Event Title
Creating Individually and Collectively; Building Identity and Community: The Intersections of Theatre and Digital Storytelling
Location
NSC-114
Start Date
3-11-2017 1:45 PM
End Date
3-11-2017 3:15 PM
Description
In a recent panel discussion Edwanna Andrews, Director of University of Central Florida's Center for Social Justice and Advocacy, spoke of the continued feeling of 'otherness' felt by the minority students with whom she works. While UCF is a diverse student body, the safety and inclusion of all students continues to be of greater importance, as evidenced by the posting of Anti-Semitic literature in residence halls in November 2015. "I Am UCF" is an initiative that databases personal digital narratives reflecting and celebrating the diversity on UCF's campus to combat such oppressive and marginalizing acts. The project fuses together writing, digital media, and theatre to help students develop their narratives.
The integration of theatre in rhetorical and digital composition provides an interactive, community-based approach to digital storytelling, which might otherwise be completed in isolation. Both theatre and digital storytelling contain similar components: voice, body, visuals, and story. While digital storytelling adds the technological component, ensemble-based theatre exercises can be used to build community and empathy throughout the process. As I Am UCF serves to celebrate unique voices on campus, strengthening the group dynamic empowers the voice of each individual. Additionally, theatre can be an engaging and activating tool for imagining and visualizing story development. For students who may not feel as confident in their digital or rhetorical literacy skills, theatre provides a varied approach to the project: a non-digital, interactive way to explore generating story and dialogue, vocal expression and dynamics, imagery and composition, characterization, and emotion.
Our proposed workshop will present methods for incorporating theatre into the digital storytelling process and examine the interplay between the real and digitized performative experience. Participants will be led sequentially through short story-generating exercises; interactive theatre exercises to explore the themes, moods, and visual potential of these stories; and exercises to serve as the bridge between live theatre and digital storytelling. Following the workshop, we will lead an interactive reflection and talkback about the challenges and potential in a cross-disciplinary approach to digital storytelling, and how the applied exercises create space for diverse stories, diverse storytellers, and diverse means of telling stories.
Creating Individually and Collectively; Building Identity and Community: The Intersections of Theatre and Digital Storytelling
NSC-114
In a recent panel discussion Edwanna Andrews, Director of University of Central Florida's Center for Social Justice and Advocacy, spoke of the continued feeling of 'otherness' felt by the minority students with whom she works. While UCF is a diverse student body, the safety and inclusion of all students continues to be of greater importance, as evidenced by the posting of Anti-Semitic literature in residence halls in November 2015. "I Am UCF" is an initiative that databases personal digital narratives reflecting and celebrating the diversity on UCF's campus to combat such oppressive and marginalizing acts. The project fuses together writing, digital media, and theatre to help students develop their narratives.
