Introduction to Webpage Supplements
Adam Blatner
Welcome! This website contains a number of webpages that supplement the
book, Interactive and Improvisational Drama: Varieties of Applied
Theatre and Performance, edited by Adam Blatner and Daniel
Wiener. The book contains over thirty chapters, each one an
introduction to an approach to type of drama that is wholly or for the
most part interactive and unscripted.
Interactive Drama: That which involves most if not all the people in
the room.
Improvisational Drama: The type in which people make up what happens
rather than works from a script. These are approaches that are
alternatives to scripted, rehearsed theatre, performed by actors for
passive audiences.
The field of drama that is alluded to in this book is far broader in
scope than the more traditional drama that has arisen in Western
cultures over the last several centuries.
Applied Theatre is an umbrella term that includes various kinds of
drama in education, social drama (such as Theatre of the Oppressed),
therapeutic applications of drama, drama for building a sense of
community, and so forth. The term only emerged in the early 1990s or
thereabouts, and continues to be defined. Perhaps the different
approaches noted in the book may stretch the boundaries.
Other approaches that might be arguably included have not been for
reasons of space, how busy those who might have contributed something
were, and so forth. As time goes on, I’ll try to include some mention
of them in these webpages.
The Audience for This Book:
- drama students
- teachers of drama students, especially those who are interested in addressing the broader field of drama, performance, theory, scope, history, beyond traditional scripted and rehearsed forms
- theatre artists, actors and directors who might want to apply their background in new and more diversified ways
- the general public, many of whom have enjoyed a taste of drama and think they might want to do more–especially those who are intrigued by the activity of spontaneity or sense that there’s a special kind of authenticity in improvised drama
- professionals in many related fields who see the use of role playing, simulations, dramatic enactment and the like as useful for weaving together intuition, imagination, and the human factor as well as rational assessment–e.g., business and organizational managers, executives, clergy, activities directors, youth program specialists, social service coordinators, and so forth
- creative arts therapists, drama therapists, psychodramatists, coaches, pastoral counselors, companions in spiritual direction, etc.
- people who are intrigued with ways to expand the human potential
- ... and your suggestions might be added to this list.