ANDthe process drama of Cecily O'Neill

edited by Philip Taylor and Christine D Warner

Trentham Books LimitedWeswiew House 22883 Ouicksilver Drive734 London Road SterlingOakhill VA20166-2O12Stoke on Trent USAStaffordshireEngland ST4 sNP

@ 2006 Philip Taylor and Christine D Warner

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced ortransmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanicalincluding photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrievalsystem, without prior permission in writing from the publishers.

First published 2006

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication DataA catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN-13: 978 1 85856 322 0ISBN-I0: 1 858563224

The cover image is from a production of Bertolt Brecht's The CaucasianChalk Circlefeaturing Daryl Embry Caitlin Heibach, Christopher petersonand Annie Montgomery directed by Philip Taylor in the ProvincetownPlayhouse, New York City, in November 2004.Photograph by Chianan Yen, used with permission.

Designed and typeset by Trentham Print Design Ltd, Chesterand printed in Great Britain by Cromwell Press Ltd, Trowbridge

IV

Contents

Aclcrowledgements . viiiAbout the Editors . ix

Foreword. xiGauin Bolton

Prologue. xiiiCecily O'Neill

Introduction. IPhilip Thylor and ChristineWarner

Episode OneFinding Form

Chapter IDrama in Education . 3l

Chapter 2Process Drama.4l

Chapter 3Working fromWithin: Teacher and the

Group as Artists in the Process . 5lChapter 4

Drama and theWeb of Form . 57

EpisodeTwoGuidelines for Structuring Drama

Chapter 5lmaginedWorlds inTheatre and Drama. 79

STRUCTURE AND SPONTANEITY: THE PROCESS DRAMA OF CECILY O,NEILL

Chapter 6Transforming Texts: Intelligences in Action . 9 I

Chapter 7Dialogue andDrama. 101

EpisodeThreePerspectives on Drama

Chapter BArtists and Models . l19

Chapter gTheory and Research in Drarna. 127

Chapter 10Alienation and Empowerment o 141

Epilogue. 151The Cecily O'Neill Archive . 155

References. 161

Index.167

VI

lntroduction

o you are interested in process drama and want to understand moreabout how to design, implement and evaluate a session with integrityand which conforms to dramatic conventions and sryles. \.{/here do

you begin? It is perhaps overwhelming for beginning drama educators toposition themselves within the myriad of texts, pioneers and personalities, tounderstand the different movements and trends, and to figure out what gooddrama teaching entails. The fleld of drama education has had an impressivetradition and for newcomers it can be quite a challenge as theybegin to forgetheir or,r,n teaching identity.

In our view, teachers learn best from other teachers, and when they can applyand adapt exemplarymodels of teachinq.fan\in their onm work. This bookis about one teacher, Cecily O'Neill, and hr c-contribution to the field of dramaeducation. It is a text which is not meant to deiff o'Neill, but rather toexamine and illuminate the characteristics of her praxis as she structured,implemented and reflected upon educational drqma. Readers will not needto have any prior understanding of o'Neill's laxisls they read this book. wewill be introducingyou to the major features bTh-eiteaching and demonstrat-ing how influential and helpful these features have been to a range of educa-tors worldwide. lvhen we use the term praxis we are referring to 3-.dpa-micinterplay between theory and practice, where the drama leader is not merelyimplement@ce of activities but is constantly re-thinking ideas as participants experience the structure. praxis implies acritical consciousness powered by a desire to heighten reflective and trans-formative educational events.

\Mhy the title, Structure and Spontaneity? These are two of the key principlesthat informed O'Neill's pedagogical approach. In a sense structure and spon-taneity are inextricably linked, and they need to be firmly understood ifsatisSring arts experiences are to be realised. Structure refers to the em-

11vI

STRUCTURE AND SPONTANEITY: THE PROCESS DRAMA OF CECILY O'NEILL

bedded elements that comprise a teaching-learning encounter. These ele-ments are informed by an artfirl selection of various strategies and activitiesthat aim to explore an issue, theme or relationship. A session's structure is nota random and isolated sequence of steps. Structure refers to the interrelation-ship of dramatic episodes, and the mannerinwhich these episodes are com-posed and articulated. In O'Neill's influential tert, Drama Structures (1982),which she co authored with Alan Lambert, she argued that careful and co-herent structural planning was often missing from a drama curriculum:

We feel that what is lackingis not lgcess to drama 'ideas'. whj-q.h_elg jp-vided in many ds of struc-

teachers in these ideas in workigreater depth with their pupils. lf pupils are to grasp concepts, understandcomplex issues, solve problems and work creatively and co-operatively indrama, they will be helped by a clearly established context and a strong butflexible framework to support and extend the meaning of the work. (p9)

Educators might usefr-rlly see themselves as structure operators, as theyexperiment with different strategies and find creative ways of locating themin the drama session. If educators are to have a firm sense of dramatic struc-ture, they need to understand theatrical traditions and genres and theyshould have a grasp of theatreform and dramaturgy. It is important thateducators understand the various movements and philosophies that power atheatrical encounter. Knowledge of naturalism, realism, the epic theatre, agitprop and surrealism, theatre of the absurd, the poor

inform how teachers design their work. UnCgqlgndi4g$-ur

torical traditions, indigenousof Beckett and Deavere Smith, willavant

structurg. In O'Neill's view, innovative learning experiences need to beinformed by thoughtftrl study and rich encounters with theatre in a variety ofsettings.

It should be possible to set up a dramatic curriculum for prospective teachersthat explores the making of meaning in theatre by a true balance betweencreation, performance, appraisal, and contextual knowledge and that pre-sents those aspects in an active and dialogic way. lt will be important to re-cognise, above all, that K-12 theatre teachers need to be able to motivate andengage students of different ages in an active relationship with theatre prac-tices, forms and knowledge. This means that the focus of their own trainingmust be on the processes by which theatre coffieways in which a context of true dialogue can be created in the classroom.(

J(O'Neill, 1991: 25)

INTRODUCTION

The kind of freedom or spontaneity that often characterises drama en-counters will demand that drama teachers can step off the plan and devisework in process. Such requires the ability to collaborate and to read whatsense participants are makingof the dramastructure andhowtheywould likeit to unfold. Too often a drama class begins with the all familiar warm-uo.

ment in the quality and themes of the work. This pedagogical approach isnow referred to as process drama.

Process drama is almost synonymous with the term drama in education. Thephrase process drama seems to have arisen almost simultaneously in Aus-tralia and North America in the late 1980s as an attempt to distinguish thisparticular dramatic approach from less complex and ambitious improvisedactivities and to locate it in a wider dramatic and theatrical context ... Thepractices of drama in education and, by ex@-creasingly recognised as radical and coherent theatrical experiences. Theyc t;;;lnarrative, as well as of a tr relationship. ln whatis t thoseworking in process drama have created, appropriated, and reshaped a rangeof dramatic forms that establish its unique character. For Haseman, theseforms include role taking and role building, the 'key strategy' of teacher-in-role, the means of being inside and outside the action, and distance and re-flection. (O'Neill, 1995, xv, xvii-xviii)

\,Vhile it is understandable that readers might be baffled by the term processdrama, arguing that all classroom drama involves process, it is important toknow that the term identifies a particular way of working. \.A/hile processdrama shares some of the characteristics of other movements such as thechild drama created by Peter Slade, the development through drama advo-c dramati@tant to appreciate that the term p@ific mode ofeducational praxis (see Chapte -ffiTidceFsT"rama has become one of the more evocative means foreducators to construct significant aesthetic events invarious educational and

_followed by qn improvisation or some other random activity, culminatingwith small groups sharing their presentations for the whole class. Often thereis e session's components, and teachers

community contexts.

?0

STRUCIURE AND SPONTANEITY: THE PROCESS DRAMA OF CECILY O,NEILL

The evolution of process drama, the genre of activity rather than the term, isattributed to the innovator Dorothy Heathcote, who in the early 1950sdeveloped a unique and probing approach to drama education (Bolton,2003). Heathcote's influence on O'Neill's praxis is apparent throughout thistext. In the early phases of her career Heathcote advpqale{that students livqtht."SryA: e_illll*-Blelhe r*"""caught up in drive where endeavoured to

veac This challenge might involve dealingal from a supposed ally, journeying to a new land and experienc-

ing hardship, or having to document the fragmentary history of indigenouspeoples.

Heathcote grounded her early teaching in the practice of theatre innovatorsand reminded educators that drama was always contextual, richly layeredwith resonant meanings. 'Heathcote insists,' writes O'Neill (in Taylor, lgg8),'that in devising fruitftrl encounters between teacher, studeledse and II 15 eSSe commitmentto process places specific demands on educators as they negotiate outcomeswith their students and as they endeavour to become authentic. Authenticityin drama teaching requires that educators:

@ t"urn to present problems uniquely to students/ ffi Discover more subtle forms of induction and communication

i ffi Encourage student interaction and decision making

\ ffi lmaOine and carry into action a greater variety of tasks\ m Oevetop a range of feedback techniques\ffi Take risks with materials

$l*H Tolerate ambiguityffi Pay attention (Taylor, 1998, pvi)

\'vhile it was Heathcote who provided the initial challenge for teachers toreflect more closely on their evolving aesthetic sensibility, it was Bolton (lg7g)who pushed O'Neill to develop a theoretical framework. Being an in-serviceprovider to London's teachers, O'Neill was determined to find a way of mak-ing complex and sometimes mystifring Heathcotean praxis readily accessibleto teachers.

