Amplify & Ignite

Below are summaries of the dynamic panels, interactive workshops, and inspiring performances that will shape this Fall's Symposium. These sessions offer tools, fresh ideas, and innovative teaching practices for theatre educators, artists, and scholars dedicated to engaging young people and enriching communities through the arts.

Radical Pedagogy in Precarious Times: Revisiting Black Mountain College's Stage Studies

Presenters: Alex Ates

Type: Papers and Narratives

 In 1933, Nazis shuttered Germany's famous art and design school, the Bauhaus. In 1936, the revolutionary Black Mountain College opened in rural North Carolina. Bauhaus professors in exile, such as Bauhaus Theater Workshop leader Xanti Schawinsky, were recruited to help start the faculty.

Caring for Caregivers: A Radical Solution for Supporting Artists

Presenters:  Olivia Aston Bosworth, Nicko Gonzalez

Type: Collaborative Inquiry & Visioning

Explore Alliance Theatre's Artist Childcare Program, a pioneering initiative providing free childcare to artists and arts workers. By offering essential caregiver support, our artists are able to make world-class art on stage and in the classroom while their young children experience arts-integrated learning on-site. This workshop will highlight how this radical approach addresses a crucial industry gap, emphasize the potential impact of advocating for this program nation-wide, and provide customizable templates to develop this program at any theatre.

Artists in Community: Reflecting on Undergraduate Projects & Partnerships in Progress

Presenters:  Sam Briggs

Type: Papers and Narratives

Through a semester-long partnership with a local organization, University of Utah students in THEA 4630: Artists in Community: Projects & Partnerships learn how to initiate and develop mutually beneficial relationships with community organizations and create artistic projects rooted in the values, needs, assets, and challenges of the organization. Throughout the process students develop a praxis for engaging in ethically-sound partnerships and leveraging their artistic abilities beyond the traditional studio or classroom setting. In this session, individuals from the class (the professor, students, and community partners) will outline the course structure, share the projects in process, reflect on the collaboration, and discuss challenges, successes, and possibilities for engaging undergraduate students in community-based work.

Structures for Collaborating with Individuals in Community-Based Theatre

Presenters: Jacob Buttry

Type: Workshops

Have you ever found yourself romanticizing your art so much that you forgot the labor it asked of collaborators? As a community-based artist, presenter Jacob Buttry really values democracy, but he has also found that democratic processes take time and energy to practice effectively. Because of this, while working on a devised performance based on the experiences of former evangelical Christians, Jacob found himself wanting more supportive frameworks in how to approach his collaboration with individuals in the community beyond field-accepted structures for partnering with organizations.

Casting, Culture, and Critical Consciousness: Rethinking Representation in School Performances

Presenters: Lisa M Byrne

Type: Collaborative Inquiry & Visioning

In educational theatre, casting is far more than matching a student to a role's a decision that can deeply impact identity, belonging, and student self-worth. As an educational theatre director, I have long grappled with the ethical dilemma of how to cast fairly while navigating issues of privilege, access, and cultural representation. Drawing on Paulo Freire's concept of critical consciousness and Shapiro & Stefkovich's ethic of critique, this talk explores how casting decisions and curriculum choices can either reinforce systems of oppression or dismantle them. Through a case study of our now-retired 4th grade production California Missions and More!, I will reflect on how good intentions can be misaligned with student identities and evolving cultural understanding.

Advocating Fiercely for Creative Drama: Using Theatre to Cultivate Joy and Holistic Health for Pediatric Patients

Presenters: Meredith Campbell

Type: Collaborative Inquiry & Visioning

During her youngest child's extended stay at Primary Children's Hospital, Meredith Campbell witnessed firsthand the transformative power of play in pediatric care. Puppetry, music, art, and even therapy dogs offered moments of joy and relief. These interventions were lifelines that helped children reclaim a sense of normalcy in an otherwise clinical environment.

