A Statement on Teaching
Nothing fulfills me more than watching a student confront their fears, insecurities, and doubts while using their newfound abilities to shed the emotional armor they have built up over their lives in an effort to embody an absolute truth. Nothing.
As an educator, I leave every class inspired and rejuvenated by my students and I make it my mission to match their enthusiasm, optimism, and bravery with my own. My strategy towards workshopping all methods of theatre is based in fairly classic acting methods. Whether it is by infusing the tenets of Stanislavski and psychological character work to realism, naturalism, musical theatre, and other contemporary methods of performance, or through detailed textual analysis of classic playwrights such as Aeschylus, Euripides, and Shakespeare, or by creating new works based around story circle/interview-based theatre that engages and confronts issues in a community, my students work towards the goal of discovering truth through human empathy.
We, as a class, strip down the words of the author to their core. We embody them physically by investigating alternative movement exercises, delve into the history and circumstances of the period, and drive towards creating a piece of work that resonates on a personal level. Theatre is often described by playgoers as the opportunity to look thru a window into another world, but I’ve always found that theatre is at its best when it acts as a mirror instead. Our goal as theatre artists should be to hold up a reflection of society and encourage our audiences to leave with more questions than answers. We should spur our audiences to have conversations and debates, instead of the desire of satiation and placidness. It will always be my goal to encourage my students to engage with the world and be advocates for self-reflection and positive change.
As an educator, I leave every class inspired and rejuvenated by my students and I make it my mission to match their enthusiasm, optimism, and bravery with my own. My strategy towards workshopping all methods of theatre is based in fairly classic acting methods. Whether it is by infusing the tenets of Stanislavski and psychological character work to realism, naturalism, musical theatre, and other contemporary methods of performance, or through detailed textual analysis of classic playwrights such as Aeschylus, Euripides, and Shakespeare, or by creating new works based around story circle/interview-based theatre that engages and confronts issues in a community, my students work towards the goal of discovering truth through human empathy.
We, as a class, strip down the words of the author to their core. We embody them physically by investigating alternative movement exercises, delve into the history and circumstances of the period, and drive towards creating a piece of work that resonates on a personal level. Theatre is often described by playgoers as the opportunity to look thru a window into another world, but I’ve always found that theatre is at its best when it acts as a mirror instead. Our goal as theatre artists should be to hold up a reflection of society and encourage our audiences to leave with more questions than answers. We should spur our audiences to have conversations and debates, instead of the desire of satiation and placidness. It will always be my goal to encourage my students to engage with the world and be advocates for self-reflection and positive change.
joeybanksmfa_-_cv_2021.pdf | |
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Joey Banks - Directing Portfolio 2021 | |
File Size: | 22453 kb |
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