O'Neill, influenced by (Bolton), developed her own form of process drama.This focused more on theatre form and related less to the deep 'being' in thesituation in which Bolton had a life-long interest, although O'Neill was stillconcerned to find episodes of this at the centre of her work. (Davis, 2AAE: fi4l,

4

INTRODUCTION

Bolton writes in this book (chapter TWo) how o'Neill's praxis evolved over theyears, from drama for learning, to drama as art. Ironically, Heathcote's interestmoved to the other side of the continuum as she became interested in hermantle of the expefi approach. 'Heathcote left behind as a central concernthe development of the art form of drama in education,' writes Davis, 'andconcerned herself with pedagogy.' (p176) \rrlhat is being argued here is that thepractice of Bolton, Heathcote and o'Neill was transformed over the period oftheir professional careers.

However, this book is about the process drama of cecily o'Neill, and how itcan be structured to release participants into satisfying and spontaneous ex-periences.while there are anthologies of the scholarship of Bolton (Davis andLawrence, 1986) and Heathcote, (Johnson and O,Neill, IgB4) there is nocollection of O'Neill's formative writings.

Process Drama and Pre-TextIn order to help readers gain a sense of the o'Neill working sryle, we begin bydeconstructing a session which she led with American graduate students inLondon. These students, a combination of ftrll-time teachers, teaching artistsand novices in drama education, were enrolled in a three-week intensiveprogram which aimed to develop their understanding of process drama, andteach them how to structure richly aesthetic classroom events. The studentswere aware of O'Neill's formative texts Drama Worlds (fggs) and. Dramastructures (1982). For many, this was the first time they had experienced animprovised drama since their undergraduate years; their professional liveswere nowruled bytheir abilityto lead. o'Neill and the group seemed to sharea common understanding. They knew, for instance, that a public perfor-mg!99Jq!-!9! the goal.This rvorkshop was p[ched at drama lqadgrs@-nF-ing to become more adeg!_at structuring proceq drama and faciljtatingsound improvitulg{r. Th ey reco gnl sea trr eh-ur; ffi

"vEicteEr-IE-ping children articulate their ornrn special relationship to theworld.

The terms process drama and pre-text are ones o'Neill finds useful whencharacterising the nature and launching strategy of non-scripted collabora-tive enactment. The participants accepted the following working definitions.

The features of process drama include:ffi Separate scenic units linked in an organic mannerffi Thematic exploration rather than an isolated or random skit or

sketch

STRUcTURE AND SPONTANEITY: THE PROCESS DRAMA OF CECILY O'NEILL

A happening and an experience which does not depend on a writtenscriptA concern with participants' change in outlookImprovisational activityOutcomes not predetermined but discovered in processA script generated through actionThe leader actively working both within and outside the drama

Fundamental to O'Neill's understanding of process drama is the central rolethe teacher plays in weaving the artistic event. Rather than a passive observerof the child's drama, O'Neill is pro-active in structuring the material. This pro-activity does not simply meanThatTbut r iates the substance and directiondrama an aesthetic experience.

Teachers in process drama should see themselves as:/ m Structure operators who weave the units of action together into anI artful exneriencet'| ffi Artists, the teachers, collaborating with their students, the co-artistsI ffi Building a work in process

$*ffi Able to release themselves from their lesson planffi Capable of finding questions to explore rather than providing

I answersI

I W Raising possibilities rather than confirming probabilitiesThe launching strategy in process drama is fundamental to its development.O'Neill (1995: xv) calls this launching strategy a pre-text. A pre-text refers tothe 'source or impulse for the drama process ... as well as indicating an excuse-

a reason for the work -

it also carries the meaning of text that exists beforethe event.'

pre-text:li*ffi Rings up the curtain by framing the participants effectively and

economically in roles that have a firm association with the potentialaction

ffi Suggests clear purposes and tasksffi Has a structural function which may be to set up expectations, esta-

blish patterns, imply roles, suggest a settingffi Operates as an animating current

A

1I

1I

INTRODUCTION

W Sets in motion the weaving of the drama: a text is generated by thisprocess

ffi Hints at previous events and foreshadows future occunencesWS Can be recalled or repeatedffi Is not necessarily a text to be written dor,rrnffi Will give birth to any number of themes

O'Neill finds it useful to consider how playwrights use dramatic form whendevising opening scenes. Shakespeare, for instance, usually sows the seeds ofthe forthcoming action in the first scene. In Macbeth, the three witches neatlyset in motion the action of the play by introducing darkness/lightness, win-ning/losing and right/wrong. Hamler, likewise, introduces the themes ofdeception, disarray and superstition in the first minutes. Our attention isusually arrested by the questions raised, the possibilities considered, a futuresuggested. Drama teachers, equally, should look for similar portends orechoes of foreboding when they devise their pre-text. A pholqgapbmay bean effective nre- a title, a location, an object or animafe, or a classiclext 1qlrich is reborn

Drama teachers are familiar with the bf a 'stimulus\s the source ofdramaticjgllyllyrbut a pre-text rs rathgl d

-

-----'-t. The term'stimulus' carries

reeable suggestion of something purely mechanical, rather than con-veyrng a more approp

matictext of

lgXt iqacli_oO. Like a playin fFe thGatre,generated b[ThE-pi6e65 rs an outcome, a dramatic product, and mayrecalled and to some extent repeated. (O'Neill in Taylor, 2000:25l,

Often drama teachers commence their lesson with a warm-up or ice-breaker.This might involve a physical activity, perhaps a game or movement piecewhich wou!!;Ao\necessarily have any relationship to the activities whichfollow. A{re-tex)n the other hand, cont4insjhqlEerm of action which canreao ro a$p-arucuriu course ln rne oruunu. ,ffity but anintegral one.

An effective pre-text or preliminary frame for process drama will carryclearly accessible intentions for the roles it suggests

- a will to be read, a task

to be undertaken, a decision to be made, a puzzle to be solved, a wrong-doerto be discovered, a haunted house to be explored. A popular pre-te)d amongdrama teachers is the following announcement, from Drama Structures'.

\','i

\

STRUCTURE AND SPONTANEITY: THE PROCESS DRAMA OF CECTLY O'NEtLL

$1 00offered to anyone willing

to spend one night inDARKWOOD HOUSE

This announcement hints at the past and suggests the future, but within afirm dramatic present. lt offers a task and implies roles for the participants.It operates functionally in a similar if a much less complex way to Marcellus,question at the beginning of Hamlet'What. has this thing appeared againtonight?' Here, Shakespeare economically informs us in a single line that itis night time, that a 'thing' has appeared on a previous occasion, and that thecharacters fully expect it to show up again. (O'Neill, 1g9S:20-21)

what follows now is a comprehensive description and analysis of a processdrama led by o'Neill. contained within this analysis are the words of theparticipants, O'Neill's observations, reflections of other theorists, and a link-ing commentary. This process drama could be analysed in many ways. Thechart below lists O'Neill's suggestions which readers might adopt whenorganising their responses to process drama.

When analysing process drama the following organisingthemes or categories may be useful:, ':,.. The pre-text and how it articulates with the dramatic action

'';: Episodes or scenic units and the organic links between themiir Notions of participation and audiencel$ Engagement (suspending disbelief) and detachment (suspending

belief)ffi Dramatic ironyffi Private and public dimensionsffi Particulars and universalsffi Emergent themesffi Archetypal elementsffiS Overlapping worlds, i.e. world of pre-text, of the drama, of the parti-

cipants

In the following description, it is the first category i.e. how the pre-text relatesto process drama and aspects of the work's artistry which will be a focus.Readers might later consider the work through other categories listed aboveor, alternatively, create their own. The boxed sections following the tasksindicate our analysis of the pedagogical-aesthetic principles informing theprocess drama.

INTRODUCTION

The Recruiting Officer: A Process Drama on War and itsAftermath

My purpose was to develop an extended piece of practical work in drama atthe participants' own level, in order to provide material for reflection on thenature of the process. I believe that process drama can be a significantvehicle for prolonged and satisfying experimental encounters with thedramatic medium. Althouoh the extended and essentiallv imnrnrricafnrrrevent that is beqinning to be known as process drama will proceed withouta1l6written script, an original text is generated in action. The resulting ex-p"ffiG6lffiartic rence, comptexityand singularity of any satisfying event. Process drama, while rema'rning ap-parently formless and undefined by a previous plan or has a special

the basic dramatic structures that give it life, which itares with other kinds of theatre. (Cecily O'Neill)

After the group initially canvasses topics fof_a proceSs_d4mg.rn such subiectsas civil rights, prostitution, gr";;tha wiil unite thegroup while trading on their feelings of ambiguity and uncertainty.

O'Neill (in role as the Recruiting Officer):I seldom get to meet such a wonderful group of young people. And I'm heretoday to offer you an unrivalled opportunity. I know times have been hardhere. Real hard. I know there's not much employment. I know some of yourfamilies are in want. But because of what I can offer you here today, this isthe beginning of a whole new future for you. We need volunteers. And if youagree to join our forces, there are so many ways your life will change. Firstof all, I don't want to say anything against your town. lt's a nice little town.But I have to tell you... I know most of you probably haven't been beyond theboundaries of this town. Let me tell you, at the end of the railway tracks,there's a whole world out there. And you'll get to do so much. You'll get tomeet lots of other young people...you'll be trained... there will be travel. Youcan seetheworld. l'm surethat manyof you, lhope maybe even all of you,will agree to come forward and sign. I don't know if any of you have anyquestions. I'm sure that you probably saw the posters we put up. But ...maybe some of you do have some questions.