Storytelling with Objects: A Creative Process for Building Theatre for Young Audiences

Presenters: Lauren Carn, Bryce Romleski

Type: Collaborative Inquiry & Visioning

In an effort to supplement the general absence of Theatre for the Very Young performances within the Salt Lake Valley, To the Moon Theatre Collective (TTMTC) was born, and with it, a developmental process for creating stories for ages 0-5. In an interactive workshop, TTMTC founders Bryce Romleski and Lauren Carn will share their production practice of structuring through modules built by play with simple objects, inviting participants to create their own story seeds for more TVY to come. Process: Choose an object to observe. Write all of these observations down.

Practicing Empathy and Inquiry through Ethnodrama in the High School Classroom

Presenters: Averil Carr

Type: Workshops

Ethnodrama offers a powerful practice based tool that has a unique ability to build empathy, help listening skills, improve attention span, and develop students' critical and independent thinking- skills that feel increasingly necessary in the age of fast-paced media consumption. Drawing from my work as a teaching artist with NYU's Verbatim Performance Lab (VPL), this workshop will guide participants through a section of a classroom based Ethnodrama project. Using techniques created by VPL, the group will choose a topic and will be guided through the process of creating research questions, interview prompts, and participate in a mock interview.

Beyond the Curtain: Ethical and Authentic Practices for Deaf Representation in Theatre

Presenters: Dr. Brian Andrew Cheslik

Type: Workshops

Theatre has the power to transform perceptions and tell stories that reflect the richness of human experience. Yet, when productions involve Deaf characters or actors, well-meaning creators sometimes fall into pitfalls: misrepresentation, harmful tropes, inaccessible processes, that undermine authenticity and trust. This session is designed for hearing theatre makers who want to engage with Deaf stories and artists ethically and effectively. Together, we will explore what is and is not appropriate when developing productions with Deaf characters, casting Deaf actors, or incorporating American Sign Language on stage. Key topics include: Authentic casting and why playing Deaf is problematic. Avoiding "inspiration porn" and tokenism. Collaborating with Directors of Artistic Sign Language (DASLs) and interpreters. Designing rehearsal and performance environments that are genuinely accessible. Respecting Deaf culture, language, and identity within artistic choices. Through real-world examples and case studies, participants will gain insights into how intentional collaboration can elevate both the artistry and cultural integrity of a production.

The Wonderland Experience: Designing Immersive Theatre to Engage Media Savvy Audiences

Presenters: Liz Christensen

Type: Papers and Narratives

Thirteen Woods Cross High School students enrolled in a concurrent credit theatre class devised and produced. The Wonderland Experience, an original, immersive, audience participation adaptation of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Collaborating across rehearsal and design, they answered the Big Question: How can theatre evolve to engage a media savvy audience? My course goals were to challenge narrow notions of theatre, foreground physical actor training, and expand student ownership of creative process. To develop the piece, students trained in Laban's Efforts, Anne Bogart's Viewpoints, improvisation, and Aristotelian story structure. They designed character movement-signatures; configured the performance space; blended scripted dialogue with improvised, personalized interactions; and determined modes of audience motion and participation. Though none had prior immersion theatre experience, the class studied Punchdrunk's Sleep No More: a production that ran over a decade in New York City to model immersive techniques and narrative fluidity. The project yielded clear successes: student pride and creative ownership, active parent support, enthusiastic audience engagement, and more rigorous academic discussion across disciplines. 

Expressing movement and verbal expression through African Theatre

Presenters: Desiree Dabney

Type: Workshops

This workshop introduces educators to the use of African Theatre as a dynamic tool for developing students' critical thinking and communication skills. Through culturally rooted, performance-based activities, students will explore how meaning is conveyed both physically and emotionally. Participants will engage in techniques that help students identify and express emotions through movement, gesture, and voice, culminating in the creation and performance of original "Nigerian Praise Poems." By incorporating imaginative play and storytelling from African traditions, this workshop fosters cultural literacy, creative expression, and student-centered learning in the classroom.

