The Itinerant Teacher and PETE: An Encounter between Theater People

Abstract

The article shares the experience of working with the Portland Experimental Theater Ensemble (PETE), a theater collective based in Oregon, USA. The activities developed there were defined by the post-doctoral project, The Itinerant Teacher: exchanges and learning in methodological paths. The article analyzes the similarities and differences between the methodologies for creating and learning theater, developed with groups of professional and non-professional actors. The Institute of Contemporary Performance (ICP) offers short and long-term training courses for professional actors and actresses, and the Between You and Me (BYAM) program works with school-age students. Despite having different target audiences and goals, ICP and BYAM use similar methodological propositions, which are the product of PETE’s own artistic experiences. In this explanation, we can identify the artistic-pedagogical elements that are possibly determining factors in theater teacher training.