I Episode One: Launching the Pre-textTak''feaiher:,ass**eslt6,s::1o1e::of:: secigiti*g,:o'ffieer entering,a:$ma,[[ town-

STRUCTURE AND SPONTANEITY: THE PROCESS DRAMA OF CECILY O'NEILL

The participants are seated on chairs while O'Neill stands and assumes therole of the recruiting officer. The narrative that O'Neill provides is spon-taneous but readers will note there are structured lures. The narrative ischaracterised by its brevity and lack of illuminating detail. This officerappears quite charming and knowledgeable, but there appears to be a sub-text. This pre-text invites numerous questions from the group:

What are the chances that we will see combat?

lf you don't get enough recruits are you going to start the draft?

How long are wd required to sign up for?

lf we don't want combat are there other options?

What should happen if someone wants to leave and go home?

Will my family be compensated if I am killed?

What skills will we be trained in?

Who is the enemy?

With each question O'Neill's intention is to raise mystery in orderto elevatethe participants' relationship to the work. She does not want to provide toomuch information but she does establish that there is an enemy who doesnot share the same values as the township. The drama is about beckoningfutures. There is a whole world that lies outside the little town and its in-habitants, unknowingly, are about to have their lives changed forever.

O'Neill's drama praxis is characterised by an ability to select a pre-textwhich contains the seeds of enquiry.In this instance, the pre-text is the be-guiling recruiting officer who establishes an imaginary tor,rrnship which isisolated and r,'ulnerable, and faces an unknor,rm enemy.

One of Cecily's outstanding characteristics is her economy as a dramateacher. She is a living example of Dorothy Heathcote's maxim, $:_fgmore', when working in rllga. When questioned at her skill at being able tomove a class so quickly and intangibly into the implications of a drama situa-tion Cecily's answer was, in point of fact, quite mundane. The questionseemed to surprise her, and she was even more surprised when asked aboutwarm ups priorto teaching drama.'ln the kind of job I do,'she said.'there'sno time for anything else but the drama lesson.' (Burke, 1983: 11)

10

INTRODUCTION

I Episode Two: Greating the TownTeacher Narration:

once upon a time there was a smail town that was experiencing difficurties.This was in the mid-twentieth century. The first harf of the twentieth century.And times were very hard. This was partry a farming community but therehad been some industry there. By the time our story begins, that was nolonger possible. Not many peopre had jobs. some famiries were invorved.Young people after they had reft schoor had very few opportunities. some ofthem left to go to other cities but many of them stayed and tried to herp out-

and tried to make a riving somehow or other. one day posters were seenaround town, shortry foilowed by a recruiting officer...who exprained theadvantages of signing up. of enristing

- and that's the point at which our

story begins.

As the groups work to construct an image or tabreau which satisfies ailmembers, o'Neit notes @ng for this group.There are the happy memories of a town celebrating its history with monu_ment unveirings and award presentations. These are juxtaposed withimages of destruction and hardship. The town had experienced brutar bushfires and drought.

As the tableaux are shared, o'Neit is concerned with herping the spectatorsraise questions which wiil open enquiry. 'rt's not arways wise to prioritise thenarrative,' she suggests, 'because this fixation on the rinear sequence stopsthe meaning from resonating.' she reminds the group to rook at the varuesand beliefs which the images revear, rather than guessing what the picturesare actually showing.

The tableau strategy, she reminds the group, is one of the most economicarways of revealing context. Tableaux challenge the participants to watch andrespond. Tableaux can help students struggle with ambiguity and deal withmu lti-faceted readin gs.

The participants agree with o'Neiil when she exprains that a frustrating thingfor students can be to dear with contradictions. 'How do we herp students

11

va

STRUCTURE AND SPONTANEITY: THE PROCESS DRAMA OF CECILY O'NEILL

accept different interpretations of the same event? How can we assist stu-dents to tolerate and celebrate difference?'

She deliberately chooses a strategy, in this instance the tableau, which willforce divergent thinking. She invites the group to reveal contrasting images,happy and painful memories, as she knows that tension in drama stemsfrom fractured narratives.

O'Neitl's praxis is govgrned by raising possibilities rather than confirmingprobabilities.

It is not always possible merely to accept and use the pre-text as it stands.Any complex or elaborate pre-text, for example a mYth, storY or classic text,must be transformed or re-born in the drama' However, powerful traces ofthe original will resonate in the patterns and relationships that develop dur-ing the process. Significant dramatic experiences will not necessarily arisefrom simply adapting and dramatising what appear to be appropriate pre-texts. This approach is tikely to lead to work that is explanatory rather thanexploratory, where the ideas and themes are demonstrated and displayedrather than being discovered and explored. ldeally, the pre-text will be suffi-ciently distorted or reworked so as to be in effect made afresh or trans-formed. (Cecily O'Nei ll)

Iohn Dewey (1934) reminds us that in the first phase of the art-ry5!931o-c or a com-

e

provides this catalyst for symbolisation. But in process drama it is the movetowards physicalising that impulse which triggers the participants to shapetheir private image into public display. The tableau is an ideal ploy in thisinitial stage of play'rnaking. It does not commit the participants to a particularinterpretation but rather offers the possibility of multiple interpretations.

12

INTRODUCTION

I Episode Three: The family responds to the recruitingofficer

Tsk: : Fam illr,, me nrbels, wh,o,aie i nterested, i h,. b,ei hg. resruited inform th e i r

ln small groups, improvisations occur which announce the news that a lovedone is attracted to the recruiting officer's invitation. O'Neill challenges theparticipants to structure work which demonstrates how this news is receivedin the home. There are diverse responses, from shock that a loved one wouldbe remotely interested in a potentially perilous expedition, to pride in thefamily member's courage. As the groups share their work, O'Neill is con-cerned that the audience looks closely at the implications each response hason the family unit. She seeks a range of strategies through which the spec-tators can be supported in their looking. sometimes, she invites the thoughtsof the participants, occasionally, she provides her own observations.'The function of this improvisation,' O'Neill reminds the group, ,is for therecruitee, if there's such a word, to begin to see what the reactions of familymembers might be. And for the rest of us to learn a little bit more about thistown and the world in which we live.'

The teacher structures a moment which supports the experience of those whodisplay and those who watch the dirylay. Again, there is an emphasis on help-ing people attend to the monxent so that it can be re-born and will fertilkewithin thern.A feature of this way of working is the demands that are placed on parti-cipants to articulate what they see and never be completely satisfied with thecertainty of their observation. In this respect, o'Neill echoes the concerns ofthe eminent American arts philosopher, Maxine Greene (lgg4). It is neverenough to attend to an art work as something out there that has been definedby offlcial others to be perceived, read or heard as those others decide. Theworks at hand, Greene contemplates, should become 'objects of experience,for those who come to them.

Such requires an energy, a reaching out, and a care, even a solicitude innoticing. in paying heed to nuance and to detail, and then ordering the partsperceived into a whole within experience. We as teachers are obligated toenable our students to attend well, to pay heed, to notice what might not benoticed in a careless reading or inattentive watching. (p3)

13

STRUcTURE AND SPoNTANEITY: THE PRoCESS DRAMA oF cEclLY o'NEILL

Spaces need to be created for students' meaning-making, for their inter-pretations and struggles, which are bound to be numerous' In process drama,strategies zue structured which facilitate and empower students to attend tothe work and create multiple meanings.

I Episode Four: The New Recruits Meet the old RecruitsEntering the war zone occurs through two tasks:

lnitially O'Neill was not satisfied with how the improvised encounter initiallyunfolded. There were jubilant exchanges between the old and the newrecruits. 'We are not at a high school reunion,' she exclaimed, and thenasked the students to repeat the activity. 'You have been in the field fornearly a year. And you have seen things and done things that have madeyou now not the person you were when you left. Suddenly comes a livingreminder of all that. And I don't know to what extent you want to bereminded. I dont know what experiences you may be ready to share. Youmay be asked about your training. You may be asked about what it's like tobe in combat. You may be asked about a lot of stuff, and I dont know howready you're going to be to share that information.'

