2. Are you a philosophical theatre facilitator?
How do theatre facilitators, stage directors and drama teachers develop practical wisdom?
There are books aplenty of games, exercises and devising techniques, tome upon tome of academic works examining the pedagogy and politics, ethics and efficacy of participatory theatre/drama, but precious few give any thought or guidance on the practice of facilitation itself.
It is as if good intentions (the why) and good material/exercises/activities (the what) are sufficient (without the how!).
But, the real world is unpredictable and messy. No two workshops or rehearsals are alike. No matter how much planning is done, intention and material need to be synthesised and revised in real time, responding to space, place, and participants. When things go well, we are blissfully unaware of the decisions, judgements, and adaptations sitting behind our success.
We got it right - let's do that again!
Likewise, when things don't go to plan we tend to blame the material, space, the participants, or ourselves.
That didn't work - let's never do it again!
However, when we take a moment to consider those decisions, judgements, and adaptations we find something beyond the binary of right and wrong. Perhaps there's a pattern that we don't know we get stuck in. Maybe it was a matter of timing, or too many assumptions (or too few). Did we allow enough space for the participants to own the material? Or were we so intent in giving ownership that, in practice, we offered too many choices, leaving the group paralysed, desperately trying to read our mind? " In practice" is the key phrase here. The insights are practical - they differentiate between intention and what actually happened. And therein lies the real learning. Practical wisdom (or phronesis) describes our ability to combine action with reflection in a cycle that allows us to "thinkingly act”.
Theoretical learning, ivory tower, thinking-only types of knowledge focus on finite goals. Success is attained in knowing why something is the case:
Theoretical: Knowing that (and why)…
participants should exercise agency
breath control is important for vocal projection
spontaneity is a key component for creativity
the audience should recognise they turning points in the plot
etc., etc.
Technical knowledge is action oriented. It offers the 'what', the content - what exercises or activities might deliver the intended outcome:
Technical knowledge: Knowing what...
approaches offer participants control of the content
exercises improve breath control
activities develop spontaneous reactions
techniques highlight key moments in a scene
Practical wisdom on the other hand concerns itself with the knowledge 'how'. How combines 'that' and 'what', thinking and action with the complexity of 'when'. To know 'how' is always located in the reality of the moment and considers timings, sequence, space, and most importantly, the human beings who are taking part in the session (including the facilitator themselves).
Practical Wisdom: Knowing how to practically apply theoretical and technical knowledge to the reality of the situation
You may know that developing spontaneity is important. You may know a dozen exercises that improve spontaneity. But knowing how to engage a group in developing spontaneity when a. they don't know each other, b. you're working in a shoe cupboard next door to a drumming workshop and c. the session is 30 minutes shorter than originally planned - this is a matter of practical wisdom. Furthermore, you only really know 'how' (or ‘how not’) once you've completed the session. You will never meet exactly the same circumstances again. Truly knowing 'how' is an infinite pursuit, albeit a cumulative one (the more we do it, the better we get at it).
In as much as we recognise that every session offers opportunities, not just to fulfil the plan/learning outcome/contract, but to co-develop practical wisdom in partnership with our participants, and take these opportunities to improve our practice, we may consider ourselves Philosophical Theatre Facilitators.
Or, more simply, a philosophical theatre facilitator improves their practice by giving as much attention to 'how' they run workshops/rehearsals/classes as they do to the 'why' and the 'what.'
Follow up reading:
Phronesis:
Heiti, W., 2021. Attending: an ethical art. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.
Reflective practice:
Bolton, G. and Delderfield, R., 2018. Reflective practice: writing and professional development. Fifth edition ed. Los Angeles: SAGE.
Duffy, P. ed., 2015. A reflective practitioner’s guide to (mis)adventures in drama education - or - what was I thinking? Bristol: Intellect.
Schön, D.A., 2017. The reflective practitioner: how Professionals Think in Action. London: Routledge.
Infinite and finite goals:
Carse, J., 2013. Finite and Infinite Games. New York: Free Press.