Inclusivity and Equality in Performance Training Teaching and Learning for Neuro and Physical Diversity

Inclusivity and Equality in Performance Training focuses on neuro and physical difference and dis/ability in the teaching of performance and associated studies. It offers 19 practitioners? research-based teaching strategies, aimed to enhance equality of opportunity and individual abilities in performance education.

Challenging ableist models of teaching, the 16 chapters address the barriers that can undermine those with dis/ability or difference, highlighting how equality of opportunity can increase innovation and enrich the creative work. Key features include:

• Descriptions of teaching interventions, research, and exploratory practice to identify and support the needs and abilities of the individual with dis/ability or difference
• Experiences of practitioners working with professional actors with dis/ability or difference, with a dissemination of methods to enable the actors
• A critical analysis of pedagogy in performance training environments; how neuro and physical diversity are positioned within the cultural contexts and practices
• Equitable teaching and learning practices for individuals in a variety of areas, such as: dyslexia, dyspraxia, visual or hearing impairment, learning and physical dis/abilities, wheelchair users, aphantasia, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and autistic spectrum.

The chapter contents originate from practitioners in the UK, USA and Australia working in actor training conservatoires, drama university courses, youth training groups and professional performance, encompassing a range of specialist fields, such as voice, movement, acting, Shakespeare, digital technology, contemporary live art and creative writing.

Inclusivity and Equality in Performance Training is a vital resource for teachers, directors, performers, researchers and students who have an interest in investigatory practice towards developing emancipatory pedagogies within performance education.

1. Introduction

Petronilla Whitfield

2. Acting Training and Instruction for Wheelchair-Using Artists

Regan Linton

3. Acting without Imagery: Aphantasia in the Theatre Classroom

Alexis Black, Cameron Michael Chase, Brian De Vries, Rob Roznowski

4. Twelve Steps towards an Anti-discriminatory Approach to Neurodivergence in Actor Training

Daron Oram

5. Disabling Actions and Enabling Actors: Exploring the Method of Actioning the Text for Actors with Dyslexia

Deborah Leveroy

6. Exploring Digital Technology to Enable Acting Students with Dyslexia in Their Reading of Shakespeare

Petronilla Whitfield

7. How Can Imagery, Sounds, Textures and Other Creative Mediums Help an Actor with Dyslexia Understand and Connect to Shakespeare’s Text?

Elizabeth Bartram

8. Somatic and Spatial Approaches to Essay Writing for Drama Students with Dyslexia

Jodie Allinson

9. When I Can’t ‘See You at the Theatre’: Creating Inclusive Processes for Vision-Impaired Performers

Heather May

10. Politicized Identity: Developing a Dialectical Relationship between Disability and Ability

Jo Ronan

11. ‘Embodied Voice’ and Inclusivity: Ableism and Theatre Voice Training

Tara McAllister-Viel

12. Experience as Curriculum: Developing an Intuitive, Affective, Affirmative Approach to Actor Training with (Disabled) Students

Kieran Sheehan

13. Dyspraxic Approaches to Teaching Live Art in a ‘Neurodivergent’/ ‘Normodivergent’ Classroom

Daniel Oliver and Sumita Majumdar

14. The Inclusive Drama Studio: Adaptive Strategies in University Actor Training

Rea Dennis

15. ‘See a Sign’ – Training for Deaf Actors Who Use British Sign Language as Their Preferred Language

Paula Garfield

16. Towards Equity and Agency in a Word-Dominated World: Working with Actors with Learning Disabilities

Richard Hayhow

Petronilla Whitfield is Associate Professor in voice and acting at the Arts University Bournemouth, UK. She has a PhD in arts pedagogy (Warwick University) and an MA in voice studies (Royal Central School of Speech and Drama). Trained originally as an actor at Arts Educational Schools, she was a professional actor for 20 years and has taught at leading British actor training institutions for 21 years. Her book, Teaching Strategies for Neurodiversity andDyslexia in Actor Training,was published by Routledge in 2020. In 2020, she was awarded the Johnny Saldaña Outstanding Professor of Theatre Education Award by the American Alliance for Theatre and Education.