Scenario: A Journal of Performative Teaching, Learning, Research
type: channel
description: Scenario, founded in 2007, is a fully peer-reviewed journal for Performative Teaching, Learning, Research. To reach the widest possible readership, Scenario publishes articles primarily in English as an international lingua franca. However, thanks to the expertise of co-editors and guest editors who represent these languages, authors are also given the opportunity to submit their contributions in German (since 2007), Italian (since 2023) and French (since 2025). Scenario primarily focuses on foreign/second language education and their associated literatures and cultures, but is open to perspectives on performative teaching, learning and research from other disciplines and fields of pedagogical practice. The journal is the main pillar of the Scenario Project which encompasses a book series and a forum for conferences, symposia and colloquia; for further details on events and initiatives that aim to promote international exchange and collaboration visit the Scenario Project homepage at: https://www.ucc.ie/en/scenario/ Scenario is an open-access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author (see copyright information). This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access. Scenario is committed to ensuring a fair and transparent editorial process. Details can be found in our Statement on Integrity and Transparency. In 2024 the Scenario Project received University College Cork's Research Award for Open Science, and the Irish Open Access Publishers (IOAP) Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Open Access Publishing Field in Ireland.
publisher: University College Cork
language: en
publication name: Scenario: A Journal of Performative Teaching, Learning, Research
issn: 1649-8526
items: Foreword
items: Review of Lesch, H. & Zierer, K. (2024). Gute Bildung sieht anders aus. Welche Schulen unsere Kinder jetzt brauchen [Good education looks different. What schools our children need now, transl. MS]
items: “Presence” as the echo of your silence: A reflection on the 3rd Scenario International Conference
items: Performative approaches across the curriculum: A field report
items: Le tandem dans un atelier de théâtre au service d’une meilleure prononciation et d’une acceptation de soi en LVE
items: talking-dancing-howling-walking-whispering-spiraling…
items: Le corps à la croisée des LVE et de l’EPS
items: « La langue » : créer encore et en corps
items: Using theatrical masks to transform second language-learning for engineering students
items: Introduction: les langues a l’ecole des arts de la scene
items: Principes et processus de l’improvisation théâtrale dans une perspective énactive-performative de l’enseignement-apprentissage de l’anglais à l’université
items: Mechanisms of co-presence in repetitive drama studio performances
items: Review of Tau, R., Kloetzer, L., & Henein, S. (2024). Barefoot academic teaching: Performing arts as a pedagogical tool in higher education (Edition Scenario Vol. VII). Schibri.
items: Sharing gems
items: Dramaturgies of presence
items: Foreword - Vorwort - Prefazione
items: Review of Elis, F. (2024). Let’s keep acting. Dramapädagogische Verfahren im Englisch-unterricht am Übergang von der Primar- in die Sekundarstufe. Schibri.
items: Being, non-being and the in-between
items: The power of drama to overcome crisis
items: Energy and presence: A journey from theatre lab to teacher training
items: A Robot who could not dance: Generating performative presence among performer, text, and audience through exploring and performing stories by children
items: Let’s create what happens next: Translation as transformative experience
items: Strengthening presence and performativity systematically
items: Eros and education
items: Playing with language: Bilingual Russian theatre at the University of Oregon
items: Asthetically designing unstoppable change
items: The here and clown
items: Alienation and emancipation at the university through performing arts
items: Being fully alive to change the world
items: Teacher presence in EFL-learners’ (re-)creation of text for literary text comprehension

Foreword
type: item
subject: Foreword
  topic: section
subject: Foreword
  topic: keywords
creator: Fionn Woodhouse
creator: Manfred Schewe
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Fionn Woodhouse https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2025-10-13
publication date: 2025-10-13
starting page: 1
ending page: 1

Review of Lesch, H. & Zierer, K. (2024). Gute Bildung sieht anders aus. Welche Schulen unsere Kinder jetzt brauchen [Good education looks different. What schools our children need now, transl. MS]
type: item
subject: Reviews
  topic: section
subject: Book Review
  topic: keywords
creator: Manfred Schewe
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Manfred Schewe https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2025-10-13
publication date: 2025-10-13
starting page: 202
ending page: 214
doi: 10.33178/scenario.19.1.12

“Presence” as the echo of your silence: A reflection on the 3rd Scenario International Conference
type: item
description: I am standing on a mountain, receiving the swirl of a moist and strong wind around me. I let my hand out and touch the soil, reflecting on what brought me here. It is my first time in Ireland, yet the moment I touch the earth, I hear myself saying, "I am back." The words arrive so naturally, revealing a place beyond language, where time breathes in indescribable shapes. I came here for an international conference. After the conference, I left the city and followed the footsteps of a poet philosopher into the mountains. His name is John O'Donohue. Around twenty years ago, this Irish philosopher walked along the trails across these mountains, writing his way into the philosophical wonders of “presence” and “absence.”
subject: Reports
  topic: section
subject: Reflection
  topic: keywords
creator: I-Chia Chiu
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 I-Chia Chiu https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2025-10-13
publication date: 2025-10-13
starting page: 191
ending page: 201
doi: 10.33178/scenario.19.11

