How High School Theatre Fosters Spiritual Strength and Critical Consciousness

Theatre activities ask adolescents to empathize with those who are different from themselves. Recognizing divergence invites self-reflection and kindles compassion. These actions tap students’ inner cores while at the same time deepening their understanding of privilege, a key component of critical consciousness.

Theatre activities ask adolescents to empathize with those who are different from themselves. Recognizing divergence invites self-reflection and kindles compassion. These actions tap students’ inner cores while at the same time deepening their understanding of privilege, a key component of critical consciousness.

Through the lens of critical pedagogy and feminist theory, this book explores the mutually reinforcing development of spirituality and emerging critical consciousness fostered by high school theatre experience. By examining her own public high school theatre program through description, analysis and interpretation, Gonzalez explores why and how theatre work can simultaneously fortify teens’ spiritual growth while activating dawning awareness of the socio-political dynamics in their own lives and the world around them. The book includes the original one-act play Free to Fly, which introduces young people to the dangers of sex trafficking of minors.

Temporary Stages III will appeal especially to secondary theatre teachers, theatre education pre-service teachers, and graduate students studying theatre pedagogy and critical cultural theory.