AATE 2025 National Conference

The panel will explore and discuss issues pertaining to the lack of scholarship in the field of Theatre for Young Audiences; emphasizing the importance of scholarship in the field of TYA, in particular, scholarship that explores youth narratives of color and youth communities that have been historically marginalized and underrepresented. Also, included in this dialogue is the examining the lack of scholarship for these same groups which is practically non-existent and what are the ways that we encourage people/future scholars to dedicate themselves to being scholars in the field. As a result, the question will be asked, "how do we, as a collective, change this situation and reimagining possibilities in order to facilitate change in a faster and ethical manner."

This session invites participants to envision our theatrical future when the voices and bodies of trans characters are represented with full dimension on stage. How do we find, and develop, scripts that: tell honest stories reflective of trans experience provide roles for trans actors and truthful trans characters ask probing questions about the spaces that nurture the wholeness of trans identity thwart the impact of political leanings that threaten trans freedoms. This workshop session is fueled by a facilitated discussion that centers trans experience within the larger LBGTQ community. Led by trans playwright Genevieve Simon and Oberlin College theatre undergrads with a reading of their new play Punch Back, the session will prompt participants to share and listen to stories that can become the substance of strong scripts. Together, participants will brainstorm play development strategies that will lead to initiatives that have the power to change the status quo.

My personal mantra has evolved into an artistic philosophy: I feel the impact of simultaneous breaking and blooming, both within myself and in the world around me. The systems we’ve built, both societal and internal, slowly erode over time. What begins as small, unnoticed cracks eventually becomes undeniable—pebbles turning into chunks of stone that threaten to crumble everything we as a people have carefully constructed over time. When the breaking becomes apparent, it’s easy to give up, to lie down in the wreckage. But if you sit with it and don’t let it be the end, you might find beauty in the ruins. Like the art of kintsugi, where broken pottery is repaired with golden lacquer, the damage becomes a part of the new whole. The scars remain, but a different, stronger beauty emerges. And before you know it, what was once a desolate place is now blooming, as you notice determined vines and flowers poking through cracks and desperately reaching toward the sun. I propose a digital storytelling workshop that uses photo, creative writing, and personal stories to explore this concept of breaking and blooming, finding or making hope in the seemingly hopeless. This workshop, which I led first with youth in the Rio Grande Valley—a region along the Texas-Mexico border where many are currently feeling justifiably fearful and despaired—helps participants find hope even in the most hopeless of times. I’d love to share this experience working with youth of the Texas borderlands, then guiding the AATE community through a condensed version of the same exercise.

In this interactive session, participants will explore the "Stages of Change" model as it applies to theater education and social-emotional learning (SEL). Using the dual lens of progress and tradition, we will reflect on how integrating innovative practices like the Student Voice and Engagement (SVE) program can sustain student engagement while honoring the core values of theater education. Participants will engage in hands-on activities, collaborative discussions, and reflective exercises to examine how these principles can be applied to their own settings.

As we face an uncertain world marked by divisions and transformations, theatre education holds immense potential to bridge gaps, foster connections, and amplify community wisdom. Yet, we find ourselves at a crossroads: How do we teach foundational acting, movement, and voice techniques in ways that resonate with today’s learners while staying attuned to the urgent social and cultural concerns of our time? This session invites theatre educators, artists, and scholars to collectively imagine new approaches to teaching theatre skills that are experiential, embodied, and rooted in the realities of our students’ lives. How might our classrooms—whether on campus, in community centers, or other shared spaces—serve as places where techniques are not only learned but also practiced as tools for connection, reflection, and change? How do we engage Gen Z learners, who crave immediacy, application, and purpose, while nurturing their artistry and critical awareness? Through facilitated dialogue and collaborative inquiry, we will explore how reimagining the ways we teach and assess technique can better reflect the cultural brilliance found in classrooms, schoolyards, kitchens, and street corners. Together, we will grapple with questions about the role of performing arts education in movements for justice, equity, and community-building. This session is not about presenting answers but about sharing questions, reflecting on challenges, and envisioning possibilities. How can our pedagogical practices foster artistry that both honors tradition and amplifies contemporary concerns? What can we learn from the beautiful failures and inspiring successes in our work as we adapt to meet the needs of this generation and the communities we serve?

Musicals are my favorite, but without a reliable music director they can extremely daunting. In this session we'll explore vocal health concepts, teaching techniques, and music modifications that will help students feel confident, successful, and empowered. We'll discuss tips and tricks for various skills levels, and examine resources available to suit your needs. We'll trouble shoot your worries and think through creative ways to overcome music directing obstacles.

