playbuilding anti-bullying plays with your own students. These should be encouraged, but they take time and require skills that teachers may not have.

My research, thus, suggests that teachers should seek out theatre troupes who are willing to come to schools and ask them to develop pre- and post-show activities with each class to deepen the engagement for students.

References

1. O’Neill, C. (1995). Drama worlds: A framework for process drama. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
2. Henry, M. (2000). Drama’s ways of learning. Research in Drama Education 5, 45-63.
3. Edmiston, B. (2000). Drama as ethical education. Research in Drama Education 5(1), 22-
4. Bouchard, N. (2002). A narrative approach to moral experience using dramatic play and writing. Journal of Moral Education, 31(4), 407-422
5. Neelands, J. (1990). Structuring drama work: A handbook of available forms in theatre and dramas. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
6. Gallagher, K. (2001). Drama education in the lives of girls: Imagining possibilities. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
7. Belliveau, G. (2006). Using drama to achieve social justice: Anti-bullying project in elementary schools. Universal Mosaic of Drama and Theatre - IDEA Publications. 5 (2006): 325 – 336.
8. Boal, A. (1995). The rainbow of desire: The Boal method of theatre and therapy. London, UK: Routledge.
9. Belliveau, G. (2004). Pre-service teachers engage in Collective Drama. English Quarterly, 35(3), 1-6.