Community Performance
| Module title | Community Performance |
|---|---|
| Module code | DRA2098 |
| Academic year | 2021/2 |
| Credits | 30 |
| Module staff | Professor Kerrie Schaefer (Lecturer) |
| Duration: Term | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration: Weeks | 11 |
| Number students taking module (anticipated) | 25 |
|---|
Module description
You will learn about the international field of community performance from an historiographical and critical perspective. You will be introduced to a diverse range of practices and will develop an awareness of the various politically-motivated/activist movements, cultural policies, and global (human rights, sustainable development) programmes that have shaped the evolution of community performance practice to date, You will learn about the various techniques that professional theatre practitioners use when working with people who do not normally go to the theatre; how (ordinary) culture might act as a resource for social development; and, where professional practitioners place their work in social spaces outside traditional theatres.
Module aims - intentions of the module
• Impart a socio-historical understanding of the field of community performance practice
• Explicate the theoretical bases of community performance practice
• Encourage theoretically informed analyses of community performance projects
• Critically interrogate key terms and concepts such as place/space, community, participation, collaboration, aesthetics, effect/affect and sustainability in relation to specific practices.
• Through close reading and critical analysis of theoretical material as well as theatrical practices, to widen our understanding of what is at stake for makers, participants and publics in community performance.
• This module aims to encourage you to analyse, critique and challenge community performance as an international field of performance.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
ILO: Module-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 1. Understand the historical and critical development of the international field of community performance
- 2. Demonstrate knowledge of a range and variety of community performance practices
- 3. Articulate understanding of key theories in the field of community performance
- 4. Demonstrate a creative and critical engagement with processes of community performance making
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 5. Utilise research tools and to translate theory into practice (and vice versa) to a high level
- 6. Apply library and IT skills in independent additional research
- 7. Contribute research to small groups in effective presentations, to evaluate documentary evidence and analyse, critique and manipulate complex material
ILO: Personal and key skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 8. Develop personal research skills using personal initiative; to set personal objectives and to identify and evaluate personal learning strategies that are self-critical as much as self-reflective
- 9. Develop group cooperation skills, including the ability to give and receive constructive critical feedback and to improve communication skills and analytic abilities in discussions
- 10. Balance between self-direction and collaborative work; self-management, collaborative working skills, problem solving, critical analysis and valuing own and others ideas and beliefs
Syllabus plan
Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:
• Through weekly seminars, an introduction to key concerns of the module - historiography of the development of the field of community performance, introduction to theoretical frameworks underpinning community performance practiced and interrogation of key terms and critical debates
• Through weekly seminars and/or field trips, an examination of case studies of community performance practice
• Through paired student presentations, a critical, theoretical and practical exploration of community performance applied to an idea for a project that students would like to lead themselves
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 33 | 267 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled learning and teaching | 33 | Seminars |
| Guided independent study | 267 | Student preparation, reading and research |
Formative assessment
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paired Presentation Pitch | 10 minutes | 1-10 | Peer and staff verbal feedback |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essay | 60 | 2500 words | 1-4,5-6,8,10 | Written feedback |
| Paired Presentation of 20 minutes each | 40 | 40 minutes | 1-10 | Written feedback |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essay | 2500 words | 1-4, 5-6, 8,10 | Referral/Deferral period |
| Individual recording of a power point presentation | 20 minutes | 1-10 | Referral/Deferral period |
Re-assessment notes
Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.
Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
• Beddow, Neil. 2001. Turning Points. The impact of participation in community theatre. South West Arts; Centre for Research in Contemporary Performance Arts, Darlington College of Arts.
• Cohen-Cruz, Jan. 2005. Local Acts: Community-Based Performance in the United States. Rutgers Series on the Public Life of the Arts. (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers UP).
• Cohen-Cruz, Jan. 2010. Engaging Performance: Theatre as Call and Response, London and New York: Routledge.
• Cohen-Cruz, Jan. 2015. Remapping Performance. Common Ground, Uncommon Partners, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Crehan, Kate. Community Art. An Anthropological Perspective . London; New York: Berg, 2011.
• Haedicke, Susan and Tobin Nellhaus (Eds.) 2001 Performing Democracy. International Perspectives on Urban Community-Based Performance. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
• Haedicke, Susan and Deirdre Heddon, Avraham Oz and E. J. Westlake (Eds.) 2009. Political Performances. Theory and Practice. Amsterdam; New York: Rodopi.
• Hawkins, Gaye. 1993. From Nimbin to Mardi Gras : constructing community arts. St Leonards, N.S.W: Allen & Unwin.
• Jackson, Shannon. 2011. Social Works. Performing Art, Supporting Publics. London and New York: Routledge.
• Jeffers, Alison and Gerri Moriarty (Eds.) 2017. Culture, Democracy, and the Right to Make Art, London: Bloomsbury.
• Kelly, Owen. 1984. Community, Art, and the State: Storming the Citadels. Comedia Publishing Group.
• Kershaw, Baz. 1992. The Politics of Performance: radical theatre as cultural intervention. London: Routledge.
• Kershaw, Baz. 1999. The Radical in Performance. Between Brecht and Baudrillard. London and New York: Routledge.
• Kester, Grant. 2004. Conversation Pieces . University of California Press.
• Kester, Grant. 2011. The One and the Many: Contemporary Collaborative Art in a Global Context. Durham and London: Duke University Press.
• Kuftinec, Sonja. 2003. Staging America: Cornerstone and Community-based Theater, Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.
• Petra Kuppers. 2007. Community Performance: An Introduction. London and New York: Routledge.
• Petra Kuppers and Gwen Robertson. 2007. The Community Performance Reader. London and New York: Routledge.
• McAvinchey, C. 2013. Performance and Community. Commentary and Case Studies, London: Bloomsbury.
• Nicholson, Helen. 2005. Applied Drama. The Gift of Theatre. Palgrave Macmillan.
• Thompson, James. 2009. Performance Affects. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Van Erven, Eugene. 2001. Community Theatre: Global Perspectives. London and New York: Routledge, 2001.
• Eugene van Erven (Ed.) 2011. Community, Art, Power. Essays from ICAF 2011. Rotterdam: Rotterdams Wijktheater.
• Eugene van Erven. 2013. Community Arts Dialogues, Utrecht: Treaty of Utrecht Foundation
• Watt, David. 1991. ‘Interrogating ‘Community’: Social Welfare Versus Cultural Democracy’ in Vivienne Binns (Ed.) Community and The Arts: History, Theory, Practice: Australian Perspectives, Leichhardt, NSW: Pluto Press.
Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources
• https://arestlessart.com/home/francois-matarasso/
• https://arlenegoldbard.com/
• https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/miaawnet-sophie-hope-owen-kelly-h_HwLfcKnCk/
• https://miaaw.net/338/a-culture-of-possibility/
ELE:
| Credit value | 30 |
|---|---|
| Module ECTS | 15 |
| Module pre-requisites | None |
| Module co-requisites | None |
| NQF level (module) | 5 |
| Available as distance learning? | Yes |
| Origin date | 16/02/2021 |
| Last revision date | 16/02/2021 |