Performative approaches across the curriculum: A field report
type: item
description: Eva Göksel and Marcel Felder have facilitated the elective module ‘Learning through Play – Drama in Education and Applying Theatre in Schools’ at the University of Teacher Education Zurich since 2021. In this article, they open the doors to their course. Using a single student case study as an example, they demonstrate how an experiential drama in education course can empower student teachers to apply performative teaching and learning methods across different school subjects. Finally, the authors discuss the requirements for the integration of performative methods in teacher education, guided by the question: What do teachers need to effectively and confidently design their own performative teaching?
subject: Window of Creative and Reflective Practice
  topic: section
subject: Performative-oriented teaching and learning
  topic: keywords
subject: Performative pedagogy
  topic: keywords
subject: Teacher education
  topic: keywords
subject: reflection
  topic: keywords
subject: experiential learning
  topic: keywords
subject: Embodiment
  topic: keywords
subject: interdisciplinary and creative education
  topic: keywords
subject: Drama in Education (DiE)
  topic: keywords
creator: Eva Göksel
creator: Marcel Felder
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Eva Göksel, Marcel Felder https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2025-10-13
publication date: 2025-10-13
starting page: 119
ending page: 160
doi: 10.33178/scenario.19.1.8

Le tandem dans un atelier de théâtre au service d’une meilleure prononciation et d’une acceptation de soi en LVE
type: item
description: This article presents a peer tutoring initiative developed within a community theatre workshop; part of a practice-based research project supported by the DRAC of the Pays de la Loire region. The program pairs young French-speaking participants with allophone learners. The francophone tutors support their peers in learning French as a second language (FSL) through theatrical exercises. The study focuses on one specific pair working on improving the pronunciation and intelligibility of a Ukrainian-speaking student. Multimodal analysis of their interactions shows that the workshop goes beyond linguistic goals. It becomes a relational and affective space, echoing Grotowski’s (1971) vision of theatre as a “shared birth” and the “complete acceptance of one human being by another.” Anchored in the enactive paradigm (Varela, 1999), this research sees theatre not just as a tool for language acquisition, but as a “joint experience” (Aden, 2013) that embodies an “ethical know-how” (Varela, 1992). We hypothesize that the relational ecology created in such a theatrical context supports the learning of pronunciation prior to more technical corrective phonetics approaches (Nocaudie, Alazard-Guiu, Billières, 2019), ultimately enhancing the communicative abilities of young allophone learners.
subject: Special Issue Window of Creative and Reflective Practice
  topic: section
subject: tandem
  topic: keywords
subject: relational ecology
  topic: keywords
subject: French as a second language
  topic: keywords
subject: phonetics
  topic: keywords
subject: community theatre
  topic: keywords
subject: joint experience
  topic: keywords
subject: Enaction
  topic: keywords
creator: Maria Pavlovskaya
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Maria Pavlovskaya https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2025-10-13
publication date: 2025-10-13
starting page: 109
ending page: 118
doi: 10.33178/scenario.19.1.7

talking-dancing-howling-walking-whispering-spiraling…
type: item
description: “Moving Words in Space” is an artistic and teaching practice based on a dialogue between dance improvisation and language learning. I have been developing this teaching approach with adults for the last twenty-five years, but I have also used it with children to teach English under the name “Jump’n Turn”. In this contribution, I retrace the developmental stages of “Moving Words in Space”, before describing how I use performance scores to introduce children to the English language through “Jump'n Turn”. To illustrate this process, I use “Scramble” (1970), an exercise and performance score originally created by the American dancer and choreographer Simone Forti. The tasks are extremely simple yet have a strong pedagogical potential. I explain how I guide young children through the activities so they can experience language fully through movement while performing a score that was created during the development of postmodern dance in the United States.
subject: Special Issue Window of Creative and Reflective Practice
  topic: section
subject: arts-based language education
  topic: keywords
subject: dance improvisation
  topic: keywords
subject: Movement
  topic: keywords
subject: performance score
  topic: keywords
creator: Agnès Benoit
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Agnès Benoit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2025-10-13
publication date: 2025-10-13
starting page: 96
ending page: 108
doi: 10.33178/scenario.19.1.6

Le corps à la croisée des LVE et de l’EPS
type: item
description: This article explores the connections between language teaching and physical education (PE). First, we consider such notions as the “sensing body”, “the learning body”, “embodiment” and intercorporeality (physical interconnectedness), all of which are integral to the learning experience in PE. We then discuss ways in which PE can foster a strong sense of physical interconnectedness through sensory-motor experience, and an awareness of the bodily dimension of interpersonal relations. We close with a case study of collaborative work between a PE instructor and a language teacher who invite year 9 pupils to engage physically with works by the Mexican painter and poet Frida Kahlo.
subject: Special Issue Articles
  topic: section
subject: Language
  topic: keywords
subject: Learning Body
  topic: keywords
subject: Intercorporeality
  topic: keywords
subject: PE (Physical Education)
  topic: keywords
creator: Sarah Pochon
creator: Sandrine Beulaigne
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Sarah Pochon , Sandrine Beulaigne https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2025-10-13
publication date: 2025-10-13
starting page: 81
ending page: 95
doi: 10.33178/scenario.19.1.5

