Episode Two Person Nobody And Hot-seating

By Jacqueline Smith on August 13, 2010
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At this point, the drama work centers on creating what O'Neill calls the "dramatic elsewhere" ("Alienation" 141). This is the fictional setting within which the dramatic work takes place. This is perhaps the most critical stage of the process-building belief in the dramatic world. This world must be a creation of the entire group, in which all are invested. O'Neill further notes that the teacher must genuinely respect the students' contributions, even if they go against the teacher's internal logic of the scene or are based on a limited knowledge (Drama 57). To create this world, I rely on two activities.

Person Nobody: Place a chair in the middle of the circle. The facilitator introduces the theme of the outcast from the prior Tag Heuer Replica activity. The facilitator then explains that the class will be creating a fictional outcast at a fictional high school. At that point, all individuals help to create the back-story and personality of the person. The facilitator asks specific guiding questions to add to the input of the participants,cartier love bracelet replica uk, but the bulk of the information comes from the ensemble.

Hot-Seating: The teacher then sits in the chair and takes on the character the class has created. Individuals on the outside of the circle then ask questions, which the facilitator then answers in character. If the question of sexuality does not arise in the Person Nobody exercise,cartier love ring pink gold, the facilitator introduces that aspect of the character here.

The teacher working in role is an effective way to maintain the dramatic distance while still allowing a critical investigation of the theme. Here, the role does not differ much from the teacher's usual role in the classroom: facilitating discussion, acting as moderator. O'Neill cites teacher-in-role as beneficial in that the teacher can "model appropriate behavior and language, support the students' efforts,

and challenge the students' familiar responses" (O'Neill and Manley 92-93). O'Neill also notes that when a teacher enters a role, the power dynamics of the classroom change ("Transforming" 96). Students may confront or oppose the character in a way that they will not do so with the teacher.

In one of the high school workshops, the students created a young man, "Tom," who was struggling with his homosexuality. "Tom" was not a stellar student, not an athlete—he was just an ordinary guy who played video games and swam. Ordinary, that is, until rumors about his staring at one of his male classmates started swirling at the fictional Jefferson High School. The group went on to create "Tom's" family, friends, and history.

In the rural Pennsylvania workshop, I had to introduce the issue of sexuality from within the hot-seating activity. This time, the class had created "Jerry," an eleventh-grade student who just transferred to a new high Tag Heuer Replica Watches school. While I was in role answering questions, one of the students asked, "Do you have a girlfriend?" "No," I answered, somewhat shyly. Another student followed quickly with "Do you have a boyfriend?" This question was met with chuckling from a number of the students. After a long pause, I quietly answered, "Yes." Laura, the girl who asked the question, later reflected on this experience by saying, "Suddenly we weren't just ourselves making things up like some stupid acting exercise. Something changed and we were talking to this kid . . . even though it was just our teacher." Though she admits her initial question was intended as a "joke," she had instead moved toward entering the drama world.

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