T"*1 6ne; r:PhotogrAphsr of,ihe fanrllieiai,e,taken,,o.n-,,the.day,1he,,,lovcd'.aneteavei,the'iitwai:strtionrto 'go t6.th'e'wai-.T]fuse:aie ehared llriiith]therclaes."::Task,Iruoi,The newrecruitC,{half of iliei{ass}.ar.tiwat.th,e,b-attle:zone. Th.ry

-'

are,jn1mediaie$ thioWn,intO.f#et,rand, N.eillrS**lptS'iar,narelve whiCh":''helpi..establish,.the: :Con1ext,.llA&l1,, tlt,,.wAisilt: la,hg.,,'haf8te,,l:th,.:tensions,esaa'l-ated','ihe'vaanE""reeriiiis''fauid

'then? teg.jo'i'a:.u'ary :rapi!:""training'ieguence.*heie. theyq:wefd,taught;i: t tne- Vey,liasins.'And''ihen they wetia . .launaltid' into:iimbat'tfAr'iOo,n'er tban'they,:,h:Ad,'expaete'd,,,;And,,'ber.au$e.fifthaterrain,. and,bicauee'Af the,,.nAture,,6;f the"biftletftaf.was'g*,iig a.n, il,wAs',not the sort'A,f warthai they had e*Uiiagea;'The young,recqaits.fuurid"thatll- :'

'uniaimitiair ta'them,,beeigse,,'thei:'bbme'',fram','i.smq farriiig :Cammuni$. ,NAW tnei1e in,aimang,6,iainffiins;.am6 ng;:,f;Aresf'ateAsi:'eid thet/.fe'hauing:, 'io eigage.the,enomy',at.6dd,,'times,anexpecrcdty. Their opponents,,theif'enemies,'.Ce;*'1s 66'canmiAed,ta,tighfinS'witl|gu'eiitla;tuct! 9. And fhaseya,uig reeruiis,:afe:notr as':l say, vdty wel;tryina'd:' :::1,; , ,,,,,: 1 , . 1,, , ,_, i'..Thg recruiti:are'give n,6 twentir.fatri hou:F leave Whan they,met,Olhers who,have just airived. Tleyr improvi*e.th:.encounter which oocurs.betwecn,,lne:old and the new.

14

o'Neill is reminding the group that they need to be able to read the loqic ofIhe dramatic form. The spontaneous ffiquired""*._ii]l-y "tffi6;-"nd o'Neiil was endeavouring to erevate the group,sability to create a theatrical canvas.

INTRODUCTION

The teacher deuelops a cornmunity of theatre artkts, a community whichboth controk andk controlledby theform.Greene reminds us thatformulation or by edict.bffered a scover what tto discover wEat they recognise ther'and appre-

'lVhat unites us is

I Episode Five: Experienced Soldiers Reflect on the NewRecruits

o'Neill is concerned here that the group reflects for a moment upon theimaginary world which is unfolding. sometimes participants need to be re-minded of the context of a particular encounter and what attitudes might bedemonstrated. In the following exchange, notice that the teacher is not reluc-tant about sharing her ovrm artistic vision. o'Neill helps establish a dramaticcontext by working in role, yet heightening the reflective skills of all parti-cipants. The students' names are pseudonyms.

o'Neill: l'm sick of seeing the new faces. I know there was a face I recog-nised, but my goodness me ... I mean, where do they think they're comingto? A church picnic? lro student Janl Did you talk to somebody like that?Jan: Actually there wasn't so much talking. I mean we were together...Cecily: They look so lost. I mean, did we look like that a year ago?

community cannot be rodgg"d through rationalLike freedom, it has to be 'achi

15

STRUCTURE AND SPONTANETTY: THE PROCESS DRAMA OF cECtLy O,NEtLL

Nat: They looked very optimistic.Deb: They looked more scared.Nat: (Io Deb) No, they had the eyes wide open.Jan: Scared.Kate: They asked a lot of questions.O'Neill: lt's so difficult to know what to say isn,t it?Ray: They have no idea what they're getting into.O'Neill: Well, we didn't either I suppose.May: I told them to keep their heads down.O'Neill: Keep their heads down, yeah.Deb; I saw this kid I went to High school with who I never talked to before.He was one of the popular guys. And, I think he'll be one of the first ones togo. I think he'll be one of the first ones to get blown away.O'Neill: Too brave?Deb: No, he's not too brave. Too ... arrogant.o'Neill: well then he'll probably be promoted (att the participants agreel.Deb: He just doesn't know what he's in for. He,s too pretty to be here.

o'Neill then invites the new arrivals to join her in another circle. As in theprevious encounter, she assumes the role of a friendly ally, sympathetic tothese recruits' experiences.

O'Neill: I dont know about you but it's not like I expected.Jennifer: l'm worriedJane: Yes, I'm worried too. He's getting slimmer and slimmer.o'Neill: Yeah. well. from what we had to eat just now I don.t think the food'sthat marvellous is it?Jim: What was it? This meat thing...o'Neill: lf my mother had put that on the table ... you know ... even in ourworst times we had better food than that.carol: I thought this was going to be exciting. Everyone looked so depressedand...

O'Neill: And boredl They looked bored. lmean how can you be bored?You're in combat. That doesn't seem right.Vinnie: And half the time they just wait around. Waiting.O'Neill: Well we could have done that back home.

16

INTRODUCTION

Carol: This is not like any of the posters l,ve seen.O'Neill: That's the truth.Jim: lt didn't seem like they needed us.o'Neill: lf you put some of those guys on posters, I don't think anyone wouldsign up would they?Brad: When was the last time they bathed?Jennifer: she said they don't have to shower every day I couldn't believe it.I could not believe it.carol: I don't understand why the petty officers ... why we get such lousyaccommodation. And the generals, they have a pretty nice set up over there.o'Neill: I didn't expect it to be as good as them. But certainly better than this.Vinnie: Where are the officers?O'Neill: I donl know I don't know.carol: They were hanging out drinking the last time I saw And they sureweren't eating with us.o'Neill: That's true. well I couldn't find anything out about what combat waslike.

Jane: I am missing home.carol: I saw somebody from back home, he wasn't even happy to see me. Imean ... he just stared at me like he didn,t even recognise me.Wanda: What did you guys expect? This is war.O'Neill: lt seems more like hanging about to me.carol: I didnt expect this. This is not what I signed up for. This is not whatthe recruiter told me it was going to be like.

The participants now move from playing the roles of the soldiers to reflect-ing on the nature of the soldiers' experience itself, they project both into andout of the situation. Artistry here is with not locking the parti-cipants into one role for too O'Neill is suspicious of the kind

of a character fora sustained She islrnto the situation in its entirety.'Th requires pa rticipants havi ng@wpointeo'Neill's attention is arrested by the dramatic action, the behaviour thatpeople adopt within it and the consequent responsibilities and demands

17

\\

#

STRUCTURE AND SPONTANEITY THE PROCESS DRAMA OF CECILY O'NEILL

which then ensue. Distance from the work is impoftant to developing suchprojection. 'Engagement in process drama offers parlicipants the oppor-tunity to explore and realise a range of values and identities, and experimentwith alternate versions of humanity.' She wants students to develop theirown reading of an event which could be compounded if an individual istrapped into one role for any period of time.

Leaders' and decision- in similar episodes have been sub-jecTill-to considera 1!!cism from sceptics of process drarn-a What

the teacher have?\.A/hen should teachers assert their ornm reading ofa classroom event? To what extent should teachers layer into the work theirown expectations? How do teachers know which risks to take?

A feature of o'ir{eill's artistry is that she not only construes herself as a co-conspirator with the students but is also sensitive to her onm role as leader ofan educational experience. Like a painter she manipulates the canvass withher brush, introducing elements which may not have been predicted. Theevolving piece gradually suggests possibilities to the artist. At the same time,these possibilities are informed by o'Neill's understanding of what processdrama is and what it is not.acto are not skills of charac-terisation for

Her drama praxis does not culminate in one aesthetic product which can beassessed and applauded but is driven by an aesthetic process with numerous

tproductstobescrutinisedforwhattheyteach..Iti@"teacher or leader,' she says, 'to find a focus that createsEliliErative tensi_onu" d.tThe artist releases the participants from the burden of characterisationand presses into the woil< multiple role perspectives.

I Episode Six: The Recruits Push On and Ambush aVillage

Task As the old and new recruits move forward, casualties are experiencedand some are not able to proceed. The soldiers eventually find themselvesbehind enemy lines and come to a village. Groups of three demonstratewhat happens in the village. 'Just a moment. lt doesn't have to be a wholeevent,' says O'Neill. 'lt's like just like an image you would get in your mind.

18

Like the image of the bunker with the peopte inside. lt can be a good or nega-tive image. lt might be an image of heroism. lt might be an image of havingto save someone. lt might be an image of attack. lt might be an image ofdeath.'

Task: The villagers from the images are separated from the group. Thesoldiers take responsibility for one of the villagers. O'Neill reminds thesoldiers that the vif fagers are the enemy and may havevital information theywish to hide. Likewise, she identifies what information the soldiers mightwant to solicit from those captuled, An improvisatiofi occufs between thesoldler and the villager. 'Let's see whether at any point humanity emergesbetween captor and captive,' suggests O'Neill, 'Don't push for it if it doesn'tcome. But if it comes, think of what triggers it, In a way the improvisation isin the hands of the captives becauss they're lower status, but also they cancafl on emotions that the soldier may be having to conceaf.'White these im-orovisations occur, O'Neill moves arorrncl the room. in role as u t".iotofi"*r u"ouTask The participants reflect on the improvisation. She asks what decisionsthe soldiers might be faced with now Concerns about having to feed theprisoners are expressed, as are feelings that some villagers have crucialstrategie information which they are hiding. One soldier has thoughts ofraping a villager; others express sympathy for the captives.

INTRODUCTION

Here, we begin to see the multi-layered sub-texts that shape the dramaticencounter. Like Heathcote and Bolton, o'Neill does not want participants tojump too quickly into stereotypes, in this instance, of how soldiers andcaptors might behave. she pushes them to understand the complexity ofhuman endeavour.