« La langue » : créer encore et en corps
type: item
description: French as foreignized tongue: an unlearning kit to create with/in the body. As soon as you consider learning a language as an act of creation, you have to change the way you teach. It is not enough to step away from a normative approach and even to tolerate or praise diversity: differences are to be seen as constitutive and modifying, transformative (Authier-Revuz, 2004). Speaking and writing tend towards what is yet to be and hence, fundamentally, misunderstandings (Servais, 2009). Shifting to a heterolingual paradigm (Grutman, 1997 ; Sakai, 1997 ; Suchet, 2014) has led me to translate French into frenches and to estrange FLE as a foreignized tongue (Suchet, 2021). Still, inherited positions and codes remain, especially when teaching. This is why I developed an unlearning kit together with designers Alice Ferré and Élise (Les tables des matières) and graphist Pierre Tandille. In this text, I would like to focus on how the experience of activating this kit reveals the fundamental implications of the body in relationship to “the language”.
subject: Special Issue Articles
  topic: section
subject: research-action-creation
  topic: keywords
subject: heterolingualism
  topic: keywords
subject: foreignized tongue
  topic: keywords
subject: artists
  topic: keywords
subject: unlearning
  topic: keywords
subject: Kit
  topic: keywords
subject: Body
  topic: keywords
creator: Myriam Suchet
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Myriam Suchet https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2025-10-13
publication date: 2025-10-13
starting page: 60
ending page: 80
doi: 10.33178/scenario.19.1.4

Using theatrical masks to transform second language-learning for engineering students
type: item
description: This article describes how a transdisciplinary module for engineering students, based on masked theatre workshops set within an enactive pedagogical framework (Trocmé-Fabre, 2022; Varela, 1999) combines a sensorimotor and reflexive (bottom-up and top-down) approach to English language learning and translanguaging (Aden, 2014). Through a process of devising and performing a masked play, students at a top engineering school in France can develop specific human-centric skills to help them mediate, collaborate and co-create within increasingly complex professional situations involving diverse perspectives. Grounded in Varela’s paradigm of enaction (Varela & al., 1993), and the mask pedagogy of Lecoq (1997, 2002) and Gaulier (2024), the students undertake a phenomenological, embodied exploration using first neutral then expressive masks. As well as covering the face, or identity (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980, p 37), masks disrupt habitual modes of sensorimotor perception, as visual input is dramatically reduced and other modes of perception increase to compensate, thereby altering relations to self, others and the environment (Preller, 2022). Masks are potent catalysts for transformation and creative freedom, as evidenced by their importance in actor-training and performance (Freixe, 2024; Lecoq, 1997; Mnouchkine, 2000). With non-actors – here, engineering students learning a second language - I aim to show how three key features of mask-work enable a creative approach to languaging, meaning-making and knowledge-building.
subject: Special Issue Articles
  topic: section
subject: enaction
  topic: keywords
subject: languaging
  topic: keywords
subject: theatrical masks
  topic: keywords
subject: meaning-making
  topic: keywords
subject: co-creating
  topic: keywords
creator: Caroline Preller
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Caroline Preller https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2025-10-13
publication date: 2025-10-13
starting page: 40
ending page: 59
doi: 10.33178/scenario.19.1.3

Introduction: les langues a l’ecole des arts de la scene
type: item
description: Introduction to the French language special issue
subject: Special Issue Articles
  topic: section
subject: Performative
  topic: keywords
subject: French
  topic: keywords
creator: Joelle Aden
creator: Jean-Remi Lapaire
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Joelle Aden, Jean-Remi Lapaire https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2025-10-13
publication date: 2025-10-13
starting page: 2
ending page: 16
doi: 10.33178/scenario.19.1.1

Principes et processus de l’improvisation théâtrale dans une perspective énactive-performative de l’enseignement-apprentissage de l’anglais à l’université
type: item
description: Abstract This article presents the potential of theatrical improvisation for the teaching and learning of English at university from an enactive-performative perspective (Aden & Eschenauer, 2020a). Considering cognition as an emergent and embodied process, linked to action and interaction, this theoretical framework sheds light on the relevance of the founding principles of improvisation, as developed by Viola Spolin (1906-1994) and Keith Johnstone (1933-2023). The study shows how the process of improvisation, governed by rules such as “Yes, and...” and a focus on a common goal, encourages the development of oral fluency, as well as the contextualised appropriation of grammar, lexicon, phonology and pragmatic skills. It has also been shown that this practice reduces language anxiety by establishing a secure framework (Zondag, 2021), boosts motivation and self-confidence, and develops cross-curricular skills such as creativity and collaboration. Based on classroom observations at the University of Bordeaux, the article uses concrete examples to illustrate how language takes shape in interaction and how constraints can become levers for creativity.
subject: Special Issue Articles
  topic: section
subject: theatrical improvisation
  topic: keywords
subject: enactive-performative pedagogy
  topic: keywords
subject: Embodied cognition
  topic: keywords
subject: language anxiety
  topic: keywords
creator: Florian Rèche
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Florian Rèche https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2025-10-13
publication date: 2025-10-13
starting page: 17
ending page: 39
doi: 10.33178/scenario.19.1.2