Performing Art: Expanding museum exhibitions through community-devised theater

Presenters: Elizabeth Dahmen

Type: Workshops

This workshop, centered on civic engagement, presents the methodology and exercises that make up Performing Art, a collaborative theater program developed by Liz Dahmen in collaboration with The Dorsky Museum and local community members. The program has run for the past six years on the campus of the State University of New York, New Paltz. Performing Art brings together an ensemble of community members to create a live, site-specific performance in response to current museum and gallery exhibitions.This workshop will take participants through an abridged Performing Art process to unpack the benefits of using devised theater for community engagement and art education.

Devising in Times of Crisis: Integrating research into Subjective Well-being into our practice

Presenters: Peter Duffy, Beth Murray

Type: Workshops

Devising Theatre in Times of Crisis is a workshop inspired by a new book that brings together the experiences of eight theatre professors from Turkey, Singapore, Taiwan, Uganda, Australia, and the United States. Each worked with student ensembles to devise original performances reflecting on their lived experiences during lockdown and the global pandemic. While the workshop uses COVID-19 as a contextual backdrop, its focus is forward-looking exploring how theatre practitioners can prepare for and respond to future crises through ethical, creative, and supportive devising practices. Research shows that crises significantly impact mental health, particularly among young people (Kauhanen et al., 2023).

Community Partnership through Theatre: A Pragmatic Pathways for Social Change

Presenters: Sisir Dutta

Type: Papers and Narratives

Theatre connects people developing sense of ownership and resonating power of voice for change. Grassroots people get involved in theatrical activities as their interests and abilities- expressed or latent, analyzing the situation critically and creatively, determine issue/s, germinate feasible solution/s, improvised production and partake in dissemination through interactive mode. So the effective communication happens and action for future generated.

Devising Access: A Collaborative Inquiry into Inclusive Theatre-Making

Presenters: Clara Elser

Type: Collaborative Inquiry & Visioning

This workshop is a collaborative inquiry into how devising can become more accessible, inclusive, and community-centered when we begin by centering neurodivergent perspectives. Together, we'll explore how sensory-friendly, low-barrier practices open up new creative possibilities' not just for neurodivergent participants, but for anyone engaged in ensemble-driven theatre. Through hands-on exploration of visual prompts, tactile materials, movement, and sound, participants will engage in a collective investigation of what it means to devise in ways that support a wide range of communication styles, processing needs, and comfort levels. This session invites participants to co-create knowledge, share lived experience, and generate new questions together.

The Greatest Adventure Ever: A New One-Act Play for Young Audiences

Presenters: Giovanni Delgado Ferreira

Type: Performances

The Greatest Adventure Ever is a new one-act play for young audiences that celebrates the power of imagination in the face of life's greatest challenges. The story follows Luz, a small child with boundless energy, who embarks on a fantastical quest filled with LEGO forests, kitten hydras, and magical rescues. Alongside the playful Joker, Luz navigates whimsical landscapes and daring obstacles with courage, humor, and love.

Withness in Theatre-Making with Young People

Presenters: Anna Glarin

Type: Test and explore a reflection framework

As part of my PhD research, I have developed a reflection framework to help practitioners reflect on 'withness' in their own practice. I would like to explore with a group of other like-minded practitioners how this framework can be used and its effectiveness and thus also, impact. With an interest in co-production and a desire to make theatre with young people on equal terms, I have developed what I refer to as the Place of Optimum Withness reflection framework through my practice-led research. My research seeks to challenge the status quo and traditional norm of adults as leaders and teachers, and young people as followers and learners. My inquiry seeks to unpack how we can, truly, make theatre with young people.

Documenting "Little Changes": Reminiscence Theatre and Memory Care

Presenters: Jayne Gold, Chesney Ward

Type: Papers and Narratives

This presentation shares preliminary findings from an ongoing mixed-methods study investigating the impact of reminiscence theatre on older adults in care settings. Building on Michael Balfour's concept of "theatre of little changes" (2009), our research documents small but meaningful moments of connection and engagement that emerge during structured 50-minute weekly sessions at Sunshine Terrace care facility over eight weeks. Our intervention combines five core activities: photo album storytelling, music-triggered memories, prop-based storytelling with personal objects, sensory memory boxes, and guided visualization journeys. Each incorporates theatrical elements while respecting individual experiences and capabilities of participants across cognitive ability levels. This presentation will share specific examples of "little changes" observed during sessions, discuss the challenges and successes of measuring therapeutic outcomes in applied theatre, and explore how theatrical storytelling methods can be adapted for diverse cognitive abilities.