Young people who are entering the professional world of theatre for the first time are part of a generation that was severely impacted by the isolation brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic during key developmental years. Morganne Evans and Saya Jenks have developed participatory workshops that use theatre techniques to help these early-career theatre professionals succeed in the workplace and address the unique circumstances they face.As the Senior Manager of Workforce Development at The Public Theatre, Morganne oversees a program that grants fellowships to recent college graduates, primarily from underrepresented communities, of Brooklyn College and Hunter College. The program is designed for Fellows to gain professional experience at The Public. Saya teaches professional development workshops that draw on the world of improvisational theatre. The workshops they created together are designed to give these young professionals embodied opportunities to practice interpersonal skills that are key to succeeding in professional theatre careers. In this session, Saya and Morganne will discuss their process of identifying challenges facing young theatremakers who are entering the professional world for the first time, and how they created these professional development workshops to address those needs. Saya and Morganne will also demonstrate some of the exercises they have used and discuss participants’ responses to them.

We will be exploring a staple within the drama community- The Warm-Up. Many of us do them; they have become second nature. But, are we doing them correctly? Are we doing them the same way we’ve done them for years? Have we thought to change or enhance them since the pandemic? Do you warm them down as well? Have you encompassed steps of wellness and thought of your students' well-beings while you prep your class? Have you remembered about your wellness while you teach? These are questions we need to ask ourselves as we navigate through our drama process. As a teacher who is old school shifting into new school thinking, I've learned how I need to change my mindset and want to share what has been beneficial and easy to do.

Teatro Vivo in Austin, Texas has offered the Mexican-American cultural tradition of “La Pastorela” semi-annually for over two decades. This interactive session will illustrate how the bilingual theatre company has deepened its community engagement over those years to now include full audience participation in its newest iteration of the enduring story. Roxanne Schroeder-Arce and Mateo Hernandez share insights into this evolution towards the production now serving as a site to build micro-communities with youth and adults.

Join a dynamic exploration of how we define, measure, and evaluate success in youth and community-based arts programs. This session invites participants to grapple with the tensions between funder expectations, artistic goals, participant impact, and community engagement. Through guided discussion, we’ll examine what outcomes we can and should measure, the importance of clarity versus flexibility in project design, and how to assess whether our work is truly effective. Designed for educators, artists, and administrators, this session offers a collaborative space to reflect on the complexities of evaluation and develop more meaningful and equitable approaches to measuring impact.

As a leader, do you find yourself stretched thin, wearing many hats in your organization? Are there elements of your leadership work that you would like to enhance? You are not alone and we know that leaders in arts organizations are being asked to justify, defend, and represent the work in new ways during this turbulent post-COVID moment. Learn how your personal and organizational values can support a well-rounded strategy as you move your theatre program through tough times. Participants will gain new strategies and tools for supporting teams of any size. Through this interactive workshop, participants will work together, connect, and learn from one another. The session will also provide opportunities for networking and mentorship. The facilitators will make space for shared ideas and stories, as well as brainstorming on specific case studies.

In the quest for progress and tradition, "Cultivating Growth: Nurturing Community Roots with Applied Theatre" emerges as a pivotal session for educators, practitioners, and advocates eager to intertwine the arts with activism within their localities. This session is dedicated to exploring the fertile ground of applied theatre as a means to empower youth, foster inclusivity, and sow the seeds of change in educational and communal landscapes. Participants will be guided through a 3 step process learning how to cultivate meaningful and lasting relationships that are OF, BY, AND FOR their local community. The session will unfold the layers of creating empathetic and caring environments, where voices are not only heard but are instrumental in leading the change. The heart of this session lies in its interactive activities, designed to mirror the growth process from seed to sapling. Attendees will engage in exercises such as "Relational Care Tag," where they'll articulate and share methods of care, and "Human Bingo," fostering connections through shared experiences and aspirations. These activities are complemented by applied theater techniques aimed at enhancing mindful listening and empathetic engagement. Through role-play scenarios, storytelling workshops, and reflective listening exercises, participants will learn to cultivate an environment where every voice is valued, and every participant feels seen and heard. By embracing the metaphor of a garden, "Cultivating Growth" invites participants to consider how applied theater can be the sunlight and water that nurture the seeds of change in our communities. This session is not just about learning techniques but about embodying the principles of growth, care, and community in our practices. Join us to discover how we can collectively tend to our local ecosystems, ensuring they flourish and sustain the vibrant diversity of voices and stories that make our communities whole.