Drama does not exist exgeptwhen it is occurring; ittakes place in a perpetualpresentlg:gJet this present moment yll@

iarnu ooe.not deal with finished realities or events, as narrative does, but is concernedwith future commitments and consequences ... Dorothy Heathcote sums upthe idea of time as it operates through the cycle of experience in the dramaprocess in the memorable phrase: 'l rest in the past, I forge the present, Iforeshadow the future.' So we may expect experiences in drama. it ttrey are

"- Ito have significance, to record and sum up the value of what has gone

before, and evoke and prophesy what is to come. (O'Neill, 1979:25ir

19

STRUCTURE AND SPONTANEITY: THE PROCESS DRAMA OF CECILY O'NEILL

The juxtaposition of the public world with the private one is a feature ofO'Neill's artistic praxis. We have seen in the above episode how bothsoldiers and captors have hidden intentions which they are not able toreveal. Drama operates on this tension between the presentation andrealisation of self. O'Neill finds the work satisfying when there are sub-texts,such as the villagers knowing but not revealing vital information.

Shakespeare's plays richly capture this tension. ln Macbeth, for example,Lady Macbeth summons up the spirits of evil to represent the incarnation ofthe devil as she carries out King Duncan's assassination. 'Look like the inno-cent flower,' she cries to her husband on the eve of the murder, 'but be theserpent underneath.' When Duncan arrives at their home with the words,'This castle hath a pleasant seat; the airlNimbly and sweetly recommendsitself/Unto our gentle senses,' he says one of the classic lines of dramaticirony. Pro_cess drama, O'Neill believes, can exploit equally these tensions be-

-

tween public expectation and frrivate knowing.-

Drama Praxis is informed by a rich understanding of the artform.

I Episode Seven: Stakes are RaisedThis episode heightens the tension appreciably. Prisoners who are believed tohold information are found accountable and potential punishments arethreatened.

Tesk Soldiers identify which villager$ are suspected of having vitat infor-mation concerning the enemy's leadership. Four villagers stand"Task Teacher-in-role (O'Neitl assumes a senior officer and addresses thefollowing to the villagers).'You may have heard that we'ie barbaric.'Youmay have heard that we keep to the words of the war. We tried to do ourpart. We're trying 1o get out of this danrn village in one piece. And we don'tknow which of you has information you can tell us, and we don't knowwhich of you is innocent. My soldiers seem to think the majority of prisonersare innocent but that you (pointing to those standing) have information. Iwould advise you if you know the whereabouts of the leader to tell us now.'The prisoners are pressed to give information. O'Neill tells a soldier to takeone of the seated villagers outside and to kill her. Still no information isforthcoming. Other villagers are led out. Some soldiers seem unnerved bythis sudden atrocity, others enjoy it.

20

INTRODUCTION

It is evident that all participants have a stake in the action. In previousepisodes the participants have committed themselves to the role of new andexperienced recruits, now the plight of the villagers is being demonstrated.

Worlrpe! an tiue tnrorgh t eement and detachment of theviewer with the object. Fundamentat toselection of strategiesiiat pursue engagement and detachment.Satistring encounters with artistic works are often controlled by a parti-cipant's desire to engage, an uncompromising wish to be satisfled, and a be-lief in value and achievement. In this episode, we can see the leader's quest todevelop these feelings in her students. Through the process drama, the parti-

The previous work has prepared the participants to think of themselves asartists shaping content and form. Now the entire group is implicated intaking ownership over their decisions. Soldiers demand that information re-garding the whereabouts of the enemy's leadership is revealed. Somevillagers are reluctant to name those who are believed to have importantinformation. The stakes are raised as O'Neill assumes a high status role asa senior officer wielding penalties. The episode is fuelled by tension asvillagersareescortedtoaneXecution|ine.Re@e,t r. This technique is poweredby the Brazilian theatre director Augusto Boal's (Cohen-Cruz and Schutzman,2006) notion of the spect-actor where audience members have an emotionalconnection to the material. O'Neill often adapts forum theatre into processdrama because the spectactors have an ownership in the work's evolution.'The encounter is being monitored,'_she claims, 'anLsllg_glulgd

_blLlbe

-

onErveE who Oecause of their preytous involvement, have a considerable

She stops the action at the point where villagers plead for their lives andwhen some soldiers express concern about the officer's brutal action. Theforum theatre is not played through to a culminating point. 'lt's about stop-ping et the moment before it begins to get weaker,' she assfiilF6T66ffi, s loping the skills to be-come spectators of their own work and thereby capable of exercising controlover it.

'l am in the business of dislocating yqqng minds and am keenly searchingfor btrategies rarhinh

'ncenle. create ambiquitv, and forc.e students to struq-gle with contradictions.' The fact that there is uncertaintv challenqes theparti_cjpants to find their own relationship and attitude to the material.

21

STRUCTURE AND SPONTANEITY THE PROCESS DRAMA OF CECILY O'NEILL

cipants are refining their artistic skils to judge the aptness of a phrase orgesture, to assess the rocare and staging, to probe what surprises exist andwhich moments resonate with indefinable possibilities.critics of this mode of working can misjudge the artistic skills that both leadersand their students are crearly cuitivating. 'o'Neill,, writes Hughes (in Tayroa2000) 'is a perf'ormance artist who manipulates the drama with the perceptionsand skills normaly associated with contemporary directors of distinction., Herecalls the manner in which she weaves an aesthetic tapestry which releases theparticipants to develop their or,rrn associations with pre_text.

Her acknowredgment that the drama teacher is an artist with an agenda pre_cluded the impression, given by so many weak exponents of the art, that theclassroom work is somehow no more than a raissez-faire coilection ofrandom games and activities. Through o'Nei*s structures we (are) en_meshed in a drama net via systematic use of ranguage and action whichinvite (s) us to engage, respond actively, and oppose or transform enact_ments

"' Her conscious linking of activities to domains as diverse as classicaldramatic riterature, poetry, fork saga, music, painting, music-theatre and firm,indicated that process drama can arso iiluminate drama as an art_form, an artwhich presents, represents and reinterprets our sociar, historicar and spiri-tual consciousness within wider aesthetic spheres. (p37)To claim, as some have, that process drama denies an interest in artistic pro_ducts and aesthetic understandings, fails to account for the dynamic inter_play between participant and spectator, player and audience, watcher andwatched' creator and created: a dialogic relationship which is generated by anunquenchable thirst for understanding; a thirst and venture *t r.t, is at thecentre of all artistic endeavour.I Episode Eight: A Universe of Other Texts

Task rhe battre escalates between the sordiors and viilagers. o,Neirr invitesthe whore groupto create one image of the scene of baitle.Task student$ are invited t0 write a six-rine poern-^ from the perspective of avillager or soidier. The first three:rines begin with the words ,r was,f the finalthree with 'l am;'or a combihation of b'otlr- This is a poem., reminds o,Neiil,'so I dont want you to write...''r was a farmer once and a sordier,- wet, youmight begin there,'but r want it to be more about what you are on tne'insice.what'ou wer* once, and what you are now as a result of the experiences.'A staged chorel,,reading activifi ensues.

22

Ili

INTRODUCTION

The group creates a still image incorporating all participants at the height ofthe battle. 'And we'll see which of the enemy managed to fight back,' sheoffers,'and who will want to change sides and be soldiers.' She invites thosewho are in the image to step out of it and report back to the group what theysee. The observers comment on the terror and the triumph, the bewilder-ment and the death. There are signs of hope in the utmost decay, the seedsof contrast inform the responses.

As a final reflective activity, the participants are arranged in rows as soldiersand villagers heading toward home. There are three rows: soldiers on theoutside, and villagers on the inside. They each select the line from theirlpoem 'l was/l am'that carries the most resonance. O'Neill says that if she Ihad more time she would ask each student to read from anothert poem.

J

Such is a further distancing strategy requiring participants to develoO VejJanother perspective on the material.

When the participants read the line from the poem, they move forward as ifreturning to the place from where they came. 'I want you to walk home, a lineat a time,' she says. Reminding the group of their pedagogical as well as theirartistic function, she suggests that it is important that the children we teachhave their or,rm texts honoured. 'Kids can be keen on their onm work but not onanother's.'The group is pressed to select words from the writing which evokethe themes explored. 'Only select the words,' O'Neill asserts, 'that are earningtheir keep and which convey strong images.'The participants stand in choraltradition and create a spontaneous poem. They begin to walk forward andspeak. There is a sense of journey and that each has been transported to a dif-ferent place, changed by their experiences, as the following four lines suggest:

I was a bird in the winds of change, I am captured in the net of the enemy.I was carefree, I am tied to duty.lwas mother, lam alone.lwas hopeful, I am hopeless.

Whiie the work culminates in awritten poetic text, O'Neill reminds the parti-cipants that a number of texts have been generated through the processdrama: the and student's artis

-

ditS"lqltgr.tih-actor'{fext, t[slrehearsal text, the perfglm4]lgqlext and theaudience's text are just some of these. 'Every text,' she recalls, 'lives in a+-universe of other texts.'

The artist searches for a dramatic form which enahles the participants toreveal their relationship to the event.

23

Task: A discussion occurs on whether the group tackled satisfactorily thetopic of war. The group grapples with the question of why educators shouldstructure process drama on this material.

