Gerard (Jerry) Boland
Lecturer
Course Coordinator
DipMimeComedy Dell'Arte, DipDramaEd & Therapy Newcastle (UK), BA, DipEd MEd NE
Jerry Boland
Bio
Jerry Boland trained at the Dell'Arte School in California and also with Dorothy Heathcote in the UK , in the field of educational drama. Drawing on these methods, Jerry teaches devised theatre, production, computer technology and theatre history. His focus areas of interest include: spectacle, re-enactment, directing, and theatre in non traditional theatre spaces.
Gerry Boland is a member of NSW Educational Drama Association, Drama Australia , International Drama in Education Association (IDEA); the Australasian Association for Theatre, Drama and Performance Studies (ADSA), the Community Cultural Development research cluster of the Live Events Research Network (LERN); and the International Federation for Theatre Research (IFTR). Within IFTR he is active in the Political Performance, and the Performance as Research, Working Groups. He chairs the steering committee for Bathurst ’s biennial Catapult Youth Arts Festival.
Research
- Examining the ways heritage tourism and history-based events can be understood in terms of the ways in which they use dramatic role conventions and role distance to position participant stakeholders in relation to the historical topic under consideration. In particular, how emergent “pod” communication technologies can be used to develop a fresh approach to self-guided walking and driving tours designed for heritage tourism and historical interpretation.
- Current Research Projects: PhD thesis: Recovering the “Radical in Performance - applying Paulo Freire’s c onscientização process as a model for theatre-making amongst event-specific popular audiences. University of Newcastle .
- Research Grant: Comedy & Resistance: Contemporary Mumming as Conscientised Cultural Performance. Faculty of Arts Seed Grant, CSU.
- Research Productions: Col. Bell in The City of the Plains by Bob Ellis and Robin McLachlan. Directed by Bill Blaikie. Centenary of Federation History and Education Grant. 2000-2001.
- Director: Inventing the Future, a touring theatre in education project funded by a Centenary of Federation History and Education Grant, February-June 2001.
- Devising Celebration (with Welfare State International) a consultancy with the NSW Department of Education & Training, see: http://www.csu.edu.au/faculty/arts/commun/devising/
Recent publications and Conference papers
Boland, G., & Cameron, D. (2005). Newspaper Theatre: Applying performance-based learning to journalism education. Proceedings of the Journalism Education Association conference, Surfers Paradise, December 2005.
Boland, G. (2005). Navigating between Scylla and Charybdis: Conscientising Theatre Production. International Federation for Theatre Research (IFTR) Conference, University of Maryland , June-July 2005.
Boland, G. (2004). Conscientising Cultural Performance: Theatre-making Amongst Event-Specific Popular Audiences. International Drama in Education Association (IDEA) Congress, Ottawa , Canada , July 2004.
Boland, G. (2001). Popular Theatre as Conscientised Cultural Performance: CYCLE Productions’ Bathurst 1000 Festival Project 1989-1996. International Federation for Theatre Research (IFTR) Conference, University of New South Wales , July 2001.
