Outreach and Community Engagement

Drama For Schools

Drama for Schools (DFS) is UT Austin's research–based K–12 professional development training program. DFS uses drama–based instructional strategies to make a sustainable difference in the learning culture of a classroom, school, and school district. DFS trains teachers in drama–based instruction, an umbrella term for a collection of teaching tools (including interactive games, improvisation, and role–playing) used in conjunction with classroom curriculum. During the DFS training program, teachers learn a range of tools that can be adapted to a variety of content areas and contexts, instead of one strategy for a specific lesson plan. In addition, these techniques support a variety of learning styles that keep students actively engaged in the learning process.

UT Connections

A Youth Theatre program that brings graduate, undergraduate, and high school students together to create an original work that is produced for the community at the end of each semester.

UT Collaborations

Free Minds Project: An introductory college-level humanities survey seminar in which Travis County adults are able to "jumpstart" their college education.

Living Newspapers Project: An innovative program designed to reinvigorate civic engagement in Austin-area high schools through the research and dramatization of current human rights issues.

Museum Theatre Project: Held at the UT Harry Ransom Center, this performance series brings the art exhibitions to life as Theatre and Dance students perform original narratives related to the work. Voices of the American Twenties is the current performance series and includes three character-driven pieces and one piece explores the histories of items in the exhibition. One piece is performed each weekend on Saturday and Sunday at 1 and 3 p.m. The pieces rotate each weekend through July 29, 2007.

Other Arts In Communities Projects

Teatro ALAS: A new youth theatre at Say Si arts center in San Antonio that emphasizes the development of artistic and interpersonal skills, particularly leadership, through the creation and production of new and original works by students. The program launched in the spring of 2007 through a series of Saturday workshops leading up to a six-week summer intensive program for youth in San Antonio's urban middle and high schools. Read a fantastic article about Teatro ALAS and UT graduate student behind it all, Bonnie Brookby, in the San Antonio Express-News.

The Dyslexia Theatre Project: A solo performance piece portraying multiple people with invisible disabilities, especially dyslexia.

Tar Creek Family History and Autobiographical Performance Project: A three-week autobiographical performance devising project at a high school in the Tar Creek Superfund Site area in Northeastern Oklahoma, where 50 million tons of lead mining waste threatens community health. The project aims to help students relate their personal histories to those of the community and to their studies. Project will include after school workshops, as well as in-class activities and homework assignments that fold performance into the core curriculum, and will culminate in a community sharing of performances and a compilation of the pieces which will be available at local libraries.

Age-to-Age Project: Age-to-Age addresses negative attitudes towards aging and older people by empowering youth to be researchers, learners, and artists alongside or through interactions with older adults.

Learning Through Drama: A project working with teachers at the Odyssey School to introduce drama-based instruction to teachers of students with learning disabilities.

Theatre for Social Justice Institute: A new play which aims to raise awareness and foster positive, inclusive attitudes toward LGBTQ issues and people on UT's campus. The play will be presented along with a 45-minute Post Show Discussion, Forum Theatre interaction and/or Panel Discussion.

Outreach Resources

An overview of our outreach and education activities and supplemental information to enhance your artistic event.

All of the Department's current Outreach and Community Engagement programs are designed and implemented by our M.F.A. in Drama and Theatre for Youth and M.F.A./Ph.D. in Performance as Public Practice faculty and students. Please visit the graduate degree program pages for more information about the programs, curriculum, and students.