Applied Theater can take many forms and shapes. In this session, learn and interact with some hands on techniques for approaching devised theater for and with youth in foster care and how to involve community engagement initiatives that lead to advocacy. In 2024- 25, Abby Thompson had the opportunity, through the League of Chicago Theatres’ Samuel G. Roberson Jr. Fellowship in Artivism to do just that through a new play development project, Alex in Windyland. As a former foster sibling, Abby is particularly passionate about advocating for the stories and voices of youth in care, holding space for them to be creative, and applying this storytelling to tangible change, advocacy, and awareness for youth in the foster care system. Come play, devise, and create original stories while learning directly from the case study examples developed in Abby’s fellowship program, centering voices of youth in foster care.

Historically, the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community have had limited access to equivalent live theatrical experiences. During this workshop participants will be exposed to foundational theater terminology, dramaturgy, character development, movement, script analysis and other skills necessary to interpret on the stage. The most integrated forms of stage interpreting; Zoned and Shadowed; will be the primary focus of this workshop. These styles create the most inclusive forms of shared audience experience. Shadowed and Zoned interpreting necessitate a special form of collaboration between the director, cast, crew and interpreters.

In this participatory workshop, Wheelock Family Theatre educators will engage participants in collaborative reflection and dialogue as we examine the dilemmas and discoveries that can be found at the intersection of youth, theatre, and social justice. Over the last year, a group of Wheelock Family Theatre educators met monthly in our Teacher Leader Cohort (TLC) and embarked on a practice of collaborative reflection. Adrienne Maree Brown, in Emergent Strategy, writes that deep, adaptive change happens like a fractal. How we are on the small scale is how we are/will be on the large scale. Though we did not know the outcomes of the work at its onset, we trusted that our work in our small cohort would have ripple effects. The purpose of our TLC was to create a community of practice rooted in accountability as both a quality and a function of the TLC, to gather a group of educators willing to go public with their practice, and to grapple with complex issues of equity, to engage in praxis (an iterative, reflective approach to taking action). Utilizing feedback protocols from the Center for Leadership and Educational Equity (an organization whose mission is to transform systems and empower collaborative leadership to create environments where every child engages in learning that unleashes their unlimited potential and joy), we will model some of the tools we found helpful as together (presenters and participants) we engage around real issues from our collective practice.

Looking for ways to make your teaching practice more accessible? Looking to serve diverse populations of varying needs? The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a research-based framework to optimize learning for all learners, encompassing all the facets of our identities that call for individualized learning. According to CAST, the creators of the UDL, “The guidelines offer a set of concrete suggestions that can be applied to any discipline or domain to ensure that all learners can access and participate in meaningful, challenging learning opportunities.” With the latest version of the UDL released in July of 2024 the UDL is a dynamic framework that continues to reflect a changing society. Unpack this extensive framework, learn about the nine domains of the UDL and how to engage in each to support learners to become purposeful & reflective, resourceful & authentic, and strategic & action oriented. Participants can expect to leave the session with practical strategies to increase the accessibility of their practice for all learners.

Why should acting have all the fun? Come and explore short, interactive and hands on activities and games geared toward technical theatre. Walk away with several activities that can be implemented right away in the classroom.

This panel discussion will illuminate the approaches of the Cleveland School of the Arts’s young playwrights program through which high school students were guided by a variety of voices (teacher, professional playwrights, recent alumni) as they crafted full-length plays for CSA’s New Works Festival. The panel includes Carl Walton and Ananias Dixon, playwrights and graduates of the program, who co-founded D.O.C. Studios in Cleveland to build on the new play approaches of their late mentor, Dr. Scott Miller. The panel includes TYA playwright Eric Coble who serves as a professional mentor for the young writers at CSA, as well as John Newman who depicts the CSA program in his book Playwriting in Schools.

In this session, participants will engage in a workshop inspired by an intervention designed for the NYC Health Equity Project. The project gathered stories of discrimination in health care delivery, focusing on intersections of race, social class, gender, gender identity, ability, and age. Artist-researchers used these stories to create a verbatim performance intervention, a method that uses the exact speech and gestures of the interviewee for investigation. Ethnoactors used a scored transcript, the original interview recording, and field notes to prepare a performance portrait of an interview participant. Intervention participants then use textual data related to the interviews and the resulting verbatim portraits to explore bias and discrimination in healthcare delivery. The artist-researchers piloted the intervention with healthcare workers in New York City in Spring 2025, and the presenter will share preliminary results of the pilot as part of the session. Participants in this session will engage with a version of the intervention and learn how artist-researchers used ethnodrama and verbatim performance techniques to create it. The NYC Health Equity Project is a collaboration between NYU Steinhardt’s Theatre and Health Lab and Verbatim Performance Lab, supported by the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The project sits within a more extensive international collaboration, including Brock University and the Jameel Arts & Health Lab. The project is funded by the New Frontiers in Research Fund, Special Call for COVID-19 Response Research (Canada), which focuses on high-risk, high-reward, and transdisciplinary projects.