Feminist pedagogy and university directing

This thesis employs reflective practitioner research to describe and analyze the use of feminist pedagogy in an undergraduate rehearsal room to engage actors as agentic artists. As a director of a Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) play with university actors, I make choices for rehearsal and production that are based in various feminist theories and practices. I analyze my daily reflections and notes alongside qualitative journal responses and interviews from the actors in the production. In this document I weave personal stories from my process as a director with actor reflections in order to better understand and illustrate how critically engaged artistry can support undergraduate students as artists and makers whose choices are based in critical thought, research, and dialogue with one another. This document invites further discussion with theatre makers, actors, and university directors on the melding of theory and practice in university rehearsal rooms. I hope this study offers pathways towards critically engaged theatre-making that invites artists’ lived experiences to inform the production process and product. As my research findings show, through feminist practices, when actors are invited to bring more of their lived experiences to the rehearsal room, more culturally engaged choices can enrich and deepen a theatre-making experience and production.