STRUCTURE AND SPONTANEITY: THE PROCESS DRAMA OF CECILY O'NEILL

I Episode Nine: Deconstructing the War Drama

The group begins to clarify the educational and artistic purpose of processdrama. At the forefront is the notion of having a satisffing aesthetic ex-perience sewing as a basis for group and individual transformation in whichparticipants identiff with scenarios, circumstances and human experience.'This knowing through art can open up newvistas in the life of the senses andof the imagination,' claims O'Neill (i980: 6). 'It can give insight and under-standing, although the insight can only exist in the experience, and is in noway translatable. It teaches us to see the world differently.'The great protec-tion for the participants is that they know they are pretending. 'We're notacting at life rate; we are constantly in and out of the experience. We are bothsoldiers and not soldiers in the war. We are both villagers and not villagers. Wehave a distance.'This point of viewwas represented in many of the commentswhich participants made.

Paul: lt got me to think of my role in a situation like this. Whatquestions would come through my head if I was confrontedwith certain decisions? What would that mean for mepersonally?

Edie: And going along with that, children are now going through seeingwar on television all of the time. Doing this process drama can helpthem come to an understanding of what war might be like. We getall these TV images thrown at us. Process drama is a way for themto, you know see how it affects them in a safe environment.

Jane: Kids tend to glorify violence. We need to help them de-glorify it.Process drama is a good way to show them some reality of that.

Lil: Yes, we're asking students to think outside of themselves, to stretchtheir reality frame.

O'Neill brings closure to the drama by recalling and reminding the group ofthe journey which inspired their drama and which informed the pre-text.

Drama is good at taking a situation to the extreme. And my favourite quotefrom the American band, The Eagles is, you can 'Take it to the limit one moretime.' \Much laughter.) ln process drama, often you don't just gf"irl.y

24

INTRODUCTION

bad day- vou have a dreaclful day!, King Lear doesnl just fall out slightlywith his daughters- he loses everything. And even when you think it mightjust turn out good, it doesn't. You can't have a drama about dental hygiene.Well maybe you can, but Shakespeare didn't do it.

For O'Neill, it is the impact of how war changes humanity where artists canmost eloquently extend people's frame of reference. 'lt's not the battle that'st

- it's whi?Fa-r cloes Io peEp'le

and places.'

We have seen in O'Neill's deliberate structuring of The Recruiting Officerdrama, how she is establishing a scaffold where the participants begin toprobe their own responses and reaction to a community which is about tobe upturned. The participants are both the community and the commenta-tors on the community. While some students might have thought they werein for a bit of a glorious adventure, it was how the teacher layered into thestructure lures and challenges which demanded immediate and spon-taneous action.

O'Neill does not conclude the drama with a acorrectness. In her mind, such teacher instruc-

tion denies the vision and to which artistic workseducation requires to create their ovrrn response based on their

and ethical At the core of this artisticpraxis are the and surprise. In pro-cess drama diverse ways of being, knowing can be disclosed.A forever unfinished dialogue is provoked by process drama. That state of in-completeness can be deliberately structured. 'It is a matter of awakeningimaginative capacities,'Greene (1994:3) concurs,'and of appealingto people'sfreedom.'

Free human beings can choose, can move beyond where they are, canascend to places of which, in their ordinariness, they could have had noidea, and it is these powers of imagination which artistry can claim.

25

STRUCTURE AND SPONTANEITY: THE PROCESS DRAMA OF CECILY O'NEILL

ConclusionO'Neill's drama praxis highlights the ambiguous roles of the leader and parti-cipants, roles which are multi-faceted and require the capacity to control,submit, direct and collaborate. Teachers have to find a delicate balance be-tvveen their ov,re intentions in the drama and those of their students. In otherwords, 'to lead the way,' as O'Neill says, 'while walking backwards.' Leaders,she argues, will need to act as guides who should'know where the travellershave come from and the nature of journey so far, so as to help to determinethe kind of journeywhich lies ahead.'Artistry in process drama releases the leader from the burden of planningand invites the participants to co-create the text based on their owndesires, needs and agendas.

Throughout this Introduction, readers will have noted how the contextualcircumstances impact upon the development of the work. Process drama isdriven by group effort. The participants' experiences captured within The Re-cruiting Officer will inevitably be different from others' encounters at dif-ferent places with the same pre-text. This is a reason for including the parti-cipants'words, wherever possible, so that readers can have a feel for the datawhich emerged from the context.

Readers will note how O'Neill responded to these contextual circumstancesby revisiting her plan. Her praxis is driven, it seems to us, by this rare capacityto empathise with the participants and to take risks in the process. As a result,participants believe themselves to be in control of the work and responsiblefor its consummation. In process drama, then, one of the primary outcomesof the journey is the consummated experience of the journey itself.

Working from a powerful pre-text, we can harness students' imaginations,create dramatic contexts for learning, provide complex Ianguage oppor-tunities and furnish them with significant dramatic experience. With anunderstanding of dramatic tension and structure, it will be possible toachieve the same dynamic organisations that give form to theatre ex-perience. We must recognise that process drama is a significant dramaticmode, springing from the same dramatic roots and obeying the samedynamic rules that shape the development of any effective theatre event.(Cecily O'Neill)

26

Episode OneFinding Form

Episode OneFinding Form

his episode contains four chapters illustrating the central nature ofdramatic formwhich informs O'Neill's artistic sensibility. In identi$ringthe key features of process drama she begins by providing an historical

overview of the field knor.rm as drama in education. O'Neill covers the terrainof the various philosophical currents and educational imperatives and thecompeting outlooks of the major practitioners.It is appropriate that O'Neill's principal mentor, leading educational dramatheorist Gavin Bolton, shares with us his or,r,n analysis of the features power-ing her praxis. In a revealing portrait of how an educator's theories evolve overtime, Bolton demonstrates the changes that have occurred in O'Neill's writ-ings, from a concern with pedagogical outcomes to a more deliberate con-centration on aesthetic principles. It was clear that the 1960s and 1970spromoted an emphasis on pedagogy and the characteristics of successfulteaching. If we take a few British book titles we clearly see this emphasis:Deuelopment through Drama (Way, 1967), The Drama of History: Experimentin Cooperatiue Tbaching (Fines and Verrier, tg74), Learning through Drama(McGregor, Tate and Robinson, 1977), Dorothy Heathcote: Drama 6LS a Learn-ing Medium (Wagner, 1976) and Practical Primary Drama (Davies, 1983). InO'Neill's earlier textbook Drama Guidelines (1976), co-authored with col-leagues from the now defunct London Drama and Thpe Centre, we note thisconcern with learning objectives:

The long-term aim of drama teaching is to help the student to understandhimself (sic) and the world in which he lives. The drama teacher is trying toset up situations within which his students can discover why people behaveas they do, so that they can be helped to reflect on their own behaviour. (p7)

This long-term purpose is contrasted with the 'secondary aim- which is des-cribed as assisting students 'achieve understanding of and satisfaction from

28

EPISODE ONE: FINDING FORM

the medium of drama since this is the means by which the primary aim isachieved.' It is perhaps in this latter statement that we began to witness in the1980s and 1990s an attitude that the drama teacher was not interested in thedevelopment of theatre skill: 'But unlike those working in theatre, one isteaching not/or the aesthetic experience, but through it.'The idea became fashionable that drama education (the term process dramadid not come into wide currency until the 1990s) was solely concerned withteaching content, not form, and was the source of much controversy in thelater twentieth-century. It is perhaps unsurprising that, in an era where con-crete propositional knowledge was being ardently sought and discrete attain-ment targets being promoted, it became much easier for teachers to say theywere teaching, for instance, the key elements of Brecht's epic theatre, thanstudents' shifts in understanding while participating in a whole group pro-cess drama on war. \.A/hen checklists for learning become the cherishedmeans of evaluating students' knowledge, it can be quicker to grade factualregurgitation of periods of theatre history than to implicate students indramatic situations which require human struggle and commitment.

However, in her revealing MA 1978 thesis, 'Drama andWeb of Form,' sectionsof which are published for the first time in this book, readers will clearly findthat O'Neill's concern with dramatic form is central to her artistic pedagogy,an interest that was with her from the earliest periods of her research. Formin drama refers to how the medium's key aesthetic elements of time, actionand space are organised and interrelated. Teachers are in a far more informedposition to operate the aesthetic medium if they work from within thecreative event in partnership with their students. \Mhile teachers need to havetheir or,rrn sense of technique, it is critical that they do not let their skill pre-determine the outcome or squash their students' abilities when makingdrama.

Often, O'Neill writes, the students may have a firmer grasp on the form thantheir teacher, they have better intuitive hunches as to what questions mightbe more fruitfully explored. This is where the leader's ability to step off thepage and permit spontaneous encounters needs to be accommodated.O'Neill's study of the work of Beckerman (1970), Dewey (1934), Langer (1953)and other arts philosophers, drama critics and plalwrights, honed her con-cern with structure and spontaneity. If we accept that perceptual abilities canbe heightened when participants have a relationship with the material, andpermit it to play along with their senses, greater group ownership will emerge.

