ABSTRACT
In a rural borough located outside of Pittsburgh, Rachel DeSoto-Jackson deliberates on her work as Managing/Education Director with Footlight Players (a summer youth theatre program hosted by Indiana University of Pennsylvania) and the development of a workshop centering on youth-led dialogue. After weighing the limitations of a product-oriented program, DeSoto-Jackson implemented an alternative, process-oriented model, incorporating the methods of Augusto Boal. Within this process, students initiate and orchestrate their own creative storytelling that is self-guided within small ensembles. The New Works model offers youth control over their theatrical work by activating autonomous self-creation and critical inquiry through personal narrative with an intentional focus on process-over-product. DeSoto-Jackson advocates for this dynamic creative process as a means of offering space for difficult dialogues that might otherwise be lost in the traditional performance model. By shifting the focus, youth participants engage in a depth of learning, vulnerability, and exploration focused on the topic itself.
