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How important are some routes in our lives? A young theatre group delved into what Tarlington and Michaels (1995, as cited in Norris, 2016, p. 124) refer to as Playbuilding, seeking to explore the depths to which theatre, and specifically collective artistic creation, can negotiate relationships, obstacles and unexpected events in order to seek personal and social empowerment and change. One event, the rail disaster at Tempe on 28th February, 2023, the deadliest in Greek history, became the natural linchpin around which these processes converged. Through drama/ theatre education procedures and contemporary performing art forms, the performance Routes in Light and Darkness re-looked at the content, drew on insights and made new meanings. Both a meaning-making method and a (re)presentational form, the drama/theatre process led the group to data generation, analysis, interpretation, and representation of the issues that young people wished to discuss and transform in their society. The conclusions of the research highlight the contribution of performative methods of enquiry in helping young people, not only to share their personal experiences and problems in times of crisis but also, through collective creation, reveal and identify wider discourses that young people care and are concerned about. To empower the young people through critical thinking and active participation, the performative inquiry methods enable fostering of new social imaginaries for envisioning a more just and democratic world.

This keynote by Jonothan Neelands explores the enduring value of drama and theatre education as a transformative force for learning, imagination, and societal change. Drawing from over four decades of experience, Neelands reflects on his recent work in cultural leadership, particularly in Coventry, UK – a city with a rich history of resilience, diversity, and social action. Through stories of cocreation, ensemble practices, and city-wide cultural strategies, he demonstrates how the pedagogical principles of drama education– empathy, ensemble, participation, and reflective practice – can be applied at scale to foster community regeneration, inclusion, and democratic dialogue. Neelands emphasises the ecosystem theory of change, where partnerships across sectors collectively work toward shared goals using culture as a unifying and empowering tool. He argues that theatre is more than performance; it is the art of togetherness, cultivating empathetic citizens through creative collaboration and storytelling. The keynote closes by reaffirming theatre’s role in shaping compassionate, inclusive societies, especially through engaging the unheard and the marginalised. It is a call to continue imagining, creating, and learning together – whether in classrooms or entire cities – through the golden threads of theatre.

Call for Submissions to The Journal of Drama and Theatre Education in Asia (DaTEAsia) IDEA Congress 2024 Special Issue The Call. DaTEAsia welcomes submissions for a special issue to mark the 10th IDEA (International Drama/Theatre and Education Association) World Congress. The aspirational Congress theme of “A Harmonious World” can be interpreted broadly. Congress participants—both in-person and on-line—are encouraged to submit, as are IDEA members across the globe. Academic articles, practitioner pieces and congress reflections are all acceptable formats. The Journal. First published in 2010, DaTEAsia is the only academic journal...

Since the launch of the third wave of early childhood curriculum reform in the 1980s in Mainland China, significant changes have occurred in China’s early childhood education, pedagogies and teaching ideologies. With the import of early education pedagogies and curriculums from the West, Western drama
education models have been introduced, practiced and developed in Mainland China. This paper, adopting secondary data analysis, begins by the role of games in China’s early childhood education. It then provides an overview of the reform in China’s early childhood education, with a focus on pedagogies,
children’s play, as well as aesthetic education. Meanwhile, this paper explores the trajectory of Western drama education in China’s early childhood education, aiming to outline its transformation from “children’s play” to “drama education” since 2000. The opportunities, trends and challenges of adopting drama education in China’s early childhood education are also discussed.

In 2021, the revised Law on the Protection of Minors defined bullying for the first time in legislation in China and clearly stipulated that schools must establish mechanisms to prevent bullying. However, how to establish a working system still needs to be further formulated. This study implemented a semester-long anti-bullying Forum Theatre in a Chinese rural boarding middle school and conducted qualitative and quantitative analyses. Based on the actual conditions, the project introduced the social-emotional learning (SEL) framework as a tool for teaching and assessment. Results showed that bullying had significant negative correlations with SEL. Forum Theatre improved students' SEL, and can be seen as a bridge between learning and doing of SEL. Anti-bullying Forum Theatre is effective and feasible in Chinese education context and needs to be supported by the psychological and personality development of students.

Distances are created by geographical locations, fixed ideological cultural construction as well as social classes, race, nationalities and gender. However, facing the drastic climate change and continuous natural disasters brought by typhoons, flood and over-exploitation of natural resources in Asia, community theatre practitioners in the Philippines and Taiwan, located in the global south, tried to bridge the distances between countries and within their own societies. They reflect on and combat the impact caused by these challenges with community-based theatre praxes and musical praxes consecutively.