UC Davis DRA 496 - Approaches to Theatre and Dance: Experience Design for Theatre (Audience Engagement)

Designation:
Instructor

Terms Taught:
Winter 2016, Spring 2016
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Average Number of Students:  8

Course Description:  This directed group study examined theories and contemporary approaches to audience engagement in theatre, with a particular focus on engagement experiences adjacent to the theatrical event (“frame performances”).  They also examined studies of companies with different engagement philosophies such as Radical Hospitality (Mixed Blood Theatre and Center Theatre Group), Connectivity (Wooster Group and Dog and Pony), and Consensus Organizing (Pasadena Playhouse).
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Reading List includes selections from:

• Invitation to the Party by Donna Walker-Kuhne
• Beautiful Trouble: a Toolbox for Revolution by Andrew Boyd
• Critical Play: Radical Game Design by Mary Flanagan,
• 100 principles of game design by Wendy Despain
• The Emancipated Spectator by Jacques Ranciere
• Engaging audiences: a cognitive approach to spectating in the theatre by Bruce Mcconachie
• “Derrida: Guest and Host.”  by Judith Still
• Beyond role and play: tools, toys and theory for harnessing the imagination by Markus Montola and Jaakko Stenros.
• The Making of American Audiences by Richard Butsch
• Counting New Beans: Intrinsic Impact and the Value of Art. ed. Clayton Lord
• Making Sense of Audience Engagement. by Alan Brown and Rebecca Ratzkin.

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