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.
All of these questions are relevant to the study of Applied Theatre!
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.
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.
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.
Talk to your Advisor to make sure that you can organize your overall coursework to complete the required courses for the minor. You should also consider talking to Mauricio about whether or not this minor is the right fit for you. Once your Advisor assesses that you can complete your course load the Advisor will confirm that you have officially declared your pursuit of the Minor.
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 address 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.
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)
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.
[1] Theatre Studies courses that are categorized as Geographies, Histories or Topics can count towards this requirement. If a student is interested in a class that isn’t listed below, they must discuss their interest in the course with The Director of Theatre Studies, Alisa Zhulina.
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 for 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.
These are some of the many courses that could be considered towards an Applied Theatre Minor:
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
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 - Sussman
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
GT-UF 201 Global Violence: Vulnerable and Targeted Peoples
HIST-UA 569 Topics: Empire and Decolonization
MCC-UE 1200 Inquiry Seminar: Representing Mass Atrocities in Africa
MCC-UE 1351 War as Media
POL-UA 700 International Politics
POL-UA 710 US Foreign Policy
SOC-UA 472 The Sociology of Conflict and War
UPADM-GP 430 Intelligence and National Security Policymaking
FOOD-UE 1210 Introduction to Food History
GT-UF 201 Topics: NGO Narratives: Global Humanitarianism: From Development to Disaster
MCC-UE 1413 Cultural Memory
UNDSW-US 66 Global Perspectives in International Social Policy
UNDSW-US 67 Social Justice and Peacemaking
GT-UF 201 Topics: International Human Rights
GT-UF 201 Trauma Studies in the Age of Globalization
SCAI-UF 401 Youth in Revolt: Case Studies in Global Activism
SCAI-UF 401 Justice and Rights Movements: Let Them Lead the Way
UPADM-GP 269 How to Change the World: Advocacy Movements and Social Innovation
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)
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)