UC Santa Cruz

Abstract:Joy-infused Theatre By Princess Kannah Buddha once said, "There is no path to happiness; happiness is the path." Scientific studies find that "positive experiences or stimuli reinforce similar behavior in the future. While negative emotions often prompt specific and immediate responses to aid an individual's survival."(Aknin,2021) Positive experiences and stimuli might be the key to fixing many problems that can arise in educational spaces. As Buddha said, it is the path. This paper examines the current theatre acting classroom and rehearsal space model. It calls into question the underlying problems in both models and calls for them to be addressed, analyzed, and changed. This paper argues that a radical joy approach, one that prioritizes boundaries and centers around joy and embodiment alongside the current model, will correct the pitfalls of the current models. With a different approach in the rehearsal room and classroom, spaces that prioritize safety and promote healthy alternatives to acting can be created. An alternative model based on radical joy dismantles the current theatre acting classroom and rehearsal space hierarchies and calls into question the harm that the current model is inflicting.