Creativity and Theatre
Description
This book brings together creativity scholars engaged in experimental and scientific inquiry with theatre and performance professionals in a dynamic exchange of ideas. Featuring a distinguished group of contributors and edited by a leading voice in creativity studies and an award-winning theatre composer, this collection fosters meaningful collaboration between academics and practitioners, offering insights that enrich both fields.
Each chapter examines a key theme at the intersection of creativity and theatre-such as group creativity, emotion, constraints, and creative metacognition-and includes responses from Broadway and West End professionals. These responses, grounded in lived experience, offer illustrative examples, thoughtful challenges, and nuanced extensions of the scholars' perspectives.
This volume is a valuable resource for those in psychology, education, and creativity studies with an interest in theatre and performance.
More details
Persons
Dana P. Rowe is a two-time Olivier Award nominated theatrical composer. His shows include the cult off-Broadway hit Zombie Prom and West End shows The Fix and Witches of Eastwick ; they have been performed all over the world. He is an executive coach who was named one of the top 15 leadership coaches in New York City, and is also an accomplished audiobook narrator. With James C. Kaufman, he co-authored Lessons in Creativity from Musical Theatre Characters (Routledge, 2023).
James C. Kaufman is Professor of Educational Psychology at the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut, USA. He has written or edited more than 50 books, including the forthcoming Creativity through the Movies (Oxford), The Creativity Advantage (Cambridge, 2023), and many Cambridge Handbooks. His awards include Mensa's research award, the Torrance Award from the National Association for Gifted Children, the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children's International Creativity Award, and APA's Berlyne, Arnheim, and Farnsworth awards.
Content
Part I: Broad Overviews.- Chapter 1. Creativity and Theatre: Sharing the Spotlight ( Dana P. Rowe and James C. Kaufman ).- Chapter 2. Is It Time to Rethink the Meaning of Creativity?: Beyond the Novel and the Useful to the Positive and Transformational ( Robert J. Sternberg ).- Chapter 3. Response to Sternberg ( Madalena Alberto ).- Chapter 4. The Acting Habits of Mind: From Theater Classrooms to Professional Performance ( Thalia Goldstein ).- Chapter 5. Response to Goldstein ( Michael Bartoli ) ).- Chapter 6. Response to Goldstein Gordon Goodman).- Chapter 7. Response to Goldstein ( Anne Penner ).- Chapter 8. The conversation: Acting Habits of Mind in practice and theory ( Thalia Goldstein ).- Part II: The Creative Problem Solving Process.- Chapter 9. From Theory to Practice: The Creative Problem-Solving Process in the Context of Theatre ( David Cropley ).- Chapter 10. Response to Cropley ( Madalena Alberto ).- Chapter 11. Response to Cropley ( Lucie Arnaz ).- Chapter 12. Constraints in Theater Creativity: Villains, Heroes, or Complex Characters? ( Catrinel Tromp and Rylee J. Berger ).- Chapter 13. Response to Tromp and Berger ( Rachel Resheff ).- Chapter 14. The Mind Thinks and Thinks About its Thinking: The Implications for Theater ( Rogelio Puente-Díaz ).- Chapter 15. Response to Puente-Díaz ( Madalena Alberto ).- Chapter 16. Response to Puente-Díaz ( Michael Elihu Colby ).- Part III: Emotions, Beliefs, and Creativity.- Chapter 17. Creativity and Emotion in Theater ( Zorana Ivcevic and Rebekah Rodriguez-Boerwinkle ).- Chapter 18. Response to Ivcevic and Rodriguez-Boerwinkle ( Madalena Alberto ).- Chapter 19. Not All Actors: Response to Ivcevic and Rodriguez-Boerwinkle ( Donna Lynne Champlin ).- Chapter 20. Creative Mindsets: Unlocking the Theatre of Possibilities ( Maciej Karwowski ).- Chapter 21. Response to Karwowski ( Robin Brooke ).- Chapter 22. The Creative Delight of the Unknown ( Peter Felsman ).- Chapter 23. Response to Felsman ( Madalena Alberto ).- Chapter 24. Response to Felsman ( Blair Goldberg ).- Part IV: Benefits of Creativity and the Arts.- Chapter 25. How Engaging with the Arts Can Improve Affect ( Jennifer E. Drake ).- Chapter 26. Response to Drake ( Gustavo Zajac ).- Chapter 27. Theater as a Transitional Space: Exploring the Transformative Qualities of Theater Participation in Group Therapy ( Shoshi Keisari ).- Chapter 28. Response to Keisari ( Michael Kostroff ).- Chapter 29. Response to Keisari ( Molly Ranson ).- Chapter 30. Holding a Mirror up to Nature: Creativity, Flow, and Responses to Trauma and Adversity ( Paula Thomson and S. Victoria Jaque ).- Chapter 31. Response to Thomson and Jaque ( Madalena Alberto ).- Chapter 32. Response to Thomson and Jaque ( Julia Estrada and Kaitlin Hopkins ).- Chapter 33. Response to Thomson and Jaque ( Maurice Godin ).- Part V: Artists Working Together.- Chapter 34. Creative Audiences ( Vlad Glaveanu ).- Chapter 35. Response to Glaveanu ( Gordon Goodman ).- Chapter 36. Leading Creative Teams in Theater: Lessons from Leadership Research ( Roni Reiter-Palmon ).- Chapter 37. Response to Reiter-Palmon ( Blair Goldberg ).- Chapter 38. Improvisational Creativity in Theatre ( R. Keith Sawyer ).- Chapter 39. Response to Sawyer ( Michael Elihu Colby ).- Part VI: Conclusion.- Chapter 40. An Integrative Conclusion and Look Ahead ( Dana P. Rowe and James C. Kaufman ).