Drama

Applied Theatre Minor Description, Policies, and Procedures

What is Applied Theatre?

Theatre practitioners are regularly applying their practice in the fields of education, medicine, therapy, political advocacy, environmental justice, community organizing, social services, and justice reform. The field that studies these applications is called Applied Theatre. This is an ever-evolving and hybrid study of artistic, cultural, and social practices that are advanced through a continued examination of their efficacy and ethics.

Students interested in Applied Theatre Studies often ask:

  • How do I use my theatre practice form to create a more just society?
  • How can I use my theatre practice to help my community?
  • How do my politics and my identity impact the work I make?
  • How is my art relevant to the major global issues we are dealing with today?
  • How can we use theatre to disrupt systems of oppression?
  • How do I make theatre more accessible?
  • What is Theatre of the Oppressed? Playback Theatre? Educational Theatre? Theatre of Witness? Revolutionary Theatre? Street Theatre? Theatre for Development? Drama Therapy? Eco-Theatre? Community-Based Theatre?

All of these questions are relevant to the study of Applied Theatre!

What is the Applied Theatre Minor within Tisch Drama?

The Applied Theatre Minor Is an effort to support students that want to focus their time on studying how theatre can be applied to the pursuit of improving the lives of individuals, communities, and societies. It was created by Jan Cohen-Cruz with the support of then Department Chair, Una Chaudhuri. As more students became interested in the Minor, Jan found collaborators in Awam Amkpa and Rosemary Quinn who then went on to mentor interested students and administrate the Minor for more than a decade.

How do I engage with Applied Theatre at NYU? 

There are many scholars/practitioners throughout NYU that engage with different practices within Applied Theatre. Professors within Tisch Drama, Experimental Humanities and Social Engagement, Gallatin, Art and Public Policy, Steinhardt, Open Arts, and elsewhere are teaching courses related to specific Applied Theatre Studies theories and practices.

How do I get an Applied Theatre Minor?

Students interested in completing an Applied Theatre Minor will receive support from their Advisor and the Director of Applied Theatre, Mauricio Tafur Salgado, in order to ensure that they can complete the minor alongside their Studio work and their academic responsibilities. If you decide to pursue the Minor, Mauricio will meet with you monthly to talk through your progress. Below are five steps that describe what will be required from you in order to complete the Minor.

STEP ONE: Declare your interest

In order to declare your interest in the minor you must complete a short essay reflecting on the reasons why you want to complete the minor. The essay should be between 750-1000 words and must be completed through this link: https://forms.gle/aYUuHv6McTvL7RrH9

You must also talk/communicate with your Student Advisor to make sure that you can organize your overall coursework to complete the required courses for the minor. Once your Advisor assesses that you can complete your course load and you’ve completed the personal essay, The Student Advisor will confirm that you have officially declared your pursuit of the Minor.

STEP TWO: Participate in a Conference/Convergence at NYU

NYU regularly hosts conferences and convergences that create opportunities for students to attend lectures and participate in critical discussions and activities that are thinking about the application of the arts in non-arts contexts. For example, The Arts & Health Lab @ NYU has hosted various conferences that look at the intersections between the arts and health services. The Future of Rights and Governance Conference through NYU Law includes workshops that invite creative thinking and practice to addressing democratic and human rights challenges. You must participate in one of these events or of this nature.  A list of these events will be provided at the beginning of each semester.

STEP THREE: Complete at least three four-credit courses

These three courses must include:

a. An introductory course on Applied Theatre. (AT Intro Courses)
b. A course that explores the critical discourse of a social, political, or historic topic that relates to the issues that you hope to engage with your Applied Theatre practice.[1] (AT Critical Contexts)
c. A course on an Applied Theatre Praxis. (AT Praxis Courses)

STEP FOUR: Complete an Internship for two or four credits.

Internships in Applied Theatre can be arranged in any semester including the summer. While completing your internship, students will take four workshops focusing on the ethics of community engagement and collaboration. If the student completes a two-credit internship then they will have to complete an additional four-credit course to complete the minor.

Additional Requirements

AT ANY TIME THROUGHOUT YOUR STUDIES: 

Regularly meet with the Director of Applied Theatre. Schedule a meeting every 4-6 weeks with the Director of Applied Theatre in order to check in about your progress.

Potential Applied Theatre courses: These are some of the many courses that could be considered towards an Applied Theatre Minor. Note that you can also receive credit for courses taken while studying abroad (I.e - NYU Accra, NYU Abu Dhabi, etc.) You can also ask if you can include a class you have taken or are interested in taking that is relevant to your study but isn’t on this list.

