History & Emergence of Drama in Education

Prepared by Shunya: An Arts Collective Trust
For more information, contact info.shunyaart@gmail.com | +91 98294 54524.

Origins

Drama in Education (DiE) draws from a long tradition of play, ritual, and storytelling as tools for community learning. From village performances to folk storytelling, drama has always been a way to test ideas and reflect on society.

Modern Pioneers

In the 20th century, educators like Peter Slade and Brian Way placed drama at the heart of child development. Dorothy Heathcote pushed further, treating drama as a mode of inquiry—a way for learners to adopt roles, wrestle with dilemmas, and practice responsibility.

Indian Context

In India, school theatre movements and Theatre in Education (TIE) groups blended folk practices with pedagogy. Performances often happened in classrooms, courtyards, and community spaces, emphasising child-led play, local knowledge, and reflection.

Core Elements of DiE

• Story & role: entering imagined situations with responsibility.

• Tension: holding ambiguity and risk in safe containers.

• Image & space: shaping meaning with bodies and environments.

• Time: exploring both real and fictional timelines.

Contemporary Practice

Today, Drama in Education blends with UDL and arts integration, ensuring access for all learners. Tableaux, hot-seating, and forum moments are used to teach subjects from science to social studies, making thinking visible through scenes, images, and decisions.

DiE is not about staging plays—it is about using drama to make classrooms active sites of inquiry, where learning is tested, embodied, and shared.

Practitioner’s Statement — Debraj

Prepared by Shunya: An Arts Collective Trust
For more information, contact info.shunyaart@gmail.com | +91 98294 54524.

My Practice

I work at the intersection of theatre, education, and community research. My work is guided by the belief that learning must be embodied, dialogic, and inclusive. Drama is not just performance; it is a way of rehearsing care, testing ideas, and holding multiple perspectives.

Commitments

• Embodiment: using movement, voice, and image to make learning tangible.

• Dialogue: designing spaces where questioning, disagreement, and reflection are welcomed.

• Inclusion: planning with UDL principles so that every participant has a way in.

• Ethics: consent, safety, and respect are built into every rehearsal and workshop.

• 
  

Themes of Work

Across schools and independent labs, I have facilitated projects on:

• Identity and belonging

• Ecology and intergenerational memory

• Community archives and public voice

• Social justice and democratic practice

• 
  

Facilitation Approach

Participants are invited to co-author content. Together we try roles, rehearse responsibilities, and make choices visible through action and reflection. Documentation—journals, zines, video, and witness notes—helps us look back critically at what was made.

Ongoing Question

Every project returns me to the same inquiry:
“What helps everyone belong here and take one step forward?”

Applied Theatre Project — Dead Bodies at Home

Prepared by Shunya: An Arts Collective Trust
For more information, contact info.shunyaart@gmail.com | +91 98294 54524.

Background

This project emerged from urgent conversations on dissent, memory, and responsibility in public life. It asks: How do communities stage difficult truths with care? We work with anonymised testimonies, archival fragments, and mythic frames to hold complexity without sensationalism.

Frameworks

We draw on:

• Boal’s spect-actor practice (audiences intervene in performance)

• Freire’s dialogic pedagogy (learning through questioning and co-investigation)

• Schechner’s ritual/performance theories

• Carol Martin’s Theatre of the Real

Method

1. Ensemble building: consent protocols, trust games, shared agreements

2. Testimony research: gathering stories through reading rooms and interviews

3. Interpretation: exploring testimony through movement, images, and collective writing

4. Devising: shaping scenes with space for audience participation

5. Residency: hosting local showings with post-performance dialogues

Audience Engagement & Ethics

• Clear content advisories for sensitive material

• Opt-out roles for performers and participants

• Structured debriefs to process emotions and insights

• Forum theatre interventions: audiences step in to test responses and alternatives

Intended Impact

The project creates safer spaces to rehearse disagreement. It documents how communities navigate tension, dissent, and care—providing material for educators, facilitators, and civic groups.