Mechanisms of co-presence in repetitive drama studio performances
type: item
description: When working with older children (ages 9-12) in a drama studio environment (extracurricular theatre and drama education with performative outcomes), keeping everyone present is both an exciting and challenging task. The process towards a performance can encompass several techniques and methods during the creative process, as well as on stage, in three core areas: 1. Impro and Process Drama; 2. Mentoring; 3. Language and Literature. Presence and co-presence occur as a result of focus, accepting, and building which are characteristic of improvisational theatre and process drama techniques that are used to keep students engaged and on task. Students address issues from an autobiographical and collaborative perspective, allowing them to play a part through improvised personal responses. The mentoring is present both outside and inside the play as mentors guide their students, assume some of the roles, and provide a meaningful framework and direction of the play. Fairy tales and well-known literary texts can be used as starting points; they are adapted and transformed on the spot. This results in a creative, spontaneous, and natural use of language that keeps the players present and alert throughout. This paper presents the examples from the Zagreb Youth Theatre (ZKM) Drama Studio's final production "A Bunch of Forest Fairies" (June 2023) which contains elements of Impro, process drama (uncharacteristically performed on stage), inside and outside mentoring (super mentoring), and fairy tale elements that are transformed in a new socio-cultural context. Such an approach enables the players to perform the same play repetitively with the same intensity and presence as the first time, allowing them to re-explore relationships, expressions, and texts in a new and meaningful way.
subject: Special Issue Window of Creative and Reflective Practice
  topic: section
subject: Co-presence
  topic: keywords
subject: Drama studio
  topic: keywords
subject: Improvisational theatre
  topic: keywords
subject: Process drama
  topic: keywords
subject: Adaption
  topic: keywords
creator: Željka Flegar
creator: Grozdana Lajić Horvat
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2024-12-31
publication date: 2024-12-31
starting page: 89
ending page: 103
doi: 10.33178/18.2.6

Review of Tau, R., Kloetzer, L., & Henein, S. (2024). Barefoot academic teaching: Performing arts as a pedagogical tool in higher education (Edition Scenario Vol. VII). Schibri.
type: item
description: In the true spirit of improvisation, this book is an across the board “yes”! It places embodied teaching and learning at the centre of the university curriculum and as such,it should appeal to readers with a strong interest in the role of the arts in academia: students, researchers, administrators, performers, and teachers/lecturers alike, because it thoughtfully encompasses voices from almost each of these groups.
subject: Reviews
  topic: section
subject: Review
  topic: keywords
subject: Barefoot academic teaching
  topic: keywords
subject: Performing arts
  topic: keywords
subject: Pedagogy
  topic: keywords
subject: Higher education
  topic: keywords
creator: Eva Göksel
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2024-12-31
publication date: 2024-12-31
starting page: 104
ending page: 107
doi: 10.33178/scenario.18.2.7

Sharing gems
type: item
description: In this contribution, we report and reflect on the 2024 edition of the PAInt summer school and DiE days providing readers with some insights into our experience as participants. The event took place in Padua, Italy, and focused on inclusive practices in performative approaches to language and (inter)cultural learning, bringing together educators, researchers, and students to explore how drama fosters language competence, inclusion, and celebrates diversity.
subject: Reports
  topic: section
subject: Gemme
  topic: keywords
subject: summer school
  topic: keywords
creator: Giordana F. Bido
creator: Nicolò Salmaso
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Giordana F. Bido, Nicolò Salmaso https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2024-12-31
publication date: 2024-12-31
starting page: 108
ending page: 122
doi: 10.33178/scenario.18.2.8

