Reading the Maps of Meaning Within Drama: Visible Discourse(s), Multimodal Semiotics, and Analogous Reflection in Applied Theatre Inquiry

Abstract

David Buckingham, in a recent article in Media, Culture, and Society (2009), calls into question many claims made by those who inquire into creative educational methods. This is to say that he contests the idea that inquiry into a creative event can yield insight into anything but the socio-cultural complexity of the event itself. What then might scholars inquire into when exploring what applied theatre does? This article looks at two specific moments from a process drama facilitated for use with a group of teacher candidates at a Midwestern U.S. urban university and posits that what might be explored is how certain discourses are made visible through the utterances that emerge within an applied theatre event.