Social and Emotional Theatre

"Theater is the most collaborative activity and art form that I have ever engaged with. To create an effective and beautiful work of theater, I think everyone needs to be able to understand other viewpoints and find an effective means to bridge different ideas to create stronger ones. Investing yourself, furthermore, in different narratives, stories, and characters does help people empathize with other viewpoints and ideas." - Justin

(Photo from Quebec's Art Therapy Association http://www.aatq.org/en/Drama-therapy)

The case for social emotional learning

“Social emotional learning” refers to the skills and competencies one develops through emotional discovery and social interaction. It is a process of both personal and interpersonal reflection in which one becomes to more connected to oneself and others through the effective management of emotions. However, social emotional learning is about more than personal discovery and fulfillment. Rather, robust social emotional competencies, or lack thereof, can have profound impacts on one’s school/career outcomes, relationship development, and personal resilience. Thus, as research on social emotional learning develops, teachers, schools, and policy-makers are becoming increasingly interested in holistic approaches to teaching and learning.

One of the most compelling arguments for teaching social emotional skills are their inextricable link with cognition. In their 2015 piece on fostering social and emotional skills, researchers Miyamoto, Huerta, and Kubacka investigate the link between emotion and learning and how this ought to influence policy decisions. They show how emotion can be used in all academic disciplines as a means of enhancing problem-solving, communications, taking initiative, exercising judgement, and imagining outcomes (4).

In an essay on social emotional learning, cognitive neuroscientist Mary Helen Immordino-Yang further supports this research in her argument for the emotional experience of learning itself. She explains how neuroscience research has shown that emotion is essential to the learning process because children learn and retain information by linking their feelings to their thoughts. She claims that emotional “jolts,” including the joy of getting a good grade or the frustration that accompanies failure, are essential to our holistic experience of academic material. Thus, it is impossible to separate academic experiences from the emotional arc of learning (Immordino-Yang, http://www.ascd.org/ascd_express/vol3/320_immordino-yang.aspx)

Therefore, the development of social emotional skills happens alongside the development of academic skills and ought to be recognized with equal importance as one cannot happen without the other. Unfortunately, current school standards do not always lend themselves to the intentional development of social emotional learning. In many cases, we rely on extracurricular activities to breed social emotional development. While this outsourcing is problematic, because it leaves many students without access, certain activities are especially well-suited to help students develop their social and emotional competencies. Given that this blog is all about theatre, I outline below some of the research regarding the teaching and development of social emotional skills through school theatre.

Theatre: A Unique Forum for Social Emotional Learning

In this section, I focus on a 2007 case study conducted by researchers Larson and Brown from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. In their research, Larson and Brown observe a Midwestern theatre program in which students are producing a production of Les Miserables. They interview and observe the students, teachers, and parents throughout the process and use this research to generalize their findings.

Though Larson and Brown argue that many extracurricular activities can help students in developing their social emotional competencies, the nature of theatre is particularly powerful because of its vastly collaborative character (3). In my own experience doing theatre, I have found the collaborative nature of theatre central to my enjoyment. While there is something special about performing for a large crowd or designing something beautiful, theatre is fun because it is so deeply reliant on human connection. Larson and Brown, however, expand upon this idea, considering the ways in which collaboration forces students to learn to regulate “hot emotional episodes.” Their research shows us that repeated opportunities to observe and experience emotions helps students understand how their emotions can affect others and themselves, thus teaching the importance of emotional regulation (14).

Additionally, they examine the institutional culture of the program, arguing that the social norms of any setting, as set largely by those in charge, are essential to the enjoyment of the experience and the ability to develop social emotional skills (Larson and Brown, 5). A positive institutional culture, Larson and Brown argue, is important because it forms a safety net in which students are able to take emotional risks, both personally and as their characters, without fear (5). However, Larson and Brown also argue that the intrinsically self-determinative nature of theatre is core to the development of self-regulation and emotional control. This is likely because acting the role of someone else requires a combination of intellectual analysis and emotional vulnerability. Thus, theatre is a constructive setting in which students are actively encouraged to exercise emotion and cognition alongside each other.

While this case study provides only a snapshot of how theatre can be used to teach social emotional skills, Larson and Brown’s findings are important in introducing theatre as a mode by which to explore emotion. As social emotional learning increasingly enters the educational lexicon, it is vital that we have the tools at hand to teach it constructively. Though theatre is one of many ways to encourage social emotional competency, its collaborative and artistic nature make it especially transformative. Look below for further resources on theatre and social emotional development!

Works Cited

• Immordino-Yang, Mary Helen. “Emotions, Social Relationships, and the Brain: Implications for the Classroom.” ASCD, www.ascd.org/ascd_express/vol3/320_immordino-yang.aspx.

• Larson, Reed W., and Jane R. Brown. “Emotional Development in Adolescence: What can be Learned From a High School Theater Program?” Child Development, vol. 78, no. 4, 2007, pp. 1083–1099., doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.01054.x.

• Miyamoto, Koji, et al. “Fostering Social and Emotional Skills for Well-Being and Social Progress.” European Journal of Education, vol. 50, no. 2, 2015, pp. 147–159., doi:10.1111/ejed.12118.

Additional Resources and Research

Social Emotional Learning

• https://www.casel.org/what-is-sel/

• https://www.edutopia.org/blog/why-sel-essential-for-students-weissberg-durlak-domitrovich-gullotta

• http://www.cfchildren.org/mission-vision/what-is-sel/

• https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/03/the-social-emotional-learning-effect/521220/

• https://medium.com/inspired-ideas-prek-12/5-guiding-principles-of-social-emotional-learning-2f9fb554edad

Social Emotional Learning and Theatre

• http://theautismhelper.com/presentation-social-emotional-learning-drama/

• https://blog.gulfshoreplayhouse.org/2014/10/02/social-emotional-learning/

• http://creativematter.skidmore.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1104&context=mals_stu_schol