Dramaturgies of presence
type: item
description: This article describes the practice of the association Asinitas in Rome, which accompanies language learning paths for foreigners (migrants, refugees and asylum seekers) with theater workshops. Beginning with the workshop “The Human Voice” conducted with the Bartolini-Baronio company, the aim is to highlight the potential of theater for: the construction of a multilingual context that enhances the multilingual repertoire of each; the development of expressive capacity through attention to the co-verbal aspects of communication that include the body, space, voice with its prosodic characteristics; individual biographical narration that becomes collective dramaturgy consolidating the construction of a community capable of opening a window of dialogue with the city. The article aims to offer insights into how these aspects can be particularly significant in the context of migration for the acquisition of individual and social presence, the enhancement of linguistic-expressive skills, the construction of meaningful social ties, and the reworking of the migration experience itself.
subject: Special Issue Articles
  topic: section
subject: Plurilingualism
  topic: keywords
subject: Migration experience
  topic: keywords
subject: Personal presence
  topic: keywords
subject: Collective presence
  topic: keywords
subject: Dramaturgical construction
  topic: keywords
creator: Cecilia Bartoli
creator: Luca Lotano
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Cecilia Bartoli, Luca Lotano https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2024-12-31
publication date: 2024-12-31
starting page: 51
ending page: 73
doi: 10.33178/scenario.18.2.4

Foreword - Vorwort - Prefazione
type: item
subject: Foreword
  topic: section
subject: Book of abstracts
  topic: keywords
creator: The Editors
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 The Editors https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2024-10-17
publication date: 2024-10-17
starting page: i
ending page: v

Review of Elis, F. (2024). Let’s keep acting. Dramapädagogische Verfahren im Englisch-unterricht am Übergang von der Primar- in die Sekundarstufe. Schibri.
type: item
subject: Reviews
  topic: section
subject: Let's keep acting
  topic: keywords
subject: drama in education
  topic: keywords
subject: Drama pedagogy
  topic: keywords
subject: Transition to secondary school
  topic: keywords
subject: English as a foreign language
  topic: keywords
subject: primary school
  topic: keywords
creator: Stefanie Giebert
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Stefanie Giebert https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2024-10-17
publication date: 2024-10-17
starting page: 131
ending page: 138
doi: 10.33178/scenario.18.1.10

Being, non-being and the in-between
type: item
description: What is presence really? What are we talking about when we talk about presence? For a performer, it seems such an obvious thing but the closer you look, the more elusive it becomes, like one of those optical illusions which can only be perceived sideways through the eyes; looking directly makes it immediately disappear. And the whole thing becomes even more sideways when we take presence and put it in the middle of a classroom. Is it possible that we might have been over emphasising presence in the search for the elusive-mysterious? Have we been overly focused on presence in our pursuit of the qualities that make teaching and learning truly transformative? And obviously, what sort of transformative are we talking about in the fractured times that we live in? What is the other side of the story? What can Absence tell us about its polar twin? Does the absent become present by its very absence? And what or who is it that is absent? In my talk which I've framed as a set of field notes, entirely subjective observations gathered over a period of time, I am drawing upon my experience as a performer in search of the elusive-mysterious; my experience as a teaching artist in a teacher education program at Delhi University; and as a researcher investigating teacher agency in the classroom. In interrogating the binary of presence/absence, I seek to throw some light into that liminal space where these two intersect and collide, and begin to reveal the elusive-mysterious so that pedagogical practices can be reimagined and reenacted.
subject: Special Issue Articles
  topic: section
subject: Presence
  topic: keywords
subject: Absence
  topic: keywords
subject: Liminality
  topic: keywords
subject: Performativity
  topic: keywords
subject: Pedagogy
  topic: keywords
creator: Sukhesh Arora
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Sukhesh Arora https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2024-10-17
publication date: 2024-10-17
starting page: 1
ending page: 15
doi: 10.33178/scenario.18.1.1

The power of drama to overcome crisis
type: item
description: In this report, I explore how process drama helps me, as a teacher, to overcome challenges arising from the sense of disconnection. Two challenging situations I address are the crisis in my teaching career caused by being disconnected with students, and the COVID-19 pandemic, the social crisis that aggravated the disconnection. Reflecting on my open class conducted under unfavourable conditions for incorporating drama into class, that is, a classroom with high school seniors and tightened social distancing rules, I investigate how bringing drama into my classroom offered chances for interaction and bonding between the students and me; how my fellow teachers who are new to drama perceived the benefits of using teacher-in-role. After describing the changes in both students and myself brought about by the open class, I analyse what caused the changes in students, based on the nature of drama, and myself, from an existential perspective. Drawing on my experience, I conclude with the hope that drama can help other teachers, who are experiencing difficulties similar to the ones I went through, overcome their moments of crisis.
subject: Window of Creative and Reflective Practice
  topic: section
subject: COVID-19
  topic: keywords
subject: engagement
  topic: keywords
subject: high school seniors
  topic: keywords
subject: korea
  topic: keywords
subject: process drama
  topic: keywords
subject: teacher-in-role
  topic: keywords
creator: Saeyoung Hyun
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Saeyoung Hyun https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2025-10-13
publication date: 2025-10-13
starting page: 161
ending page: 175
doi: 10.33178/scenario.19.1.9

