AATE 2025 National Conference

As theatre educators preparing the next generation of theatre teachers, we often find ourselves learning right alongside our students. The field of theatre education has evolved dramatically over the past 15, 20, 25+ years—embracing new pedagogical approaches, technologies, and a more inclusive and responsive curriculum. What happens when we encounter ideas, practices, and methodologies that weren’t part of our own training? How do we continue to grow as educators while guiding our students through an ever-changing landscape? This panel will explore the ongoing professional development necessary for theatre educators, addressing challenges and opportunities in adapting to new best practices, diversifying curricula, and integrating contemporary techniques. Join us for a candid discussion on what it means to be both teacher and learner in today’s theatre education landscape, and how embracing this dual role can strengthen our teaching and our students’ experiences. We will offer our experiences, but we also hope to learn from you! What have you learned alongside your students? Where are your gaps in knowledge which you hope to fill? Let’s grow together.

Share and embody meanings related to your own teaching artistry, theatre for youth, applied theatre, or partner organization collaborator praxis connected to the conference’s thematic inquiries. Explore the “individual” and “collaborative” narratives of tradition, change, and progress from two emerging partners (Indiana University-Indianapolis, represented by Assistant Professor Emilio G Robles and REACT Theatre, represented by Executive Director Justin Wade) who come from divergent contexts and perspectives, yet are united by shared goals. Learn about the serendipitous juncture where both individuals and “partner entities” find themselves related to these key ideas amplified in their stories and yours. Make connections to your own dualities as artist-educators, artist-administrators, or artist-activists and your own unique contexts. Reflect on takeaways, share curiosities, and feedback to foster the creation of informed networks of supportive and reflective praxis around presentation content, led by shared interests in partner collaboration, the development of teaching artists, and youth-centered devised work.

This presentation will provide detailed techniques for modifying and differentiating the rehearsal process for students with Sensory Processing Disorders as well as Autism Spectrum Disorder in a full inclusion-based secondary school production program. The session will begin with a PowerPoint that provides an overview of Sensory Processing Disorders and Autism Spectrum Disorder, as well as both strengths and challenges encountered in the rehearsal process. This will be followed by an examination of specific techniques used to differentiate the rehearsal process for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder, including Meisner-based repetition exercises and improvisation activities, as well as specifically creating a space and process that accommodates the needs of all students. Participants will break into groups and take part in a demonstration of these exercises and then reflect on their use and effectiveness in the rehearsal process.

Whether we are trying to figure out what to have for dinner or our strategic vision for the next 5-years, decision making can be a major source of conflict and discomfort. We all hold internalized values on how decisions should be made, but rarely do we take the time to clarify who will be part of making decisions, what their role will be, how they will make the decisions, and why any of that is the case. When we don't take the time to articulate our process, oppressive cultural norms make their way in, and resentments often build over time. Things work until they don't. But it doesn't have to be this way. In this participatory workshop, participants will gain tools and frameworks to help break down the elements of decision making for more strategic, more equitable, and more transparent processes where everyone's needs can be met. Skills learned will be applicable to educational, administrative, and artistic workspaces, and with both adults and young people. We will discuss what is gained and what is lost when making decisions horizontally and hierarchically, and how even hierarchical decision-making processes can include elements of democratic process.

Communities of practice in drama education have been explored by Anderson & Freebody as sites that emphasize “the importance of integrating theory and practice to support the development of beginning teachers” (2012, p. 359). Professional organizations like the American Alliance for Theatre and Education (AATE), the NYC Arts in Education Roundtable, and the Educational Theatre Association (EDTA) consider their annual gatherings as a locus of professional development and networking, but in their relative infrequency, they provide only limited access to the potentiality of a true community of practice. So, drama educators often find themselves a department of one, set adrift to do whatever it is they do in the classroom without the benefit of a community of peers who can understand and support them in their work. They lack a true community of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, McDermott, & Snyder, 2002; Wenger-Trayner, Fenton-O'Creevy, Hutchinson, Kubiak, & Wenger-Trayner, 2014; Wenger-Trayner & Wenger-Trayner, 2015; Wenger, 2020; and Tummons, 2022). [paragraph break] Through this workshop experience, drama educators will develop a community of practice through the implementation of a case narrative project, based on a format outlined by Norris, McCammon, & Miller in their text, Learning to Teach Drama: A Case Narrative Approach (2000). The main intent of the case narrative is to serve as a tool to assist the educator in better understanding their teaching practice and should be drawn from their own experience, offering the educator an opportunity to reflect on and examine a problem, dilemma, or crisis, or frame a new perspective that has occurred in their practice. [paragraph break] This workshop will move us through phases one and two of a three-phase process. In the session, participants will outline their own case narrative, share the outline with two peers, and then get formal feedback from each peer using a response protocol outlined in Norris, McCammon, & Miller’s text in which they describe, analyze, and apply (2000, pp. 111-112). [paragraph break]1 - Describe: Read the assigned case narrative. Set a timer for five minutes and write a continuous response without censoring yourself to what you have read.2 -Analyze: Review what you wrote. Respond by uncovering the issues in the original narrative and make connections to educational theory and the teaching of drama.3 -Apply: Review both the initial writing (describe) and your initial analysis. Write concretely what the teacher might do to extend these ideas into practice. This writing could be in the form of a lesson plan, a list of teacher activities, or a general set of statements on the teacher’s stance. Application is the goal, so you need to provide the teacher with actionable recommendations grounded in your teaching experience and what you know from research or literature. [paragraph break] In this way, each participant will receive actionable recommendations (interventions) from two peers. This initial workshop will be followed in two month’s time with a Zoom check-in where each participant can report back about the intervention(s) they implemented and consider next steps.