Children's Books, Puppets, and Partnerships: Students Engaging Community Through Story

Presenters: Tamara Goldbogen

Type: Case study with a hands-on puppet activity

This session explores how applied theatre practices can ignite interdisciplinary collaboration, deepen community engagement, and empower student storytellers. Showcasing Weber State University's course Children's Literature: Building a Book with Art & Science, this presentation demonstrates how theatre-based pedagogy becomes a catalyst for creating original children's books rooted in science, storytelling, and social connection. Students engage in immersive workshops that center narrative development, character embodiment, and collaborative devising bringing their stories to life through voice, movement, and image.

"We Don't Agree on What Theatre Is": Creative Youth Communities in Small Town America

Presenters: Luke Foster Hayden

Type: Papers and Narratives

In this narrative exploration, the author's time at a southern Indiana high school is examined; including the building of community with young people, the conservative local community, and how centering on shared humanity helped a group of young people in the face of resistance.

Bringing Professional Theatre to Rural and Underserved Populations

Presenters: Kaylee Hill

Type: Papers and Narratives

Providing high schools (and middle schools if classes are offered) in rural areas of Utah expansive education in all areas of theatre. Theatre education students will work closely in in-person and online capacities to give the education students experience in teaching, and rural teachers and students knowledge in stage management, directing, design, and anything they require to fully prepare them to produce a professional-grade show with only a small schools resources. The education students will also work exclusively with the teachers and administration to grow their school's theatre department and track any changing statistics to assess any improvements made in the school and assess effectiveness.

Muses & Meaning-Making: Playback for Educators & Changemakers

Presenters: Kate Jaskolski

Type: Workshops

In this interactive workshop, participants will explore how Playback Theatre and embodied listening can serve as tools for navigating conflict, fatigue, and social division in educational and community spaces. At a time when dialogue can quickly fracture into defensiveness or disconnection, Playback Theatre offers a framework for empathetic witnessing ”inviting us to reflect each other's stories not with solutions, but with presence. Grounded in the idea of the "MUSES" This Playback work channels stories with intuition and care ”this session introduces“ simple, adaptable Playback exercises designed for teachers, facilitators, and artists working in tense or transitional contexts.

Methods from from the Community College: Adapting Monroe's Motivated Sequence for Applied Theatre Projects in Aid of Instigating Good Trouble

Presenters: Jonathan P. Jones

Type: Papers and Narratives

Early on, my penchant for instigating artivism drew me to focus on call to action as an integral facet of persuasion - and as I leaned into that, I began to both see examples of it in theatre and implemented it in my work for New York City Gay Men's Chorus (Beale, 2024; Jones, 2018). Leaning into Monroe's Motivated Sequence (MMS).Having taught persuasive writing in high school English classes for five years, I grew exhausted by paper after paper on abortion and climate change. Early persuasive presentations in my public speaking classes at a community college were no different, so I changed the parameter.

Origami Storytelling: A Narrative-Building Strategy through Paper Folding

Presenters: Bonnie Lee

Type: Workshops

Origami, the widely practiced and influential paper-folding art from East Asia, has long been a familiar element in classrooms across the region. With its accessibility and flexibility, along with its unique aesthetics and emphasis on process-oriented making, origami offers valuable possibilities for educational settings beyond its cultural origins.This workshop explores how origami supports narrative-building for young minds. The facilitator, as an Asian theatre teaching artist working in the States, will share teaching strategies drawn from sessions with children of different ages.

Drama as Resistance: Rebuilding Connection and Belonging in Post-Pandemic and Inclusive Classrooms

Presenters: Dr. Jen Yin Lin, Dr. Yi-Ren Tsai

Type: Workshops

In a climate of political polarization, censorship, and cultural erasure, both educators and students face mounting isolation, fatigue, and disconnection. This is especially true for newcomers, multilingual learners, and LGBTQ+ youth navigating post-pandemic trauma, systematic racism and the pressures of a hyper-digital world. Teachers, too, are struggling to re-engage students and to sustain culturally responsive practices in the face of burnout.This workshop positions theatre and drama-based instructional strategies as a form of creative teaching practice such as rebuilding community, amplifying marginalized voices, and resisting oppressive systems.