Energy and presence: A journey from theatre lab to teacher training
type: item
description: This article narrates my journey through laboratory physical theatre, focusing on how actor presence emerges from physical training, imagination, intentionality and connection with the audience. It then argues for the significance of these elements in initial teacher training, exploring the concept of teacher presence and examining to create a more embodied and active engagement in the classroom, similar to the craft of an actor in performance. By integrating actor-training, I propose that presence is something developed through laboratory theatre training techniques. In my work with student teachers, I incorporate such techniques to work on their energetic presence, enabling them to create richer emotional connections with their students. Research indicates that strong teacher-student relationships significantly impact academic achievement, motivation, and engagement. These relationships flourish when teachers leverage their mental, physical, and emotional resources, suggesting that presence is not merely an innate quality but a skill that can be developed through specific actor-training exercises. Student logs of reflections on the drama module sessions will illustrate the transformative impact of this training on their confidence, teaching practices, and the relationships cultivated within the classroom. Ultimately, I posit that when educators engage their intellect, emotions, and creativity, they can create dynamic learning environments that resonate with authenticity and connection.
subject: Special Issue Window of Creative and Reflective Practice
  topic: section
subject: Presence
  topic: keywords
subject: Energy
  topic: keywords
subject: Drama workshop
  topic: keywords
subject: Laboratory theatre
  topic: keywords
subject: Teacher training
  topic: keywords
subject: Student reflections
  topic: keywords
creator: Isabelle Gatt
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Isabelle Gatt https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2024-12-31
publication date: 2024-12-31
starting page: 74
ending page: 88
doi: 10.33178/scenario.18.2.5

A Robot who could not dance: Generating performative presence among performer, text, and audience through exploring and performing stories by children
type: item
description: A cyclic performance project enabled Australian tertiary drama students and primary school students to connect through stories written by children in hospital in the UK. University drama students undertook a semester of puppetry and created performances of children’s stories from Sextou’s book. The university students’ learning process involved exploring form and movement with inanimate objects to collaboratively create puppets which they allocated to the children’s stories they selected. These stories were performed for an audience of children aged between 5 and 8 years of age. This project used participatory action research and applied theatre to facilitate the university drama students’ exploration of puppetry, storytelling and performance. While the university drama students wanted to apply logic and chronology to the hospitalised children’s stories, they were willing to be vulnerable and to accept that they may not completely understand the stories. The university drama students performed their puppet interpretations of the stories for young children. This co-presence of the university drama students with the children affected a new understanding of the stories for both groups.
subject: Special Issue Articles
  topic: section
subject: drama training
  topic: keywords
subject: applied theatre
  topic: keywords
subject: storytelling
  topic: keywords
subject: children
  topic: keywords
subject: paediatrics
  topic: keywords
subject: wellbeing
  topic: keywords
subject: university teaching
  topic: keywords
subject: undergraduate research
  topic: keywords
creator: Linda Lorenza
creator: Persephone Sextou
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Dr Linda. M. Lorenza, Professor Persephone Sextou (PhD) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2024-12-31
publication date: 2024-12-31
starting page: 1
ending page: 15
doi: 10.33178/scenario.18.2.1

Let’s create what happens next: Translation as transformative experience
type: item
description: This article builds on a collective conference paper delivered at the 3rd International Scenario Conference in May 2024. The article discusses a final-year undergraduate class that took place at Trinity College Dublin in the autumn semester of 2023 entitled “Experimental Translation”. It focuses on the experiences of the teacher and three students who took the class by analysing the relationship between experimentation, experience, and translation, and it presents examples of the creative work that the students produced for their end-of-semester assessments.
subject: Special Issue Articles
  topic: section
subject: creativity
  topic: keywords
subject: co-creation
  topic: keywords
subject: experimental translation
  topic: keywords
subject: transformation
  topic: keywords
subject: improvisation
  topic: keywords
subject: play
  topic: keywords
subject: presence
  topic: keywords
subject: performance
  topic: keywords
creator: Alexandra Lukes
creator: Anthony O'Connor
creator: Hannah Auld
creator: Joseph Toolan
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Alexandra Lukes, Anthony O'Connor, Hannah Auld, Joseph Toolan https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2024-12-31
publication date: 2024-12-31
starting page: 37
ending page: 50
doi: 10.33178/scenario.18.2.3

Strengthening presence and performativity systematically
type: item
description: This article sheds light on the relevance of performativity for teaching languages in the digital age. First, arguments in favour of theatrical approaches in language teacher education are discussed. Based on this discussion, performative teaching skills are then defined as a target dimension of language teacher training. In order to achieve these skills, a system-compatible teaching concept was designed as a prototype for the university training phase. In this article, the subject-specific didactic development research as well as the testing and evaluation of the teaching concept are discussed. The preliminary results suggest to systematically implement theatre pedagogical practice in university language teacher training.
subject: Special Issue Articles
  topic: section
subject: Teacher training
  topic: keywords
subject: Performativitity
  topic: keywords
subject: Prototypical concept
  topic: keywords
creator: Victoria del Valle
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 del Valle Victoria https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2024-10-17
publication date: 2024-10-17
starting page: 16
ending page: 35
doi: 10.33178/scenario.18.1.2

