Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.

On this week's podcast I discuss drama and theatre in education with Madeline Michel, a teacher in Monticello High School in Charlottesville Virginia. Madeline was the 2019 winner of the Tony award for excellence in theatre education. Among the topics we discuss in the course of the podcast are the following:

How she approaches theatre education
How a sports –competitive – paradigm is mistakenly applied to the arts
Theatre in education versus drama in education
How she tried to make her class more diverse
Teaching multiple grades in her classes
Letting students know that their stories and their talents are important
Her credo: art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable
How she became interested in theatre in education
What she reads
How education is a microcosm of the wider world
Stimulating teenagers to write plays
The first day in her drama class and building community
Collaborating with other teachers
Staging a school production
The importance of dance and movement in a production
The shortcomings of drama on Zoom
What students learn through drama
Assessing drama
Winning the Tony Award for Theatre in Education
She recommends the Nice White Parents podcast: (about school segregation in New York City)

Thanks to John Heffernan who suggested Madeline as a guest for the podcast.

Podcast 406, Drama and Theatre in Education (12-10-20)