Abstract
This study presents an innovative active learning technique to support the development of civic education: a theatrical workshop based on the dramaturgy of Bertolt Brecht. I argue that the Brechtian workshop can develop three skills necessary for effective civic engagement: perspective taking, collaboration, and critical judgment/self-reflection, and that these skills are directly tied to the three civic values of pluralism, community, and civic responsibility. Using qualitative data gathered in the course of teaching this workshop to two distinct student populations — a self-selecting group of students in a liberal arts environment and a group of students at a commuter campus taking a course required for the major — I reflect on the workshop’s varying levels of success in developing these skills and offer recommendations for future use of this learning technique.
Recommended Citation
Morgan, Margot
(2021)
"Civic Engagement through Theatre: Running a Brechtian Workshop in the Classroom,"
eJournal of Public Affairs: Vol. 10:
No.
3, Article 2.
Available at:
https://bearworks.missouristate.edu/ejopa/vol10/iss3/2
Included in
Acting Commons, Applied Ethics Commons, Civic and Community Engagement Commons, Continental Philosophy Commons, Curriculum and Social Inquiry Commons, Dramatic Literature, Criticism and Theory Commons, Educational Methods Commons, Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons, German Literature Commons, Liberal Studies Commons, Other Theatre and Performance Studies Commons, Performance Studies Commons, Political Theory Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Social Justice Commons, Sociology of Culture Commons, Theatre History Commons