Designing a New Performing Arts Education through Constructing a Global Theatre

Abstract

This chapter proposes a new learning infrastructure of performing arts education called Global Theatre. Global Theatre connects students and theatres over the Internet and creates a unique environment to share performing arts. It enables students to enjoy performing arts together, deepen intercultural understanding, and communicate with a global audience in synchronized time, regardless of location and distance. Global Theatre consists of three basic elements: a learning program focused on performing arts; a collaborative community formed by a university, theatre space, and performing group; and an ICT platform that realizes live appreciation of performing arts. In this chapter, two experimental implementations are carried out. The authors conducted a translated play shared by Thailand and Japan in 2009, and an international collaborative play shared by Thailand, Japan, and Malaysia in 2010. Through those experiments, the effectiveness of this new learning environment for performing arts is discussed from the perspective of the three basic elements of this structure.