DOCUMENT RESUME ED 442 143 CS 510 330 AUTHOR Henry, Mallika TITLE The Player and the Playing: AA Interpretive Study of Richard Courtney's Texts on Learning through Drama. PUB DATE 1999-00-00 NOTE 411p.; Doctoral dissertation, School of Education, New York University. PUB TYPE Dissertations/Theses Doctoral Dissertations (041) EDRS PRICE MFO1 /PC17 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Drama; *Learning Processes; Metaphors; Qualitative Research; *Scholarship ABSTRACT Using qualitative and interpretive methodologies, this dissertation analyzed Richard Courtney's writings to interpret his basic ideas on learning through drama. It focused on later writings (1989, 1990, 1995, 1997) in which Courtney distilled ideas he had been working on for as many as 30 years. It approached Courtney's texts using dramatistic metaphors which concretized his predominantly abstract writings. These metaphors focused on finding the basic elements of a drama: the setting, the act, the actor, and the Other. Through the lenses afforded by these metaphors, the thesis examined Courtney's wide-ranging, eclectic and often imprecise ideas to distill major themes. Courtney used notions like metaphor, symbol, ritual, Being, mind, perspective, oscillation and quaternity with apparently shifting definitions and loosely circumscribed meanings. It collected and analyzed Courtney's meanings recursively, both distilling Courtney's meanings and expanding them through concrete hypothetical examples. Courtney wrote about drama in abstract terms, using notions he had garnered from other disciplines to describe the process of learning through drama. The final construction that emerged in this dissertation represents the experience of the actor/learner: it is concentric, radiating from a nub which represents the feelings and imagination of the actor. Radiating circles represent the actor's metaphoric thinking, taken here as a cognitive approach to perspectival understandings of self and others, in an existential form of learning. This construction has implications for research and education. It refers to the many dramas that take place in living interactions. It is a construction for understanding and facilitating the learning processes which take place in the dynamic interactions between people, and which inform personal awareness and understanding. Contains approximately 675 references and 24 figures. Appendixes contain sample pages from Courtney's bibliography, sample letters from him, and a photograph of Courtney. (Author/RS) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. Sponsoring Committee: Professor Margot Ely, Chairperson Professor Robert Landy Professor Joanne Griffin U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND CENTER (ERIC) DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS This document has been reproduced as BEEN GRANTED BY received from the person or organization originating it. I / A c t 1 1 Minor changes have been made to I improve reproduction quality. Henry Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES official OERI position or policy. INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) 1 THE PLAYER AND THE PLAYING: AN INTERPRETIVE STUDY OF RICHARD COURTNEY'S TEXTS ON LEARNING THROUGH DRAMA Mallika Henry Program in Educational Theatre 00. Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions . - Submitted iri partial fulfillment of the F5 quiirements for the degree of Doctor:of Philosophy in the School of Education New York University c:) 1999 O kr) 2 BEST COPY AVAILABLE Copyright © 1999 Mallika Henry 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iii LIST OF FIGURES vii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1 A brief Biography of Richard Courtney II RELATED LITERATURE 13 Education and the Creative Act of World-Making All the World's a Stage: Development Through Drama Drama as Education Drama's Voice in the Classroom Drama's Other Stages The Actor as Learner The Research That is Drama III METHOD 32 Trustworthiness Stance of the Researcher IV RICHARD COURTNEY'S DRAMATIC TERRITORY: OPENING ACT 48 And May I Introduce Richard Courtney? Finding the Dramatic Territory Theatrum Mundi, or Drama = Life Courtney's Theatrum Mundi Courtney's Circles and Squares What is Learning? V THE SETTING: ACTS OF WORLD CREATION 83 The Worlds Metaphor Courtney's Metaphors Worlds in Action A Semiotic Square of Worlds The Cognitive Value of Worlds The Worlds of Pavel, Bruner and Goodman Discussion of the Worlds Metaphor iv VI THE HUMAN SETTING; SOCIETY AND CULTURE 115 Society and Culture Society Culture Learning Through Culture Tribal Cultures Courtney's Cultural Narrative Symbols Dramatic Use of Symbols Symbols and Cultural Dramas Learning Through Symbols The Culturalism of Jerome Bruner VII THE ACT