Mary Offers Courses for HEI Drama and Theatre Students!

As an academic, Mary has taught at two different conservatories of drama and theatre. She has educated drama, theatre arts students, and non-drama students on methodologies from theatre of the oppressed (forum theatre, image theatre), playback theatre, and applied improvisation. Mary has also taught a special topics course on anti-racism and equitable practices in theater. Her classroom settings are explicit spaces to encourage students to create community, engage in active listening, exchange dialogue, and experiential learning through play pedagogies.

Taught Courses:

Theatre of the Oppressed-An Introduction to Forum Theatre Performance

In what ways can theatre be used to solve social issues? This class will use theatrical storytelling to prototype solutions to unsolvable cultural problems. Using an applied theatre praxis, students will learn about the work of Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed, specifically Forum Theater as one way to use performance to address a specific social issue decided on by the students. As part of the course, students will devise a performance for a live audience to engage with at the end of the class. Leading up to the final performance, students will learn, analyze, deconstruct, and think critically about how theatre can be used as a technique to engage in creating revolutionary change. As part of the course students will foster their facilitation skills leading games and debriefs for their peers. During this course it is possible that topics that are brought up will be personal in nature and potentially triggering. As such, students will also learn strategies for how to address their triggers when they become present. Students taking this course do not have to be familiar with the work of Augusto Boal nor do they need to have any prior performance experience. Open to non-majors.

Intersectionality and Identity

How do your personal and social identities impact our relationships with others and the ways that we navigate through the world? Through interactive exercises Mary will teach you how your identities interconnect and impact your world view.

humility and fragility

What role does humility play in hiring, communication, and collaboration? How can we influence the stories we tell ourselves about others to disrupt our own fragility? Mary will address the role oppression plays in influencing our fragility when making decisions.