The power of drama and performance

Drama and performance, a powerful tool for communication?

Last July 25, at UP Cebu AVR 2, the academic and creative community of Cebu has experienced an artistic renewal through a seminar-workshop on using drama and performance in teaching.

Spearheaded by UP Cebu's Creative Writing Program, the participants were composed of school administrators, teachers and drama enthusiasts from various schools. They were brought to a unique experience and realization.

The gathering has likewise elated me as it converged some pillars in performing arts like the award-winning director Al Evangelio whom I have worked with in the mid 90s when we staged Lingkurananat UP. Delighted to see him, I can still fathom his theatrical brilliance as it overpowers his present corporeal infirmity. Other thespians present during the seminar was The FREEMAN's Executive Lifestyle Editor Marlinda Angbetic-Tan and Alice Queblatin who both did a superb staged reading performance. 

Providing creative inputs, as a resource person, was Dr. Linda Faigao-Hall. Dr. Hall was born in Cebu City and holds a graduate degree in English literature and educational theater from New York University and Bretton College, Wakefield, England. She is already a published playwright and fiction writer when she immigrated to the United States in the early 70s.

The aim of such gathering is anchored on the belief that all communicators, no matter their specific field of specialization, are performers. Drama as a methodology uses principles from three different disciplines: narrative psychology, creative writing and performance arts. Narrative psychology concerns with how human beings deal with significant experience by constructing stories and listening to the stories of others. Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature. Performing arts, on the other hand, are art forms in which artists use their body or voice to convey artistic expression.

Drama and performance as a teaching strategy?

Because of its ability to engage thoughtful, constructivist and active learning in the classroom, drama is highly regarded as an effective and valuable teaching strategy. For teachers, we often search for effective ways to improve our classes, motivate the students and appeal to a range of learning styles.

Similar to other strategies, many teachers are wary of using it for many reasons. Some of these concerns may relate to fear of losing control in the classroom, students who may become too boisterous or unruly, among others. With clearly structured activities, most of these fears are unfounded. Students enjoy the activities, work together in groups and share their creative expressions.

On a performance level, drama allows you to see the world through other people's eyes. It helps you to respect and understand other people. This is because the chances are when you are playing a role; you are the character, not yourself.

American developmental psychologist and professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Howard Gardner described his vision for schools which use multiple intelligences to incorporate authentic learning. Drama has the capacity to provide authentic learning as most of the intelligences are utilized in learning activities.

Very striking to Dr. Hall's seminar is her call to the participants to mount productions that we can call ours-based on our people's meaningful experiences. It can be noted that for some performing groups, adaptations or ready foreign materials have been used heavily for local audiences, which may not necessarily relate to the local experiences and flavors.

The power of drama has been exemplified by a blind acting troupe by Christina Kokubo. For seven years, Kokubo taught acting classes at the Braille Institute in Los Angeles, CA. She was at first amazed by the silence and decided to prove that students may have lost their sight but not their voices. Her new students traumatized by hearing their own voices, take months to say a single word. One year later, students perform their first play to teachers and friends. Drama has provided the blind actors the avenue to express their unique experiences and pent-up emotions thus empowering them.

It may not be explored profoundly among us but drama as a potent communicative technique is a tool for personal and communal transformation.