Lifelong learnings: Pedagogy, research-based theatre and the ongoing performance of teacher / teaching narratives

Abstract

This article details the ongoing and re-defining relationship between playwright / play, research-based theatre and teacher / teaching narratives. Adapted from an invited talk at the University of British Columbia, July 2024, and adopting an autoethnographic practitioner lens as teacher / playwright / researcher, the article explores the creation of the author’s play, Pedagogy, centered on early-career teaching and learning. It describes its shifting position as a performance text within mainstream theatre then educational and academic settings – and the relationship between playwright / teacher identities – suggesting a complex relationality between plays, playwright and their iterations across time. Simultaneously, it considers narratives – and identities - of teaching and learning as similarly shifting for practitioner / researchers as a kind of ongoing performance.