"How the World Sees You": Witnessing Race in a High School Theater Residency

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: Arts, Culture, and Environmental Education

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine how a three-month collaboration between a high school AVID classroom and a local theatre company encouraged youth to work as “boundary sitters” using theatre “to exercise voice as a witness” (Ewing, 2018 p. 175) against racial injustices in their own lives. Our research illustrates how youth in the study testified (Ewing, 2018) against systems of racial inequity through theatre by naming how society positions adolescent youth in the world. Theatre can be used to combat racial injustice; thus, our research findings appeal to arts educators and school officials committed to culturally relevant pedagogy.

Authors

• Betsy Maloney Leaf, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

• Bic H. Ngo, University of Minnesota