Considering Dramatic Improvisation to Support Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy

• In Event: Youth Voices and Positionality in the Arts

Abstract

This paper explores compatibilities and tensions between the principles and practices of dramatic improvisation and the objectives of culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP). Drawing from the author's auto-ethnographic study as a student of dramatic improvisation and interviews with experienced dramatic improvisers of Latinx, black, multilingual, and LGBTQ identities, the article finds that dramatic improvisation affords opportunities for players to 1) embody marginalized linguistic and cultural identities 2) critique stereotypes and unjust sociopolitical conditions, and 3) encourage creative, collective cooperation among players across lines of difference, while 4) at times strengthening the hegemony of white, heterosexual, male perspectives to the exclusion of others. The article considers how improv might be adapted to support CSP through collaborations between artists, educators, administrators, and researchers.

Author

• Laura Carter-Stone, Vanderbilt University