Presenter: Peter Duffy
Wednesday, July 29th from 12-3pm
$60 per ticket
This master class examines how drama‑based pedagogical practices can augment and extend science of reading instruction by strengthening comprehension, inference, oral language, vocabulary, and motivation—without displacing systematic phonics or explicit decoding instruction. Rather than attempting to make drama “fit” inside a phonics block, the session positions drama as a complementary, research‑informed pedagogy that enriches the conditions in which reading develops.
Grounded in literacy research, embodied cognition, and drama education, the master class challenges pedagogies of stillness that often accompany contemporary reading initiatives. Participants explore how reading is an embodied, meaning‑making process and how drama activates learners’ cognitive, emotional, linguistic, and social resources in ways closely aligned with strong reading outcomes. A brief overview of the “reading tree” metaphor situates drama as part of the wider ecology that supports reading growth—nourishing language, background knowledge, and interpretation alongside formal instruction.
The session focuses on drama strategies most strongly connected to improved reading achievement. A variety of techniques are explored not as performance activities, but as pedagogical tools that prompt students to infer, visualize, predict, question, summarize, and articulate meaning—key comprehension processes identified across literacy research. Participants experience how embodied role‑taking, improvisation, and collective meaning‑making support oral language development, deepen engagement with text, and strengthen students’ capacity to “read between the lines.”
Through practical exemplars and theoretical grounding, the master class offers educators and theatre practitioners a clear, defensible way to integrate drama into literacy instruction as a “yes‑and” approach—one that honors the science of reading while leveraging drama’s proven capacity to deepen understanding, sustain motivation, and cultivate richly literate readers.
Presenter: Olivia Aston Bosworth, Robert Hindsman, and Sam Provenzano
Thursday, July 30th from 1-4pm
$60 per ticket
As a Tony Award–winning regional theatre, the Alliance Theatre is unique in its approach to community engagement. Whether on stage or off, Alliance is committed to serving audiences of all ages—from birth through beyond. This interactive masterclass invites participants into three dynamic programs designed to engage often underserved age demographics, offering practical tools and adaptable strategies for their own communities.
Participants will begin with our early learners as we explore the Bernhardt Theatre for the Very Young and PNC PlaySpace educational strategies, experience sensory storytelling, caregiver engagement, and performance techniques that center connection, play, and early childhood development. Moving into adolescence, we will share devising and ensemble-building strategies from the Palefsky Collision Project, our nationally recognized teen program that empowers young artists to generate original work rooted in their lived experiences. Finally, participants will engage with arts-integrated community-building exercises and theatrical techniques from our Memory Café program, designed for patrons living with dementia or Alzheimer’s, focusing on creativity, dignity, and meaningful connection.
Through hands-on exploration and reflection, this masterclass offers a holistic look at how one theatre creates responsive, high-impact programming across the lifespan—equipping participants with adaptable practices to expand access, deepen engagement, and reimagine who theatre is for.