Eros and education
type: item
description: This essay explores the – admittedly taboo – theme of eros as it relates to education. While eros is generally understood today in the restricted sense of sexual desire (hence the taboo), there are good reasons to expand the concept to include the full range of embodied human experiences of attraction or sensuous affinity. Such experiences are not merely physiological, but also infused with emotion and imagination, and they constitute an indelible aspect of presence. While traditional education aims more or less explicitly at suppressing the erotic dimension of presence, performative approaches – precisely because they are rooted in the body – in effect open this dimension and make it available as an area of experience, a source of knowledge, and a motivation for learning. But this introduces an element of unpredictability, even volatility; and given the complex and often unconscious movement of eros, we are never far from the zones of social taboo and therefore of ethical concern. Proponents of a performative teaching and learning culture must therefore give careful thought to the question of how to approach the erotic aspect of presence honestly, ethically, and in ways that not only promote learning but also foster self-esteem and respect.
subject: Special Issue Articles
  topic: section
subject: Embodiment
  topic: keywords
subject: Presence
  topic: keywords
subject: Performative teaching and learning
  topic: keywords
subject: Desire
  topic: keywords
subject: Sensuous affinity
  topic: keywords
creator: John Crutchfield
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 John Crutchfield https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2024-10-17
publication date: 2024-10-17
starting page: 51
ending page: 69
doi: 10.33178/scenario.18.1.4

Playing with language: Bilingual Russian theatre at the University of Oregon
type: item
description: The incorporation of theatre in language learning has long been shown to increase students’ sense of belonging and to promote academic and personal success. While previous case studies largely focus on activities and performances that are conducted entirely in the target language, this article discusses the theatre class at the University of Oregon which collaboratively creates and performs a Russian-English bilingual play each year. Following a brief overview of the program, the article examines the winter 2024 production of The Shadow, Julia Nemirovskaya’s adaptation of the classic Soviet play by Evgenii Shvarts. The study draws on the text of the play, class activities, interviews with the instructors and students, and the author’s own personal experience as a volunteer member of the cast to highlight the unique benefits of a bilingual production. The use of both Russian and English enhances the inclusive nature of the theatrical experience. Students of all levels of experience take away valuable linguistic and cultural lessons; the most valued aspect, however, is the community it builds, bringing diverse students together and strengthening the language community.
subject: Window of Creative and Reflective Practice
  topic: section
subject: inclusive pedagogy
  topic: keywords
subject: bilingual theatre
  topic: keywords
subject: Russian as a second language
  topic: keywords
subject: community-building
  topic: keywords
subject: performative language teaching
  topic: keywords
creator: Sarah Bishop
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Sarah Clovis Bishop https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2025-10-13
publication date: 2025-10-13
starting page: 176
ending page: 190
doi: 10.33178/scenario.19.1.10

Asthetically designing unstoppable change
type: item
description: This report presents the key ideas discussed during the online panel discussion on the topic of ‘The importance of aesthetic learning in foreign language didactics’. The discussion took place as part of the event series ‘Ten years of aesthetic learning - one look back, two ahead’ (18 to 26 January 2024), which was held both in person and online. Under the moderation of Dr Nils Bernstein and Charlotte Lerchner, a consensus was reached among all participants: The integration of emotional experience through the arts leads to sustainable learning success in holistic foreign language teaching. As a student of linguistics and an employee of the Language Centre at the University of Hamburg, I was given the opportunity to take part in this panel discussion as an audience member and to write this report from this perspective.
subject: Reports
  topic: section
subject: Aesthetic learning
  topic: keywords
subject: Foreign language pedagogy
  topic: keywords
subject: GfL
  topic: keywords
subject: pannel discussion
  topic: keywords
subject: Performative approaches
  topic: keywords
creator: Irmelinn Jahnke
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Irmelinn Jahnke https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2024-10-17
publication date: 2024-10-17
starting page: 109
ending page: 112
doi: 10.33178/scenario.18.1.8

The here and clown
type: item
description: This practise-as-research paper applies Cormac Power’s three categories of presence (2006) to contemporary clown training and performance in the theatre with specific reference to a recently devised performance that used clown principles to open up challenging discussions around shame, race and Afrikaner Identity. Through my perspective as a South African educator, clown practitioner and postdoctoral fellow, I propose that the contemporary clown’s failed efforts to sustain the audience's belief in their persona is what paradoxically leads to the clown’s success by drawing attention to presence as a multibodied phenomenon. Failure, a key principle of clowning, is an effective performance strategy that relies on the performer's awareness of their presence as a dynamic exchange to establish and maintain connection with an audience through listening and reacting to audience appreciation (laughter) or lack thereof (silence). Through critical reflection of the clown as both a state of presence and a performative strategy, this paper highlights the valuable role that the clown’s insider-outsider position plays in bringing about awareness and learning in both theatrical and pedagogic contexts. This work is based on the research supported by the National Institute for The Humanities and Social Science.
subject: Special Issue Articles
  topic: section
subject: Clown
  topic: keywords
subject: Theatre
  topic: keywords
subject: Presence
  topic: keywords
subject: Cormac Power
  topic: keywords
subject: Pedagogy
  topic: keywords
subject: Laughter
  topic: keywords
creator: Klara van Wyk
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Klara van Wyk https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2024-10-17
publication date: 2024-10-17
starting page: 85
ending page: 100
doi: 10.33178/scenario.18.1.6

