To be honest, I didn’t really have a lot of ideas because I (for once in my life) actually knew what I wanted to research. Conveniently it ties in well to both my applied project and PLN and with current issues within PSU today. There is a lot happening around the Music, Theatre, and Dance department coming down to the removal of our dance program. (if you're like me and this this is a problem please click here to sign the petition!) I think in general the world doesn’t value theatrical arts at the level it should be valued, so when money gets tight the arts are the first thing to go. And that leads into what I want to research:
I want to study the effects of theatre and dance on the brain because I want to find out the positive effects of performing arts on students in order to help my reader understand the importance of keeping the performing arts in schools.
Now, at the moment this is too broad but it won’t be narrowed down until I begin my research. Once I do it will narrow itself. But this area is what I have chosen to research.
Moving onto my applied project, it is already underway. So I’ll tell you about it. My applied project/ capstone project is focused around two main topics- performing arts advocacy and breaking the stigma that there aren’t jobs in theatre by showing all the jobs in theatre in a design fair/ workshop kind of way. Students who attend will walk around to the different tables and displays and get hands on experience with different elements of some theatrical jobs. I am bringing in people from PSU as well as professionals out in the working world and alumni to help run tables and help these students learn that you can work in theatre, and here are some of the things that these people do every day.