‘Am I not beautiful?’: cultural identity and the process of co-authorship

ABSTRACT

This case study of a community youth theatre project interweaves reflective descriptions of practice, data excerpts and analysis to examine young people’s exploration of cultural identity through theatre in a regional city in Australia. The process undertaken to create this work is theorised in relation to concepts of cultural difference and cultural diversity, cultural representation and local identity. The article examines the process of generating group authorship of a play, the role and responsibilities of a practitioner in this process and the ‘real life’ consequences of creating applied theatre works that address issues of race, culture and identity in a contemporary Australian context.

KEYWORDS:

• Youth theatre
• reflective practice
• cultural difference
• group authorship
• community resilience

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Dave Kelman has worked for the last 30 years as a director, researcher and drama educator in Melbourne, Australia and Leeds, UK. Kelman is currently the Artistic Director of Western Edge Youth Arts and is an Associate Fellow of Victoria University. His reflective practice research has been widely published.