Coalition & Community Building for Arts-based Work in Non-Arts Fields

Presenters: Danielle Littman, M. Candace Christensen, Melanie Sontag-Person, Rogario Pinto

Type: Papers and Narratives

For decades, the social work research community has pushed for recognition as a legitimate knowledge source. This advocacy marginalized social work scholars practicing arts-based research (ABR). In response, these researchers sought connection outside mainstream research circles.

Theatre For All: Applied Theatre for Senior Citizens in Cache Valley

Presenters: Katie Ludlow

Type: Papers and Narratives

This presentation shares findings from a summer-long applied theatre project facilitated at the Cache County Senior Center in Logan, Utah. Designed to address the lack of theatre access for older adults, the program invited participants' many of whom had never engaged in theatre before ”into a process of storytelling, improvisation, and collaborative creation. Over the course of several months, weekly workshops evolved into a final performance. Through a mixed-methods approach that included surveys, interviews, and observational journaling, this research explores how applied theatre can support well-being, self-expression, and belonging in aging populations.

What would you do CUNY 1969? - A Process Drama

Presenters: Zeynep Akca Malbrough

Type: Workshops

Through out history college students and campuses have been a center of community organizing and civil unrest. This process drama takes inspiration from the 1969 protests across CUNY which are an extension of the Civil Rights Movement on campuses. The process drama takes participants through protests around inclusion and equity across multiple CUNY campuses as students, faculty, and staff at a nearby campus.

Building Empathy and Activism Through Actor Training

Presenters: Raymond McAnally

Type: Workshops

Both acting and activism are rooted in doing. As an artist, educator, and public speaker, I've seen the immediate impact of acting exercises used for empathy and communication building in everyday life and relationships. As a nonprofit staff member, I've seen our storytelling tools motivate a hesitant human to volunteer and give back.

Exploring Ethical Uses of AI in a Changing World Through Dramaturgical Work in R.U.R.

Presenters: Alyssa Miller, Shayla Uccardi

Type: Papers and Narratives

As the University of Utah continues to produce theatre tours, visiting surrounding high school audiences, our goal is to equip educators with relevant resources that help provide a more meaningful student engagement. Our project centers on the development of a touring production of R.U.R along with educational materials and workshops, exploring artificial intelligence and the ethical implications of human-made life. This resource will include a play synopsis, historical and cultural context, essential questions, and two adaptable classroom lesson plans.

Rest as Reclamation: Theatre as a Tool for Sustainable Activism in Cape Town

Presenters: Zandile Mqwathi

Type: Collaborative Inquiry & Visioning

This session invites participants to collectively explore how theatre and creative rest function as tools for resistance, healing, and sustainability in activism. Drawing from my experience leading youth and community arts programmes in Cape Town, we will interrogate how creative practices can reclaim agency amidst political and emotional burnout. Through collaborative mapping, speculative dialogue, and shared storytelling, we will unpack strategies to embed rest and regeneration within justice-oriented arts work.

The Courage Workshop: From Defense to Offense

Presenters: Bethany Nelson

Type: Workshops

The Courage Workshop: From Defense to Offense Speak Truth to power, even if your voice shakes. Maggie Kuhn At any age, this is easier said than done. But it has never been more important than it is now. As any linguist will tell you, language shapes thought.

Performing Percarity: a site specific community-based project

Presenters: Allison (Alice) Nelson

Type: Papers and Narratives

This case study presents the research and methodology behind Performing Precarity, a site-specific theatre production exploring the impact of financial insecurity on students at the University of Windsor. The project emerged in Fall 2024 in response to the university's closure of University Players, the mainstage for students' experiential learning, due to budget shortfalls.  

