University Digital Conservancy :: Browsing by Subject "Play"

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Adrienne Kennedy

(Voices from the Gaps, 1998) Seanoa, Angela; Fashant, Jessica; Brown, Justin

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Alice Childress

(Voices from the Gaps, 2003) Fluke, Jen N.

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Angelina Weld Grimké

(Voices from the Gaps, 1998)

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Anna Deavere Smith

(Voices from the Gaps, 2005) Stolpa, Alison

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Assia Djebar

(Voices from the Gaps, 2006) Becker, Ursula; Holstein, Andrea

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Cherrie Moraga

(Voices from the Gaps, 1996) Cleary, Merideth R.; Fergusson, Erin E.

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Creating Child-Friendly Cities: Engaging Families and Transforming Streets into Playful Environments

(2023) Kang, Su Ryeon

This paper explores how residents and arts and cultural organizations can contribute to the creation of Child-Friendly Cities through creative activities and playful built environments. To suggest practical findings, I focus on projects that transform streets into places where children can play, interact, and socialize in the Twin Cities, Minnesota. Indeed, collaborative approaches involving residents, urban planners, and arts and cultural organizations can create sustainable and inclusive urban play environments that support the well-being, creativity, and development of children.

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Denise Chávez

(Voices from the Gaps, 1997) McNally, Amy; McEllistrem, Megan; Curtright, Lauren

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Diane Glancy

(Voices from the Gaps, 2004) Handt, Melissa; Koch, Christopher; Ziemann, Shaundra

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Djanet Sears

(Voices from the Gaps, 2004) Swerkstrom, Annie; Nelson, Joelle; Prieditis, Shelley

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Elmaz Abinader

(Voices from the Gaps, 2004) Piscator, Kate; Curtright, Lauren

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Endesha Ida Mae Holland

(Voices from the Gaps, 2002) Nichols, Shelly; O'Neil, Jenny; Ryan, Grace

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Georgia Douglas Johnson

(Voices from the Gaps, 2005) Atkins, Alyssa; Crushshon, Theresa; Phaengdara, Chanida

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The Harmonics of Intercultural Play: Participatory Theatre Within Interfaith and Interracial Initiatives

(2014-10) Leffler, Elliot

This dissertation investigates how diverse communities in the US encounter one another within the framework of dramatic play. I examine the interaction between a Reform synagogue and a black Baptist church, which jointly instituted a theatre project as one of several initiatives to nurture relationship-building and dialogue between their congregants. My research includes ethnographic investigation of the theatre project (which I co-facilitated) and of the communities' other initiatives. I ask: How do participants engage one another within the various initiatives for intercultural encounter? Does theatre-making, as a form of play, invite a different interaction than other initiatives do? To what extent can a robust theorization of play illuminate both the potential and the limitations of the initiatives? I argue that grave historical inequities have produced a status quo of minimal and superficial interracial interaction in the suburb where the two communities are based - but that play sometimes empowers people to deviate from those norms, allowing for productive tension. This tension allows for more nuanced interpersonal relationships and more political, critical dialogue. However, I also argue that while the context of role-play may enable this tension to thrive where it might not otherwise exist, it also obscures people's embeddedness within existing and unequal power systems. Thus, I argue, while dramatic play can be a powerful tool for cultivating intercultural encounters with productive tension, it may be most influential when facilitators also periodically push the players to abandon their assumed identities and reflexively interrogate the intercultural dynamics of their "real" lives.