DID YOU KNOW..

Students involved in drama performance coursework or experience outscored non-arts students on the 2005 SAT by an average of 65 points in the verbal component and 34 points in the math component?

Drama activities improve reading comprehension, and both verbal and non-verbal communication skills?

Drama helps to improve school attendance and reduce high school dropout rates?

A 2005 Harris Poll revealed that 93% of the public believes that arts, including theatre, are vital to a well-rounded education?

Drama can improve skills and academic performance in children and youth with learning disabilities?

Theater in Education

Theatre in Education began in 1965 as a project undertaken by the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry.

1960’s – There was a worldwide movement of protest and change and all kinds of revolution were forming. All aspects of society were affected by this – including education and theatre.

Education was moving away from the talk and listening methods.  

In theater, there was a desire to push away the fourth-wall and to try new ideas and styles, looking at new topics for the content and exploring theatre outside of the theatres themselves.

The people who started TIE were influenced by this change in society.

Social issues had to be addressed that were relevant and immediate for their audiences. The entertainment in theatre was not enough, and so they linked it with the emotional and intellectual - through learning.

This programme continued to develop throughout the 1970’s, but there were problems with the structure of some of the companies, with content, form, and whether writers are better than devising the performances and so on. 

1980’s – Drama was taken out from the National Curriculum and then put back in - but not as a core subject, serving the English syllabus and other subjects.

Funding for Theatre in Education was cut. The Tories believed that art should be value for money, and in theatre terms, TIE was too expensive. And so, many TIE companies vanished.