29

srRUcruRE AND spoNTANErw: THE pRocESS DRAMA oF cEcrLy o,NErLL

rn Drama structures (IgB2), which followed the publicat ion of Drama Guide-lines, students' artistic sensibilities are heightened. In that text we find a de_liberate analysis on how students' responses can influence the direction ofthe work. Dramaworlds (1995) is a fuller testament on how dramatic form iscentral to process drama. This r9g5 book raises the key guiding questionswhich inform the theatre educator's quest to finding form urrd u." at the heartof the chapters which follow.

what specific dramatic forms can be drawn on to give substance to the pro-cess? what kinds of encounter wiil yierd the most significant experience forthe participants in the episode? How can the reader buird a framework thatis sufficiently flexibre to ailow each participant to engage in a satisfying com-plex role? How can the group come to take an increasing share in the essen-tial playwright function and make decisions about the direction of the work?The best guide for both reader and participants in process drama is a strongsense of dramatic form, a grasp of the structurar devices by which pray-wrights through the ages have created significant dramatic experience, andan understanding of the rerationship of content to form in the work. (p131)

30

IDrama in Education

First published in Encyclopedia of English Studies and Language Arts (1994).General Editor: Alan C. Purves with Linda Papas and Sarah Jordan. Vol. l,Scholastic New York, Toronto, London, Auckland, Sydney.rwsffishe recognition of the educational power and potential of drama goes

ffi back as far as schooling itself. Drama and education have been for-i# mally associated since the Renaissance, when training in language,literature, oratory and moral virtues were among educational goals. Inschools and colleges today, drama in education is acknowledged as a way ofgling students an experience of making and appreciating theatre, as anapproach to other subjects in the curriculum and as a source of personalgrowth.

Th" poryg ,!d*!gg =!ses from the access to and experience of other roles

and worlds it affords. It is direcl , and its medium is the humanbeing. Dm'''a in education i6 builion rhe;GumptionEet learninf?risesfr6fr expeiierrce of Jna engagement with a-iilrnadiworld,*eithf-as a

or parucl tiq! on the roles, issues, situations,ips that occur within it. Drama can both communicate ei-

pe@cator a greater understanding of the parti-cipant.

In giving an account of drama in education, difficulties of vocabulary im-mediately arise. At college level, drama customarily means the written text,and theatre implies performance. In schools, drama usually refers to infor-mal, improvised enactment of which the goal is not presentation but the ex-perience and satisfaction of the participants. Theatre indicates the moreformal study of the techniques of acting and stagecraft, often culminating in

31

STRUCTURE AND SPONTANEITY: THE PROCESS DRAMA OF CECILY O'NEILL

a performance in ftont of an audience. Theatre in this sense is primarily con-cerned with the acquisition of a body of skills and knowledge, in other words,learning about the subject. As a result, although it may not always be per-ceived as an essential subject in schools, a theatre curriculum is relativelyeasy to plan, teach, and evaluate. Drama, on the other hand, indicates an ex-perience valued for its onm sake and for the insight, creativity and under-standing that arise from the experience. It carries the implication of learningthrough the subject, and may present difficulties in terms of speciSring goalsand outcomes.

At the elementary level, the process of drama in education, with improvisa-tion at its heart, originally found its source in children's play and its justifica-tion in the principles of child-centred progressive education. In the 1920s and1930s at Northwestern University, WinifredWard (1930) established'creativedramatics' as an important part of the education of children and theirteachers. In Britain during the 1940s and 1950s there were similar develop-ments. Spontaneity, creativity, self-expression and personal growth were thegoals of drama in education, rather than the acquisition of theatre skills andpresentational outcomes. This distinction between drama in education andtheatrical presentation was supported by Peter Slade (1954) and his followers.Slade believed that children should find a natural mode of acting throughtheir own dramatic play. Sincerity and absorption were key features, and chil-dren's freedom, creativity and delight in this kind of play qualified it to beregarded as an art form in its or.tm right, without reference to adult notions oftheatre and performance. In his profoundly influential handbook, Deuelop-ment through Drema, Brian Way (1967) reinforced Slade's distinction be-tvveen theatre and drama in education, and emphasised personal growth andthe development of life skills through exercises in concentration, imaginationand sensitivity. The effect of these ideas was to weaken the links betweendrama in education and theatre, and shift the emphasis in the direction ofdrama as a developmental tool. This distinction, which began as an attemptto balance the values of personal expression and creativity with experienceand appreciation of realised art, is now accepted as both limited and limiting.Drama and theatre are not just part of the same continuum, they are the samemedium, whether or not they are concerned with presentation to anaudience.

In professional theatre, the rediscovery of improvisation in actor trainingthrough the ideas of Stanislavskt, (An Actor Prepares,1936) coincided with anincrease in the authority of the director and the interpretive potential of theactor. At the same time, there was a decline in the influence of the playwright

32

DRAMA IN EDUCATION

and the script over the theatre event. Adapting the techniques proposed byStanislavski, Viola Spolin (Improuisation for the Theatre,1964) devised a seriesof more than 200 acting games and exercises. These are intended not only foractor training but also for use with young people and the community. Spolin'sexercises continue to be a vital part of drama training programs in manycountries, particularly at secondary and college level.

For Spolin, improvisation is both an art form and a living process. Her exer- Icises, although intended for presentation, however informal, stress spon- Itaneity, discovery and interpersonal communication, and seek to elicit and/channel these capacities. Spolin's exercises imply a new relationship in whichattitudes permit equality between student and teacher. Ideally, the problemsand tasks set up by her exercises teach both students and teachers. 'Side-,coaching' is an essential part of her system. Here, the function of the teacheris to help the players focus on the task or problem. It offers teachers theiopportunity to avoid a directly authoritarian stance and operate instead as

u

guides, facilitators and fellow players. However, the rules of Spolin's gamesmay limit exploration and discovery by defining the area of discovery toorigidly and promoting competition among players. There may be an em-phasis on the payoff, the end product.

Theatre SportsThis trend toward display and competition can be seen in the increasinginterest in theatre sports at the secondary and college level. These competi-tive improvisatory games have gror,rm both from Spolin's exercises, the in-fluence of improvisatory theatre ensembles, and the work of Keith Johnstone(Improu,1979). In theatre sports, teams of skilled and resourceful performersexploit the tightrope quality of improvisation, often in response to audiencesuggestions and within strict rules and time limits. The emphasis is on indivi-dual, original and ingenious solutions to the problems posed by other actorsor the audience. The results of the actors' efforts are scored by judges, andprizes awarded. These events can provide exciting and original theatre, espe-cially where the actors do not give in to the pressure for a quick and comicpay-off.

Theatre in High SchoolsIn the high school curriculum, the emphasis is likely to be on introducingstudents to the skills of production and stagecraft, especially acting and tech-nical theatre. If these skills are taught out of context, by lectures, worksheetsand inappropriate testing, the study of the lively, interactive art of theatre may

33

STRUCTURE AND SPONTANEITY: THE PROCESS DRAMA OF CECILY O,NEILL

be turned into inert knowledge and become a subject as predictable androutine as many others in the school curriculum. Techniques in any field arealways best studied within living contexts.There is an assumption that students at this level will be ready to performplays in public. Many high schools present several public performances eachyear, often including an ambitious musical. Annual theatre festivals are wellattended and encourage both display and competition. Disappointingly,theatre teachers rarely use these occasions to connect their work to the widerheritage of theatre. The plays selected are too often drar.rm from a short list offamiliar favourites, and while these may be ambitious in terms of staging andsize of cast, they seldom include new or experimental work or any of the greatplays of world theatre. The subject matter is unlikely to address any im-mediate concerns of the players, audience, or community. However, somehigh school teachers build on their students' skills in improvisation and pre-sent pieces that have been partly or wholly devised by them. This kind of pre-sentation may lack the polish of Annie or West Side Story, but may givestudents a stronger sense of or,rmership and achievement. Topics chosen tendto be of considerable personal interest to the students and elicit considerableengagement and commitment. Some high schools regularlypresent speciallyselected plays to specific local audiences, to elementary schools for example.

At college level, drama is seen as part of a liberal education, as a preparationfor the professional theatre, or as an introduction to graduate study. Both BAand BFA degrees are offered, reflecting this difference in approach. These inturn lead to the MFA degree for those who plan to work in the theatre, and thePhD for those intending to be college teachers. It is really only at this stagethat courses are likely to include the history criticism, and theory of the stageas a signiflcant proportion of the curriculum. The challenges for colleges, asfor high schools, is to devise a theatre curriculum that will not merely teachstudents about theatre but will motivate and empower them in and throughtheatre, with the right balance of creation, experimentation, performance,criticism, and scholarship.

At each level of education, the assumption is that, when students are involvedin drama and theatre, some significant kind of learning occurs. At secondaryand post-secondary levels, this learning is likely to be about theatre tech-niques and practices. In some elementary schools, the acquisition of skillsand techniques associated with performance may be emphasised, howeverinappropriately, at the expense of discovery exploration and experimenta-tion. Although it is certainly worthwhile for elementary students to begin to

34

DRAMA IN EDUCATION

learn about, create, and appreciate theatre -

especially where the presenta-tion arises out of their own concerns, explorations, and curriculum-learningthrough drama has a great deal more to offer.

Drama in the GurriculumDrama in education has been identified by many educators and researchersas a powerftil and effective medium for promoting learning in the classroom.Wagner (1988) offers a summaryof research documentingthe significance ofdrama in education in the development of oral language, literacy, motivation,positive attitudes, and social and cognitive skills. Unfortunately, research sug-gests that, while teachers accept in principle that drama can help themachieve their goals, a disappointinglylarge number of teachers rarely or neveruse drama. The product orientation of many American schools militatesagainst the use of the process of drama, in spite of its effectiveness as amedium for learning.

