Drama Research
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Storytelling through theatre is a powerful way to reach others.
Led by Dr. Kathleen Gallagher, we are an ensemble of University of Toronto post-doctoral and graduate students, local and international artists, drama teachers, youth social service workers and young people who collaborate to explore the role and uses of drama in the lives of urban youth around the world.
Research and Team
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Our Research
We found that hope can be be a political alternative, that activating hope may be a form of audacious citizenship.
We are a research ensemble of diverse collaborators committed to exploring the power of drama to create social change.
Latest News
Dr. Gallagher’s SSHRC-funded Drama Workshop research team has had an active year of fieldwork across university and school settings in Toronto—partnering with embedded artists, students, and educators in creative workshops and interviews—while ongoing analysis and a growing international community of practice continue to shape the project across five global sites.
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In this recently published article, we (Gallagher, Kirsh, and Cardwell) argue that attunement to sensory and more-than-human dimensions of climate research fosters alternative ways of knowing and engaging with the environmental crisis. Use the link above to access a copy today.
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Kathleen Gallagher and Christine Balt’s new chapter, Against Righteousness: Finding Activism Through Drama Pedagogies, explores how drama can create meaningful pathways to activism for young people in public education. Challenging the binary of political righteousness and apathy, the chapter argues that drama pedagogy offers a relational and creative space where curiosity, ambiguity, and feeling can help young people engage with activism in more inclusive and accessible ways.
Drawing on empirical research in a Toronto high school, Gallagher and Balt examine how drama-based practices supported students in exploring local histories, environmental questions, and Canada’s settler-colonial legacies. The chapter highlights how creative encounters with everyday places and spaces can foster political awareness and agency, opening new possibilities for activist learning.
By foregrounding wonder, curiosity, and collective exploration, this publication contributes to important conversations about youth civic engagement, drama pedagogy, and the role of arts-based learning in shaping democratic participation.
Drawing on empirical research in a Toronto high school, Gallagher and Balt examine how drama-based practices supported students in exploring local histories, environmental questions, and Canada’s settler-colonial legacies. The chapter highlights how creative encounters with everyday places and spaces can foster political awareness and agency, opening new possibilities for activist learning.
By foregrounding wonder, curiosity, and collective exploration, this publication contributes to important conversations about youth civic engagement, drama pedagogy, and the role of arts-based learning in shaping democratic participation.
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In Conversation With
Andrew Kushnir's new article is an invitation to consider the near-absence of Ukrainian stories on Canadian stages in the year since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began.
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Moving the Centre explores the work of two theatre-makers who simultaneously dare, fumble, and persist in bringing audiences into a space where complicity, authority, and authentic listening are met anew.
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What does it mean to be democratic? What’s the difference between being a citizen in a democracy and a subject in an empire? Dr. Urvashi Sahni answered these pressing questions and more in her inspiring and truly engaging TEDtalk.
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See here the launch of CODE Conversations with Matthew Sheahan, secondary teacher from Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board and President of the Council of Ontario Dance and Drama Educators interviewing Andrew Kushnir and Zorana Sadiq on their experiences with the Radical Hope research, the Towards Youth production, and their poignant thoughts on why Verbatim theatre is an especially important aesthetic with young people in these times.
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Artists for Real Climate Action is a non-partisan, ever-growing collection of actors, filmmakers, writers, musicians, playwrights, graphic designers, directors, and digital marketing folks all sounding the alarm over our climate crisis.
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