Education Commons^™

Using Applied Theatre For Collective Healing And Grief Processing In The Classroom, Sarah Fahmy

Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Journal

At times when our mental health is equally as strained as our students, applied theatre may ground and guide us to support us turn our collective trauma into action and enable students to envision their individual and collective healing. In this article, I reflect on the process of devising C(U)VID-19: Reflections from Students of the Pandemic, a 50-minute, multi-disciplinary virtual performance, conceived and produced in under two weeks by the students in my theatre for non-majors class in 2021. I share examples of how applied theatre enabled students to lead with empathy and develop friendships while authoring their own …