Applied Theatre Courses

These are some of the many courses that could be considered towards an Applied Theatre Minor:

Applied Theatre Intro Courses

MPAET-GE.2101 Applied Theatre I. Joe Salvatore

THEA-UT 491. Applied Theatre Change Makers Lab. Mauricio Salgado.

THEA-UT 625 - Cmty-Based Thea: Intercultural Collab w Teens - Martha Bowers

THEA-UT 625- Cmty-Based Thea: Theatre and Activism - Tammie Swopes

 

 

 

Applied Theatre Critical Context Courses

THEA-UT 605 - African American Drama - Wright

THEA-UT 606 - Asian Diasporic Drama - Takahashi

THEA-UT 632 - Jewish Diasporic Performance - Biggie

THEA-UT 732 - Feminism & Theater: Evil Women on the Pre-Modern Stage - Davis

THEA-UT 732 - Debates of the Turn of the Millennium of the US Stage - Jones 

THEA-UT 747 - Arab Theatre & Film:  Contemporary Arab Theatre - Atrach

THEA-UT 801 – Migration in Theatre, Film, & Performance Art - Ziter

THEA-UT 608 - Modern US Drama - Jones

THEA-UT 623 - Feminism and Theatre: Abolitionism and Feminism - Jones

THEA-UT 632 - Theatrical Genres: Approaching Indigenous Theatre - Salgado

THEA-UT 632 - Theatrical Genres: Trans-Inflected Theatre and its Potentials - Barbagallo

THEA-UT 678 - Producing Artistic Entrepreneurship - Bradley

THEA - UT 732 - Theatrical Genres: Disability, Medicine and the Performance of Embodied Difference - Araneo

THEA-UT 749 - Pre-Conquest & Colonial Theatre in Latin America - Bentin

THEA-UT 750 - Performance Studies: Spectacle and Surveillance - Bentin

THEA-UT 744 - Theatre in Asia: Japanese Theatre: Classical to Modern - Takahashi

OART-UT 1018 - art and social change

OART-UT 1058- Abrupt climate change

OART-UT 1057 - Green World

OART-UT 300 - Imagining the future through the arts

OART-UT 1500  - Iran Arts Activism

OART-UT 826 - Politics of Portraiture

OART-UT 1093  - Creative Fundraising

OART-UT 1017 - Multidisciplinary Arts Practice with Community Groups: Theories & Practice of Group Works in the Arts

OART-UT 298: Research: Manifestos & Arts Practice

THEA-UT 607 - Latinx Theatre. Ortega.

THEA-UT 622 - Political Theatre: Hip Hop. Saucedo

THEA-UT 622 - Political Theatre: Contemporary Global Performance. Levine

THEA-UT 661 - Topics in Musical Theatre: History, Race, Gender & Sexuality. Snyder

THEA-UT 743 or COLIT-UA 9851. African Women Playwrights (NYU ACCRA)

THEAT-UH. 1125J Dramaturgy of Disruption (NYU ABU DHABI)

THEAT-UH 1129 Faith, Ideology and Power: Writing a play as an examination of contemporary times (NYU ABU DHABI)

THEAT-UH 1512 Representing the Real. (NYU ABU DHABI)

Applied Theatre Praxis Courses

THEA-UT 625 - Cmty-Based Thea: Intercult Collabs w Teens - Bowers

THEA-UT 625 - Community-Based Theatre: Theatre & Activism - Swopes

THEA-UT 664 - Collaboration Practicum: The Creative Process - Whitehead

THEA-UT 673 - Theatre and Therapy - Omens

THEA-UT 632 - Boal and Beyond - Jirau

THEA-UT 625 - Community-Based Theatre: Site Specific - Bowers

THEA-UT 632 - Boal and Beyond - Alker 

THEA-UT 673 - Theatre and Therapy Practicum - Omens

MPAET-GE 2114 Creating Ethnodrama & Documentary Theatre - Salvatore

THEA-UT 663 - Performing Arts Practicum: Performing Queer Biography. Alker

APT. Alter Egos: Assuming New Identities Through Costume & Performance (NYU ACCRA)

SCA-UA 9124 or ANTH-UA 9087. Documenting the African City (NYU ACCRA)

IDSEM-UG 9051. West African Fashion: Concepts, History, and Utility (NYU ACCRA)

THEAT-UH 1127. Ugly. (NYU ABU DHABI)