Re-envisioning the Nutcracker Ballet for young performers of all abilities

Presenters: John Newman, Sandy Asher, and Claudia Haas

Type: Workshops

How could the classic Nutcracker Ballet be re-imagined for a cast of children, teens, and adults of all abilities? Playwrights Sandra Fenichel Asher and Claudia Haas envisioned such a production in a 2022 AATE national conference session on inclusion of young people with disabilities on stage. Asher and Haas wrote a six-page treatment and Asher has brought together community partners in Lancaster, Pennsylvania to realize that treatment on stage this December.

Memory Courtyard as Civic Practice: A Workshop in Poetic, Justice-Oriented Theatre

Presenters: Yannis Ning, JC Chang

Type: Workshops

This 90-minute workshop invites participants into the "Memory-Courtyard," a poetic theatre methodology developed by Dreamborne Theater for Nine Shadows in Bloom. Rooted in multilingual, movement-based, and object-driven performance, the Memory-Courtyard is a liminal stage-world where suppressed selves return to speak, move, and bloom. The process draws on lived experiences of migration, language loss, and cultural erasure, transforming them into collective rituals of witness. Participants will explore three core practices:(1) Memory Mapping "creating symbolic" from personal or communal histories using gesture, voice, and found objects;(2) Shadow Blooming: devising short ensemble sequences that embody a silenced or fragmented self;(3) Shared Witnessing a breath-based, nonjudgmental circle that holds each work as part of a collective archive. By engaging the senses and embracing multilingual leakage, participants will experience how non-linear, symbolic performance can operate as both artistic practice and civic action.

From Emotion to Expression: Teaching Empathy and Creativity through Drama-Rich Pedagogy

Presenters: Alison Grove O"Grady, Thomas De Angelis

Type: Workshops

This interactive workshop invites participants to explore how drama-rich pedagogy rooted in theatrical traditions such as Stanislavski's etude, active analysis, and improvisation can be used to explicitly teach empathy and support creative development. Drawing on two Australian case studies, we examine The Dramatic Empathy Workshop for early career teachers and Regrowth, a site-specific applied theatre project for young people in bushfire-affected communities. Through hands-on activities and reflective discussion, participants will experience a sequence of scaffolded drama exercises designed to provoke emotional insight, imaginative risk-taking, and collaborative meaning-making. We position empathy not as a passive trait but as a cognitive-emotional engine of creativity, capable of transforming both personal and pedagogical practice. Participants will leave with a practical toolkit of adaptable strategies for use in educational, artistic, and community contexts, alongside a framework for designing creative learning environments that centre emotional complexity, co-construction, and social imagination. This session is ideal for educators, theatre-makers, teaching artists, and anyone interested in the role of drama in building the emotional and imaginative capacities required for our uncertain world.

Making Lemons into Lemonade: Developing New TYA Work in an Age of Scarcity

Presenters: Nicola Olsen, Lojo Simon

Type: Collaborative Inquiry & Visioning

The session explore and investigate a new model for collaboration between playwrights, directors, and community members to develop new TYA work outside of traditional pathways by sharing our experience with Lemonade Stand, a script centered on the rich variety of culture, language, and heritage in California's central valley that will tour in Spring 2026. Come join the conversation!

ALLOWANCE

Presenters: Jeanna Phillips, Kristian Sorensen

Type: Workshops

As the president of the United States sells cologne and implements global tariffs, collective student loan debt spikes to 1.6 trillion dollars, and American workers of mega corporations fight to unionize, we're compelled to engage young people in investigating and articulating their own values when it comes to the engine driving daily life in our country: money. ALLOWANCE is an interactive, educational theatre piece designed for young people ages 11-13. The piece will combine live performance, discussion, and embodied role play to invite participants to grapple with societal, cultural, and personal beliefs surrounding money and value.

Creative Afterschool Spaces for Youth and Families

Presenters: Aimee Reid

Type: Collaborative Inquiry & Visioning

Children's Theatre Workshop moved to a neighborhood with a 45% poverty rate in 2025. Through collaborations and inquiries and research, CTW began leveraging its experiences in theatre and education to expand offerings to the neighborhood to include tutoring, meals, literacy programming, and free arts play. CTW also became a host for wellness organizations to offer pop up services like health checks, vaccinations, and educational programming.

