Prof. John Somers, an honorary fellow of the Department of Drama at the University of Exeter, gave an Interactive Theatre workshop at TNUA on December 12, engaging participants in discussions and an improvised interactive performance.
Prof. Somers founded the Applied Drama program at Exeter, from which he retired in 2005. He has worked extensively outside the UK, teaching in many countries including Finland, Turkey, Greece, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Taiwan.
Prof. Somers has developed, along with students and professional actors, a range of Interactive Theatre programs on issues such as alcohol abuse, runaway children, suicide, self-inflicted harm, problems among farming communities, and teenagers' mental health. He has been to Taiwan for a number of times and worked with its students. He has a good understanding of the theatre education and community theatre in Taiwan.
In his December workshop, Prof. Somers mainly showed the participants what Interactive Theatre was. He said Interactive Theatre makers have to understand the goals that a particular group is seeking to achieve by commissioning a project, and each stage of the project has to be carefully planned and executed.
Research has to be done using resources from the Internet, advice from professionals, experts and individuals, libraries, media reports and others – all these are sources of ideas related to the project goal and elements that can be included in the story for the Interactive Theatre program.
There were over 30 participants in the workshop, six of whom were from a theatre group formed by parents of a Taipei elementary school. The workshop focused on the issue of homosexuality.