Boal in Space: Using Forum Theatre to Improve NASA Engineering
Amy Guerin
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AMY GUERIN is a faculty member with the University of Alabama in Huntsville Theatre Program. Amy is also the co-founder and co-Artistic Director of Huntsville Shakespeare. She previously taught at Texas A&M University. In 2009, Amy’s production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, a collaboration with A&M’s Department of Computer Science & Engineering showcasing flying fairy robots alongside human actors, was featured in Wired Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, and on NPR, and NBC News. She has also directed Lend Me a Tenor, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, The Conduct of Life, Bus Stop, Measure for Measure, An Ideal Husband, Tartuffe, Machinal, I and You, Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, tempOdyssey, She Kills Monsters: Virtual Realms, Oh The Humanity, And Other Good Intentions, and Our Town. Amy received her BFA in Theatre from the University of Oklahoma, and her MFA in Directing from the University of Houston. Read her blog about theatre at: discoballtartuffe.wordpress.com
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Abstract
This article explores NASA-funded research among faculty in the Theatre Program and Departments of Industrial and Systems Engineering, and Psychology at the University of Alabama in Huntsville using Theatre of the Oppressed (TO), specifically Forum Theatre. The project examined the use of TO theories and techniques to improve NASA’s organizational culture and systems engineering processes. Throughout 2020, the Theatre side of the research team, which included a faculty lead, undergraduate research assistant, and two professional actors, worked together to develop a Forum Theatre-based set of scenarios to present to NASA engineers. The diverging expectations of the other faculty researchers and the NASA leadership involved in funding the project, and the COVID-19 pandemic caused major changes to the original scenarios and their presentation. This article discusses the original proposal, how and why changes were made to this plan, and asks the question, ‘Is this still Boal?’
This article explores NASA-funded research among faculty in the Theatre Program and Departments of Industrial and Systems Engineering, and Psychology at the University of Alabama in Huntsville using Theatre of the Oppressed (TO), specifically Forum Theatre. The project examined the use of TO theories and techniques to improve NASA’s organizational culture and systems engineering processes. Throughout 2020, the Theatre side of the research team, which included a faculty lead, undergraduate research assistant, and two professional actors, worked together to develop a Forum Theatre-based set of scenarios to present to NASA engineers. The diverging expectations of the other faculty researchers and the NASA leadership involved in funding the project, and the COVID-19 pandemic caused major changes to the original scenarios and their presentation. This article discusses the original proposal, how and why changes were made to this plan, and asks the question, ‘Is this still Boal?’
| etudesdec2021guerin.pdf |
