Graceland : Theater Arts Composition as Engaged Pedagogy

This article reports on a production blending rehearsal and performance by a New York City theater company that includes professional actors and former students of a high school for recent immigrants. It describes the company’s composition practices, including storytelling, writing, interviewing, and discussion related to collectively identified themes. It focuses on one scene, based on a high school student’s experiences, engaging the director, three performers (including the student), and an education researcher in a series of reflective discussions of artifacts from the composition process. It highlights aspects of pedagogical practices that can be embedded in theater arts composition and in schools.