Drama and Technology

Biography

Kim Flintoff was the first Technology Officer of DramaWest (The Drama Teachers Association of Western Australia). Kim teaches Drama John Forrest SHS and has an extensive background in theatre production. While currently examining the implications of technology and virtual domains in educational Drama, Kim is also interested in NLP, Brain-based and Accelerated Learning Applications, Student-centred and Co-operative Learning. Kim is co-founder and former chairman of Class Act Theatre (Theatre-in-Education) and founder and present chairman of SHY (Seen and Heard Youth) Inc, a newly formed youth arts organization based at JFSHS. Kim has recently accepted the position of Director of Technology for Drama Australia. In 2001, Kim co-chaired a Special Interest Group “Drama and New Media” at the IDEA (International Drama/Theatre and Education Association) World Congress held in Bergen, Norway. Papers are due to be published by IDEA in coming months. A regular presenter at local, national and international conferences, Kim also moderates and maintains a range of Drama Education websites and discussion groups on the Internet. Kim has been teaching with EDWA for 3 years.

Rationale

In Drama education we are faced with the challenge of relevancy. Cyberspace, with its apparent offerings of vicarious and disembodied experience, poses challenges to the field of Drama studies. Classroom drama traditionally presupposes the physical and the verbal, focussing heavily on role; in virtual reality these presuppositions are cast in a new light and demand that new questions be asked.

The interface is becoming increasingly important in our experience – we are still dealing with artificial, clumsy computer interface and yet we strive for the unencumbered, the unconscious, fully interactive experience. The nexus between human and machine is pervasive, and Drama education can play a role in exploring these developments. We need to develop a new way of seeing and questioning; one that allows us to transcend our present perceptual limitations, we need to be more aware of the “big picture” and our place in it. I am fascinated by these issues and believe our students have every right to engage with them – and what better forum than a Drama class, where the very fabric of our subject is human embodiment.

At the same time that the theatrical stage has welcomed the offerings of the new technologies and is exploring new notions and forms of representation, subjectivity, mediation, etc. it seems sometimes in classroom drama that we are still doing the same as we’ve done for the past 30 years. And most attempts at introducing technology in Drama in WA seem to me a substitution process – a data projector replaces a video or slide projector, PowerPoint slides replace 35mm slides, MP3 replaces CD or tape; very few engagements seem to push into the realm of the virtual.

In my experience within schools the type of interactivity useful to Drama projects is alien to Systems Administrators. Happy to engage with office suites, spreadsheets, web browsing they seem to think that this provides enough opportunities for students to become proficient in a wide range of applications – but we are seeking more than simply knowing how to use a particular program - we want our students to understand the relationship between themselves and the technology, to ask questions about identity, to find connections between modes of presentation that are afforded in the real and virtual worlds. The types of interactive systems Drama could most benefit from are also the ones that frighten education systems – communicating in real-time via the internet requires opening up networks, allowing students to be responsive, and in terms of immediacy there is risk taking involved. The risks are amplified when teachers are less familiar with the processes than the students. We must start to become proficient with technology if Drama is going to engage fully with the possibilities of our “technological era”.

Drama as Social Action

Starting in late July I will be working with pre-service Drama teachers at Queensland University of Technology in a course called “Drama as Social Action”. Utilising the relatively old technology of a MOO – a text-based object-oriented virtual world – students will be asked to engage in an extended process drama exploring social justice issues. Being a text-based environment there is the unusual phenomenon of a first-person experience of a socially constructed narrative. The ability to log the interactions provides “artifacts” that can be studied to determine the process of construction.

Drawing on recent global events that have resulted in the internment of individuals...  "asylum seekers", Al Qeida prisoners, Falun Gong practitioners, etc - plus it reflects on an historical perspective - the Italian and German internees during WWII... the Japanese in America - and I'm sure more detailed research will reveal the scope of the practice.  We can focus on the ethical and practical aspects of the practice.

SCENARIO: The InterStellar Earthship Woomera

The ship has been on a long haul voyage for the past 3 years.  The crew was selected to represent a broad spectrum of the social - ethnic and political - makeup of Earth. 

The journey has another 18 months before they arrive at their destination and has been harmonious to date with some emerging relationships, a marriage, and strong bonds developing between all the crew

We establish the students as crew - each has a functional role and an assigned affiliation with one of the major Earth "houses" - students will create a description of their character to be visible in the MOO - they will also score the character in terms of personality.   

A message advises that there has been a critical incident on Earth; as a result of ensuing investigations it is held that the action stems from a particular house.   Orders are issued that all members of this house should be regarded as potentially hostile; “suspects”.  It further states that the captain is relieved of duties and is to be placed in "safe keeping" with other “suspects”. 

The crew has to decide how this will be managed.   The “suspects” need to discuss their options.  The inevitable re-evaluation/reinterpretation of past actions commences.   Tensions begin to rise.  “Suspects” are isolated to a remote part of the ship.  Some crew are strongly opposed to this action; others seem content to follow orders.

Thus we enter into the situation.  We begin to explore reactions to these developments - from individuals and groups. 

One thing that this project hopes to reveal is that the mutually improvised development of dramatic narrative remains intact.

The exploration must continue…

We do not know enough about the possibilities to be able to dismiss out of hand the learning opportunities that may exist by engaging with the new technologies.

I don’t think the use of computers in Drama has to be a daunting prospect. I think it unavoidable that Drama teachers must develop a wide range of technical competence. We must be flexible in our thinking about what it is we do. We must learn to be wantonly curious about alternatives, about what are the positive outcomes. We must continue to negotiate with students to allow them to discover and explore their own abilities and interests through Drama. We have to broaden our scope – what are we really offering in Drama education – the future of computer games (and genuinely interactive learning software) is going to be changed by those who understand dramatic narrative and meaningful engagement. We need to be comfortable that sometimes the end point is not obvious; our work will sometimes have us stepping into uncharted territory. We need to document and share our experiences.

Technologists certainly challenge the importance of the “soft body”, claiming it may well be redundant. This concerns me as well, but my interest lies more with he ability of Drama to “humanise” the existing and emerging interfaces. What can we do as Drama teachers to ensure that the inevitable use of technology offers opportunities for our students to enhance “the physical, emotional, intellectual, aesthetic, social, moral and spiritual dimensions of human experience”?

Proposed floor plan for the”Woomera”