Movement Across Borders: Embodied Cultural Practice as Community-Based Inquiry

Presenters: Dr. Dirk J. Rodricks, David Puvaneyshwaran

Type: Papers and Narratives

In recent years, multiple intersecting pandemics have shaped how people move and access urban spaces, forcing us to redefine borders not only geographic, but also linguistic, racial, gendered, sexual, emotional, psychological, cultural, and even virtual (Walia, 2021). There exists a pressing need to interrogate the very real and imagined borders of movement and exclusion, along with the technologies and practices that sustain them. This paper shares insights from a community-engaged "storydoing" (Rodricks, 2020) research project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), that used two different movement arts Kalarippayattu and Afro-Caribbean dance to explore the border-crossing stories of diasporic South Asians in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Through community workshops, focus groups, and individual interviews, we engaged participants, artists, and researchers as co-creators of embodied, culturally grounded knowledge.

Not Sure If I'm Free To: Using Ethnodrama to Explore Freedom of Expression and Academic Freedom

Presenters: Joe Salvatore

Type: Workshops

In the fall of 2024, NYU Steinhardt's Verbatim Performance Lab (VPL), in partnership with two Steinhardt courses, Creating Ethnodrama & Documentary Theatre and International Human Rights Activism and Education, began an arts-based research investigation into academic freedom and freedom of expression at New York University (NYU). Over 100 interviews were conducted with students, staff, faculty, and alumni. On Saturday, April 26th, members of the NYU community and the general public gathered to engage with and hear excerpts from these interviews in three different workshop and performance formats.

Theatre for Every Body: How UVU's TYE Center Is Shifting the Accessibility Landscape

Presenters: Scott Savage, Meredith Campbell

Type: Collaborative Inquiry & Visioning

In this interactive panel session, members of Utah Valley University's TYE Center will share their evolving work in building accessible theatre experiences for neurodiverse audiences. Focused specifically on sensory-friendly practices, the session will spotlight how thoughtful adjustments to both patron services and technical theatre elements can open doors to broader engagement and inclusion. From implementing new protocols and hiring a dedicated accessibility intern, to refining design elements and front-of-house communication, UVU's team has approached accessibility with purpose and adaptability. Participants will walk away with practical insights into how they might develop similar strategies at their own institutions whether they're starting from scratch or looking to refine existing efforts. Topics will include: Developing sensory-friendly protocols for performances and audience support. Technical design considerations such as lighting, sound, and spatial layout. Staff and student training to create a welcoming, responsive environment. Collaboration with families and professionals to better understand needs. Lessons learned, challenges faced, and future goals. Presenters will also invite attendees to share their own experiences, fostering a conversation on how theatre makers can work together to make sensory-friendly practices not just an exception but an expectation.

Unconditional Positive Regard: Healing-Centered Practices for Classrooms, Rehearsal Rooms, and Community Spaces

Presenters:  Joseph Schupbach, Amy Besida

Type: Workshops

What if our most radical artistic practice isn't performance, but presence? This interactive workshop explores Unconditional Positive Regard (UPR) as a healing-centered stance for artist-educators, directors, and community facilitators working in arts classrooms, rehearsal rooms, and creative community spaces. In a world where many young people navigate trauma, instability, and systemic oppression, arts-based environments offer rare opportunities for connection, affirmation, and healing. But this healing doesn't come only through curriculum or craft it emerges when young people are consistently seen, valued, and celebrated, regardless of behavior, ability, or achievement. Grounded in research on Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs) and relational neuroscience, this session invites participants to engage in creative, reflective practices such as identity mapping, storytelling, movement, and collaborative dialogue that model how experiential learning can support emotional safety and belonging.

Acting Out: Theater-Based Social-Emotional Learning for Very Young Audiences

Presenters: Ben Siegel

Type: Papers and Narratives

This presentation shares the story of Tessie the Turtle and the 104 preschoolers who strengthened their emotional literacy, self-regulation, and co-regulation skills through an interactive theatrical journey. Grounded in action research, this project examines the efficacy and acceptability of a theater-based social-emotional learning (SEL) program for children ages 3-5. Over six weeks, teaching artists presented a sequential series of original plays at two early childhood centers in central Iowa.

