Keywords

Educational Resource, Theatrical Design, High School Theatre, High School Educators, Steps of Design, Intro to Design

Abstract

As a designer and educator, I am continuously gathering more resources for personal knowledge and to share with my students. Yet there is currently a lack of literature when it comes to design pedagogy for all design areas, specifically for high school aged students. How can we teach theatrical design in a tactful and meaningful way to high school students throughout the United States? Steps of Theatrical Design: A Resource for Activating Educators to Teach Design in High Schools, is for educators to learn about the process of design and spread that knowledge to their students. This thesis will act as an academic resource to guide educators towards the best methods of teaching theatrical design.

I argue design should be a much more critical piece of the curriculum than it is currently being presented in most high schools around the country. Through design, students gain many valuable skills such as: critical thinking, creative expression, emotional intelligence, collaboration, and troubleshooting. I have found the best way to teach design is to practice design. This thesis is broken up into chapters that mirror the steps of the design process. Chapter One (Step One) will cover script analysis and critical thinking, Chapter Two (Step Two) will explore different types of conceptual research, Chapter Three (Step Three) asks readers to apply various influential "isms" from history of 20th Century Design, Chapter Four (Step Four) defines style and aesthetic for design and Chapter Five (Step Five) will cover designer deliverables and design meetings. As a bonus for educators, the Appendix provides assignments that can be paired with each chapter to activate the theories presented.

Completion Date

2024

Semester

Spring

Committee Chair

Wood, Vandy

Degree

Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.)

College

College of Arts and Humanities

Department

Theatre

Degree Program

Theatre for Young Audiences

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

DP0028332

URL

https://purls.library.ucf.edu/go/DP0028332

Language

English

Rights

In copyright

Release Date

May 2024

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

Campus Location

Orlando (Main) Campus

Accessibility Status

Meets minimum standards for ETDs/HUTs

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