In a time of increasing educational censorship and heightened socio-political tension, educators face significant barriers to addressing critical topics such as identity, power, and privilege in their classrooms and on their stages. This tension highlights the duality of progress and tradition—how do we honor the foundational principles of democratic education while challenging restrictive practices that limit its potential? With a focus on personal and professional growth, this playful, interactive session fosters inclusive dialogue and critical reflection on educational censorship and book banning within our school and larger communities. In it, we will discuss the value of developing an improvisational ethos in contributing to democratic education, and will engage in a series of Role Work and Process Drama activities to consider diverse voices and perspectives on educational censorship. Each activity serves the dual purpose of offering teachers adaptable methods for classroom application while also inviting them to reflect on their own beliefs, biases, and approaches to addressing challenging topics. Through these exercises, participants will explore the complex interplay between partisan politics, community stakeholders, and local educational institutions, gaining a deeper understanding of the nuance and varied perspectives that shape educational policy decisions and classroom practices. By inviting participants to step into new roles and viewpoints, the session encourages curiosity, reflection, and dialogue, ultimately equipping teachers with strategies to engage meaningfully with their students and communities, with the goal of fostering a more just and dynamic educational environment.

In anticipation of the 2026 Semiquincentennial, this session features a student-led reading and sing-through of Scenes from the Revolution, a musical by Aline Shader originally created for the Bicentennial. Geared toward middle school performers, the show explores key events of the American Revolution through ten scenes and songs, aligning with educational standards in arts and history. Participants will learn how this versatile, curriculum-based piece can be used to foster interdisciplinary collaboration and spark deeper conversations about both historical and current struggles for freedom. A sing-along finale invites everyone to raise their voices in celebration.

Using a unique case study of the national expansion of Stories that Soar! through its recent collaboration with Coastal Carolina University (CCU) as a reference, this panel will discuss and consider ways for university theatre programs to partner with community-centered arts organizations to transform their service area and make a regional impact in building artistic and educational infrastructure in sequential tiers of academia simultaneously. In all, this panel will discuss how a community-focused university theatre program can effectively and positively serve as a connector and agent to ensure that elementary schools, high schools, universities, and professional theatre companies can come together in collaboration to amplify the impact of the arts in their region. Focus will be placed on best practices and effective methods of connecting with local elementary schools to inspire creativity, promote active literacy, and build engaged artistic communities through the creation of devised theatre performances based on original stories written by students at the school – a process perfected by Literacy Connects of Southern Arizona and their Stories that Soar! program. Additional discussions will center on attracting local high schools to participate in the same transformative process with their feeder elementary schools in subsequent academic years to continue to inspire the writing of new stories, the crafting of new performances, and the promotion of literacy through arts-based curricula. Panelists are teaching artists in the theatre discipline who seek to use applied and devised theatre methods to ensure that collaborative creation can inspire the growth of the arts and storytelling in local educational communities. We hope this is more than a case study and panel discussion; we see it as a movement towards a more equitable and creative future as a community through the empowerment of young writers and the celebration of their stories and imaginations.

Explore the value of learning from the past to create a better future. The Skirball Cultural Center is a nonprofit Jewish cultural institution and museum in Los Angeles, CA that uses storytelling as a vehicle to bring people together. Participants will explore the topics of immigration, identity, and values through hands-on activities and build critical thinking, empathy, and collaboration skills by examining real stories of people who immigrated to the United States and connecting them to the present. Participants will be encouraged to reflect on their own stories and core values and how we, too, can leave a legacy in our communities.

In TYA/USA’s 2020 report from participating theatres, “Exploring the Landscape of Live Theatre for Young Audiences in the U.S.” it was found that 19% of total productions in the 2018/2019 season were culturally specific “in which POC characters/communities/cultures were essential to the story’s narrative.” While this percentage is exciting given the history of the predominance of white, Euro-centric stories on TYA stages in the U.S., it also begs the question, who is producing said culturally specific productions? When making work that is culturally specific, the production can become an affinity space for those inside the culture. But when the producing entity is a predominantly white institution (PWI), what happens to the specificities and care of the affinity space of that production? Whose play does it become? What conversations of translation must be had? Using the experience of directing the Latinx-specific play “Luna” at ZACH Theatre in Austin, TX, TYA practitioner Mateo Hernandez invites participants into a dialogue on what the work of culturally specific theatre-making looks like in PWIs and how we might push for change towards more sustaining practices.