To Play or not to Play: exploring intrinsic use of arts integration in early childhood and elementary classrooms

Presenters: Arielle Sosland

Type: Papers and Narratives

In the wake of 2001's No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), an increased focus on tested subjects (English and Math) led to a decrease in funding and resources for the arts and humanities (Bassok et al., 2016; Gadsden, 2008; West, 2007; Yee, 2014). In 2025, schools and arts organizations are facing program eliminations that could negatively impacting arts in schools. This paper explores the use of arts integration in early childhood and elementary school classrooms post NCLB (and on the precipice of sweeping budget cuts) and compares the similarities and differences between the two populations.

Socially Engaged Musical Theatre for Very Young Students

Presenters: Taylor, Laura Taylor

Type: Papers and Narratives

In this session we will dive into the little-known world of educational elementary musical theatre. Most musical theatre processes focus on the individual work ethic of the actor. We rehearse next to our fellow cast members as we learn the music and choreography.

Fiction-Based Research: Using Fiction in Scholarship to Expand Ways of Knowing

Presenters: Marla Truini

Type: Collaborative Inquiry & Visioning

This collaborative inquiry and visioning session will focus on groupthink around the topic of applied theatre's potential to support Social Emotional Learning (SEL) for both students and educators. The chosen medium for the session will be storytelling, specifically: what stories do you have about how devised theatre can be used to teach empathy in Predominantly White Institutions (PWI's).

Ageism in the Arts

Presenters: Jack Truman

Type: Workshops

Ageism is a form of discrimination that all of us endure. We get old or we die young. It's important to learn about the importance of ageism in our world today, and how this can be tackled.

Theatre Games (with a purpose!)

Presenters: USU BFA Theatre Education students, Jayne Gold 

Type: Workshops

Get ready to level up your theatre toolkit! In this high-energy workshop, you'll discover a variety of old and NEW theatre games designed to do more than just entertain. These games are packed with purpose, helping you sharpen essential skills like voice and breath work, movement, energy, and focus' all while building a stronger sense of community and collaboration with your peers.

Forum theatre for students in rural areas of China- Research and Practice for three years [2023-2025]

Presenters: Dr Lu Wang

Type: Papers and Narratives

In Kunming, Yunnan province, China, we designed forum theatre for students and parents to experience, discuss, and explore ways to solve their conflicts at schools and families. The themes of the three years are left-behind children, "school bullying", and friendship and communication. By observing and interviewing, we have prepared to share our experience and research findings of how forum theatre could help students in rural areas of China to face their difficulties in reality and rebuild their confidence.

Building Community One Conversation at a Time: Amplifying Youth Voice Through Podcasting

Presenters: Steve Williams, Betty Manaris

Type: Audio and/or Visual Media

We are interested in the intersections between media arts, social development strategy, and amplifying youth voices to build more generous, empathetic, and resilient communities. We believe that young people benefit greatly from opportunities to build skills that will allow them to share stories with each other and create paths of understanding between themselves and their peers. Our plan is to lead a live podcast conversation involving the three of us as well as a handful of volunteer participants who attend the workshop.

Jump In, Speak Out: Learn Basic Chinese with Improv Games' A low-pressure, high-energy workshop for curious beginners' no improv or language experience needed!

Presenters: Xuan Zhao

Type: Workshops

This interactive workshop explores how applied improvisation can serve as a radically joyful entry point into language learning especially for those who may feel intimidated, excluded, or disconnected from traditional models. Designed for total beginners in both Chinese (Mandarin) and improv, this session invites participants to learn foundational Chinese phrases through high-energy improvisational games that spark laughter, trust, and authentic connection. Using these playful, dynamic activities, learners engage in real-time practice focused on greetings, introductions, and everyday interactions. This session draws from the first known research project to formally combine comedic improvisation games with Chinese language learning.