Since language is the means by which drama is realised, whether presentedon stage or improvised in the classroom, it is not surprising that the advan-tages to be gained from using drama in the language arts classroom are mostfirlly substantiated. As Ken Byron (Drama in the English Classroom, t9B6)makes clear, drama is a powerful tool for developing language because theclassroom context is temporarily suspended in favour of new contexts, newroles and new relationships and, as a result, unique possibilities of languageuse and development are opened up. Drama has the potential to changeuse and development are opened up. Drama has the potgllal to changesignificantly the patterns of communicatio

,

Drama in education is also acknowledged as an effective mode of learningabout specific contexts and issues. It can fulfil particular curricular aims andmay be used to clariff, enrich, revise, or reinforce areas of the curriculum, forexample, in understanding an event in history interpreting or elaborating ona character or situation in literature, or developing and exercising a specificsocial or linguistic skill. History and social studies teachers find drama bothmotivating and illuminating. Drama of thir kird *uy b" li*it"d to ft ofsimulation or role-plav that in reffiiilrTlmorJttran an acted-out discus-simulation or role-play that in reffty is little more than an actgd-qut discqs-sio

nuine exploration, discovery and learning.

Process DramaIn the last decade, the goals of creativity and personal growth that weredominant in the 1960s and early 1970s have given way first to an understand-

35

STRUCTURE AND SPONTANEITY: THE PROCESS DRAMA OF CECILY O'NEILL

ing of drama as an essentially cognitive process concerned with the negotia-tion of meani4g and, more recently, to a realisation of the essential nature of- . :l-the relationship between drama in education and theatre. In Britain, and

........ffiin ucarion has beenrefined and developed as both a powerful medium for learning in the curri-culum and as an art process in its ovrn right.

Difficulties of vocabulary persist even within this area. The subiecljqIlg!.tvariously as drama in educ4ltion, educational drama, creative drama,dtdraryThis last term is a useful and increasingly popular one, and it dis-tinguishes this approach from the practice of the more traditional and fami-liar creative dramatics.

Aithough superficiai similarities occur, there is actually a considerable dif-ference between lhe appearance, content and purpose oFa cffiIiffiE-ma-

,fieSlesson, one based on imp{qqgalien_cx9lelges, and process drama. Ap-proaches based on exercises such as spolin's will be short-term, task-orientedand presentational. lvhere creative dramatics may focus on the preparationand enactment of a story or other literary source, process drama is concernedwith the development of a wider context for exploration, a dramatic worldcreated by the teacher and students working together within the experience.In process dtama, active identification with and exploration of fictional roles

situations in which attitudes, not characters, are the chief concern. It is livedat life rate and obeys the natural laws of the dramatic medium. The goal is thedevelopment of students' insight and understanding about themselves andthe world they live in through the exploration of signiflcant dramatic con-texts. Parallel aims are the development of students' capacity to engage moredeeplywith complex roles and situations, an increase in their perception anduse of the power of dramatic expression in both the classroom and thetheatre, and the growth of an understanding of dramatic form.T a"in Bolton.i$nowwidely practiced in other parts of the world, notably Canada andAus-tralia. It is less familiar in the United States. For Dorothy Heathcote, the endproduct of improvisation is always the experience itself and the reflection thatit can generate. Her work rests on the basis of a sound understanding oftheatre form. She believes that drama is not merelv stories retold in action but

s, or the recreation and enactment

36

DRAMA IN EDUCATION

concerns also human beings confronted by situations that change them be-cause of what they must face in dealing with those challenges.

One of the striking features of Heathcote's work is her view of the function ofthe teacher within the lesson. In more traditional creative drama lessons, theteacher typically remains an external facilitator, a side coach, a director, or aloving ally. Heathcote is likely to begin by adopting a role herself. This strategy,knovrn as teacher-in-role, is the one with which Heathcote is most closelyideirtified.

Through the use of teacher-in-role, it is possible to bind the participants to-gether as a group, engage them immediatelyin the dramatic action, and mani-pulate language and gesture to establish ttre nature of the imaginedworld thatis coming into being in order to challenge the participants' usual way of think-ing. The strategy of teacher-in-role has been profoundly misinterpreted bythose who do not grasp its functional and structural properties. It is nevermerely acting or joining in on equal terms with the group. For Heathcote, theexplicit educational aim of her work in drama is always to build a reflective andcontemplative attitude in the participants. She uses the contrasting energy ofnon-dramatic activities such as writing, drawing, and map-making to enrichand deepen the quality of reflection on the dramatic experience. It is only inrecent years that Heathcote's emphases on learning and reflection, the im-mediary and significance of the experience, and its essential group naturehave become common currency among drama teachers.

Structuring Process DramaProcess drama allows for an extended eeerimelltql_erlcoqnler with themedium. E f exercises; they extend over time

and Lambert, 1982). Through pro-cess drama the dramatic world can be developed episodically or in units ofaction that develop and articulate aspects of the dramatic world. The struc-turing process involves the careful sequencing and layering of dramatic unitsor episodes, often in a non-linearway, which cumulatively extend and enricha fictional context. The existence of these episodes or units instantly entailsstructure, since it is the relationship between parts of the work that make it atrue process. This relationship is likely to be much more complex than thelinear connections of sequence or chronological narrative, where the seg-ments of the work are strung together like beads on a chain rather than be-coming links in a web of meaning. In process drama, varying levels of involve-ment and separation, of participation and detachment, of activity and reflec-tion may be incorporated.

37

STRUCTURE AND SPONTANEITY: THE PROCESS DRAMA OF CECILY O'NEILL

Story DramaIt is not always possible for teachers to operate in the unpredictable and chal-lenging way of process drama, especially those who have had limited trainingand experience in drama and theatre. A useftrl approach that shares many ofthe most significant aspects of process drama is knourn as story drama. Thisway of working is likely to be particularlyvaluable in the language arts class-room and accessible to teachers of even limited experience. David Boo_th(DraruZyg@.Jff}u7) of the University of Toronto *u, irrflrffiufiffi"evolution of this approach, which can be a bridge for the teacher betweenmore traditional creative dramatics and process drama. Here, the originalstory or picture book is used as a source of understanding rather than as asubject for dramatic adaptation. It provides a framework for exploration andbecomes a springboard for meanings as the participants experiment withroles, meet challenges and solve problems within the imagined world of thestory. The teacher may take on a role in order to stucture the work fromwithin the experience. The improvisation will focus on a genuine dramaticencounter, and the students' responses and decisions will determine thedevelopment of the drama. All the activities that form part of the process ofthe drama can be used to help students enter the world of the story and res-pond imaginatively and dramatically to the original text. In doing so, theygenerate both a new text and a unique dramatic experience.

Drama in Education: Recent ProgressIn recent years, there has been a growing recognition that tp,.q5qgggggbetween drama and theatre is a false one. Drama and theatre are in effect thesame medium, whether work is undertaken for the satisfaction and insight itproduces for participants or whether it is prepared and presented for anaudience. Recent curriculum statements for drama and theatre in schools arelikely to define the subject in the following ways: as an art form and a way ofgg{i5; as ways of understanding ourselves *a fficottaborati

of encounterins and our own and other cul-tures; and as an opport

Philosophers, artists, and educators are working to integrate aesthetic con-siderations and applied curriculum concerns more effectively. In Britain, withthe advent of a national curriculum and a new emphasis on precisely definedattainment goals, there has been a similar attempt to redefine the relation-ship between drama in education and theatre. The task for these theoristsand educators is to refine the purposes and outcomes of drama in educationwithout abandoning its exciting and innovative pedagogy.

38

DRAMA IN EDUCATION

The gains that have been made in drama in education, in both theory andpractice, are enonnous. Teachers have begun to understand the essentialelements underlying dramatic structure and to employ a wide range ofstrategies through which either the play text or the developing dramaticworld may be explored and articulated. They are able to exploit the power ofthe dramatic context for the different kinds of learning it mayyield. Drama ineducation can promote knowledge, competencies, insights, and processesthat will help students face the countless challenges and opportunities thatlie ahead.

39

Process Drama

The following analysis first appeared in A Conceptual Framework of ClassroomActing by Gavin Bolton. PhD dissertation, University of Durham , 1997, pp362-374.Sections from this account were later published in Bolton's (1998) text Acting inClassroom Drama: A Critical Analysis, Stoke on Trent, Trentham Books.

g%ecily O'Neill, who introduced the term'process drama' into our dramaffi education vocabulary has long been associated with the work offu#Dorothy Heathcote, notably since her collaboration with Liz Johnson(1984) in collecting within one volume the writings of Dorothy Heathcotepublished in international journals over a period of twenty years. Thischapter, in attempting to identiSr defining characteristics of 'Process Drama',will, perhaps inevitably, draw attention to differences and similarities withHeathcote's classroom practice. TWo years earlier O'Neill had publishedDrama structures: A Practical Handbook for Teachers in collaboration with anex-student of Heathcote's, Alan Lambert (1982).This book begins unambiguously with'Drama in education is a mode oflearni.g.' By this date, 1982, although thesome persuasion about the validity of this statement, there was a fair guaran-tee that most of the people likely to read such a book would perceive theassertion by O'Neill and Lambert as fanliliar_rhelor&1. Nor would theirreaders be surprised that the lessons described in the book included the useof teacher-in- decision-making, smallgroup tasks, interaction in pairs, the use of depic uiry into issues

dilemmas, related written work and artt was new for readers was the authors' attempt to

sfrDaUt" detail, patterns of carefully structured dramatic sequences ba