OF DRAMA 149 Metaphors Revisited The Dramatic Metaphor Learning Through Metaphor Drama as Symbol Learning Through Symbol Rituals Learning Through Ritual Drama as a Medium Media in Learning and Development Drama as Existential Learning VIII THE ACTOR 182 The Holistic Universe Being Learning and Being Mind Activities of Mind Oscillation Quaternity Modes of Thinking and States of Mind The Mind's Ways of Knowing and Learning Feeling The Aesthetic Mode Homo Imaginans IX DIALOGUE AND THE OTHER 225 The Necessity of Dialogue The Actions of Dialogue Anti-Dialogue The Mathematics of Dialogue Courtney's Mathematics Learning Through Dialogue X COURTNEY'S CONSTRUCTION OF LEARNING THROUGH DRAMA 250 Facet 1: Feeling and Imagination Facet 2: Metaphor Facet 3: Perspectives Facet 4: Media Facet 5: Existential Learning Facet 6: Implications for Teaching Facet 7: Implications for Research Conclusion The View from the Lower Forty-Eight XI THE VOICES OF PROPHETS 284 Courtney's Sources The Book of J Portraits of Yahweh Portraits of Moses Courtney's Rhetorical Methods Courtney's Story XII COURTNEY'S UNENDING PERFORMANCE 319 BIBLIOGRAPHY 330 APPENDICES A SAMPLE PAGES FROM COURTNEY'S BIBLIOGRAPHY B SAMPLE LETTERS FROM COURTNEY C PICTURE OF RICHARD COURTNEY vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to acknowledge the invaluable assistance of Margot in seeing me through, Robert in providing the initial inspiration for this work, and Joanne in her willingness to be there. I gratefully acknowledge the friendship of Richard Courtney, for however brief a time, the hospitality of his wife Rosemary and the many conversations with those who knew Richard. Many thanks to John McLeod for his indefatigable conversation and assistance with Richard's ideas. Above all, my deepest gratitude to Jacques for his untiring support. LIST OF FIGURES 1 Plains Indian Quarternity 61 2 Alchemical Square 63 3 Theatrum Mundi Square 67 4 Theatrum Mundi Square with Text 68 5 Theatrum Mundi Square with Extensive Text 69 6 Analysis of Figure 5 70 7 The Territory of Drama 73 8 Analysis of Figure 7 73 9 Worlds Square 95 10 Worlds Square with Text 97 11 Analysis of Figure 10 98 12 Plains Indian Quarternity 125 13 Neurological Quarternity 204 14 Dramatic Dialogue Square 205 15 Dramatic Dialogue Square with Text 206 16 Plains Indian Quarternity 207 17 Dramatic Dialogue Square 237 18 Theatrum Mundi Square 238 19 Drama as a Multifaceted Way of Knowing 251 20 The Experience of Learning Through Drama 259 21 Comparison: Passages from Bloom and from Courtney 293 22 Courtney's Questions 307 23 Courtney's Use of Bloom's Words 309 24 Courtney's Evidence 310 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Drama is transformation... When we change, we learn. (Courtney, 1995, p. 11) Richard Courtney has made a unique contribution to drama education by attempting to formulate the learning process inherent to drama (McLeod, 1982; Trent, 1987; Heikkinen, 1997). In this dissertation I interpret Courtney's conceptual framework for learning through drama through analysis of his texts. The central research questions posed are: What does an analysis of Courtney's writings reveal about how he posits that learning occurs through doing drama? Using the results of this analysis, what is the conceptual framework about learning inherent in Courtney's works? The analytic process in this dissertation has been qualitative and interpretive with the objective of clarifying understanding of Courtney's texts in response to the research questions. The final chapters deal with Courtney's own authorial voice. Courtney (1995) considered a dramatic act a form of inquiry. For Courtney, drama occurs in all human action in which there is a "willing suspension of disbelief': on the stage; in social interaction (Goffman, 1959; Burke, 1952, 1968); in society's dramas and rituals (Geertz, 1983; Turner & Bruner, 1986; McLaren, 1986; Turner, 1992); on psychological levels (McDougall, 1991; Bollas, 1992); in education (Courtney, 1968a; Heathcote, 1984), and in therapy (Moreno, 1973; Landy, 1982). 2 Drama takes place in each of these fields of activity, but it is the field of drama education which assumes that drama is a tool for learning (Courtney, 1968a; Heathcote, 1984). Research in drama education has been catalyzed recently by the establishment of international conferences, institutes and a journal, at Griffith University and the University of Exeter, inter alia. This has energized qualitative approaches and reflexive analysis. Some believe "there has never been a better time for researching our own drama workplaces" (Errington, 1996, p. 23). Nonetheless, researchers indicate that basic questions have never been resolved. Educators lack a common vocabulary to discuss the learning process, or to critically approach