Alienation and emancipation at the university through performing arts
type: item
description: This paper, co-written by three students and two lecturers of a master’s course called "Arts-based Approaches to Research and Teaching", focuses on the way in which the performing arts can contribute to the identification and definition of a scholarly research question. Based on a discussion of the phenomenon of learners' alienation in formal education systems, and its restrictive effects frequently pointed out in the specialized literature, we address the problem of the opening towards autonomy in the definition of an original research problem. To this end, the article will (1) introduce our theoretical reflections, discussing the issues on the phenomenon of alienation, emancipation and creation of knowledge within the university setting; (2) explain the structure of the course, with a focus on the place of performing arts in the curriculum; (3) present three vignettes displaying three cases of elaboration and reflection by participant students; (4) offer a final discussion and conclusion on the potential of performing arts to “shake up” or “destabilise” the usual alienation experienced by students regarding the appropriation and creation of knowledge at the university.
subject: Special Issue Articles
  topic: section
subject: metaphors
  topic: keywords
subject: university teaching
  topic: keywords
subject: case study
  topic: keywords
subject: arts-based pedagogy
  topic: keywords
subject: creation of scientific knowledge
  topic: keywords
creator: Ramiro Tau
creator: Laure Kloetzer
creator: Aneth Sacher
creator: Anna Zolotareva
creator: Yemariam Abebayehu
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Ramiro Tau, Laure Kloetzer, Aneth Sacher, Anna Zolotareva, Yemariam Abebayehu https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2024-12-31
publication date: 2024-12-31
starting page: 16
ending page: 36
doi: 10.33178/scenario.18.2.2

Being fully alive to change the world
type: item
description: The ‘great distraction’, which we propose as a pedagogical and existential category, seems to represent a dangerous new paradigm of our times: it is the assiduousness of diversion from the self, the continuous being moved elsewhere, the pervasive inducement to evade the here and now, the retreat of the finest human energies towards stasis. It is then necessary and urgent to ask: how can full presence be fostered, in everyday life and particularly in educational contexts? In the present study, through the reflections of classical authors and Edgar Morin's Complex Thought, we highlight how a poetic education (i.e. one that cultivates and enhances the mimetic faculty and aesthetic participation to reality) enables an intensification of the quality of being there and being together, and thus of presence. An example of poetic education is given at the end of the study by recounting the experience of the educational project ‘The Stone in the Pond. In movement between words and stories’, an experiment carried out in a number of Italian high schools in which expressive reading was the main way of encouraging students’ full presence and helping them to manifest it.
subject: Special Issue Articles
  topic: section
subject: Great distractionPoetic education
  topic: keywords
subject: Relationship
  topic: keywords
subject: Complexity
  topic: keywords
subject: Expressive reading
  topic: keywords
creator: Chiara Massullo
creator: Elisabetta Proietti
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Chiara Massullo, Elisabetta Proietti https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2024-10-17
publication date: 2024-10-17
starting page: 70
ending page: 84
doi: 10.33178/scenario.18.1.5

Teacher presence in EFL-learners’ (re-)creation of text for literary text comprehension
type: item
description: In anglophone countries, creative writing as an established university course of studies aims at preparing budding authors for their future profession. Creative writing in the context of teaching English as a foreign language at school in Germany is related to the methodological principles of action- and production-orientation. The latter focus on the learners’ response to literary texts thereby allowing them to combine literary text analysis and creative alternations of the texts under discussion. The question arises as to what aspects of a teacher’s presence in an EFL-classroom facilitate pupils’ creating imaginative texts of their own. Moreover, if the texts created by EFL-learners are designed to be performed, the teacher’s presence directing their pupils from written productions to oral performances needs further substantiating. In this paper, it is claimed that the success of creative writing and performing the texts pro­duced largely depends upon the English language teacher’s presence vis-à-vis subject matter knowledge, classroom management, and rapport to their pupils. In this way, teachers make their learners experience creative writing not only as a form of com­prehending literary texts, but also as a way to help students reflect upon their roles as writers, learners, and performers of English as a foreign language.
subject: Special Issue Articles
  topic: section
subject: Literary text comprehension
  topic: keywords
subject: (re-)creation of text
  topic: keywords
subject: Performing own texts
  topic: keywords
subject: Teacher presence
  topic: keywords
subject: Teaching English Literature
  topic: keywords
creator: Petra Bosenius
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Petra Bosenius https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
date: 2024-10-17
publication date: 2024-10-17
starting page: 36
ending page: 50
doi: 10.33178/scenario.18.1.3