NCID-2543
Shavonne Coleman
Assistant Professor
University of Michigan
Education/Degree:
1 Applied Drama/Theatre for the Young Applied Drama/Theatre for the Young Applied Drama/Theatre for the Young Applied Drama/Theatre for the Young (Eastern Michigan University)
About
Shavonne Coleman (she/they) is a fabulist, facilitator, teaching/performing artist, writer, director, and cultivator of community from Detroit. Recently, she was at the University of Texas at Austin as the Theatre for Dialogue Coordinator and most recently the Assistant Director for Transformative Learning in the Center for Teaching and Learning where she was recently honored with a President’s Staff Award. Other recognitions include the Emerging Leadership award to research the historical impact of people of color in TYA from Theatre for Young Audiences (USA/assitej), the UT Teaching Innovation Grant which she used to cultivate an experiential learning experience by taking students to the Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Conference, and in 2022 she was awarded the Anne K. Flagg Multicultural Award (AATE). Passionate about how we engage young people in the arts, she serves as a Board Member for CTFA (Children's Theatre Foundation of America).
Current Work
Shavonne Coleman focuses on the use of theatre/drama techniques as a tool for teaching, learning, and a more just society. Her current writing projects include a chapter of a soon-to-be-published TYA play anthology entitled "Every Great Dream" and a commission by Seattle Children’s Theatre to adapt "Your Name is a Song" by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow. Other projects include documenting the TYA BIPOC Super Heroes Project, seeking to uncover hidden/erased BIPOC histories in TYA, drama/theatre as a tool for Faculty Development and Higher Ed Interventions, among other interests. Shavonne is committed to finding ways to document the work of people who have been historically ignored and rejected in formal texts and spaces. Her work hopes to broaden the ways we define traditional American Theatre creating a more inclusive and equitable field, engaging in theatre making and appreciation in urban areas, promoting accessibility, increasing representation while uplifting it's ability to cultivate c
Research Area Keyword(s)
Applied Theatre, Theatre for Young Audiences, Theatre for Social Change, Educational Theatre