Dramaturgies of risky play: Two (risky) case studies. Issue 1 (2nd January 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hughes, Erika
• Is Part Of: Youth theatre journal. Volume 31:Issue 1(2017)
• Page Start: 35
• Page End: 47
• Publication Date: 2017-01-02
• Subjects: Children's theater -- Periodicals; Drama in education -- Periodicals; 792.022605
• DOI: 10.1080/08929092.2016.1278066
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0892-9092

Abstract

ABSTRACT: In this descriptive autoethnographic essay, I discuss my work on risky play as a dramaturgical framework in two recent performances for young audiences—one traditional, one site-specific—staged in the U.S. metropolitan area of Phoenix, Arizona. I directed the first, This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing, in February 2015, and one year later I collaborated with a youth artist to create and perform in The Light Rail Plays on the Valley Metro light rail commuter train system with Rising Youth Theatre. Through both productions, I sought to investigate potential ways in which risk might function dramaturgically in two different youth-focused performance environments. These diverse experiences taught me much about the ways in which I use risk (and its aversion) to negate and control the spaces in which I (claim to) seek to enable empowerment and action. Through this journey, I came to understand risky play as a powerful strategy to facilitate problem solving onstage.