Can Prospective High School Theatre Teachers Be Trained to Utilize Drama-Theatre Processes to Develop Self-Actualization in High School Students?

Prospective theater teachers not only can be trained to develop self-actualization in high school students, but they must develop self-actualization in themselves. Self-actualization, as the cornerstone of humanism, emphasizes the achievable goal of being (rather than becoming) creative, spontaneous, curious, concerned about others, self-sufficient, and truthful. Since communication serves as the crux of developing self-actualization in young people, the drama/theater framework provides the logical set-up for leading adolescents toward self-actualization. Prospective theater teachers may be trained to do this through noncompetitive play and Gestalt awareness exercises. Thus, by playing at and reinventing games of their own design, prospective teachers both learn to adopt dramatic techniques to fit classroom situations and therapeutically enrich their own lives. (A bibliography is included.) (JM)