Music theatre for young audiences - a school of perception?

• Applicant: Dr. Christiane Plank-Baldauf
• Subject Area: Theatre and Media Studies
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 498011721

The aim of my project Music theatre for young audiences - a school of perception? is to research an artistic practice of the last 10 years. These performances understand scenic production as an artistic work of education. Forms of musical-theatrical narration that emerged from these development processes are not based on a figure-related, causal action dramaturgy. They concern musical events, sounds, noises, actions (of sound generation), gestures or objects in terms of their theatrical effects. Due to of staging live experiences these performances raise the awareness of sensuality in theatre, its meanings and physical effects.The project investigates the complex development processes between artistic material and their affect on the reception and perception of the target group. The development of new dramaturgies and aesthetics in music theatre for young audiences replaces the institutionalized 'listening' and 'understanding' of content and structures which the physical and sensual experience of musical-theatrical events.The project wants to close the research gap between studies and education in music theatre: It represents the first extensive investigation of contemporary narrative forms and their production methods in various theatrical contexts (e.g. in city and state theatres as well as a cooperation between institutionalized theatre and free groups). The focus is on questions about the dramaturgies and aesthetics in these specific practices and about the perceptual behavior of the target group within these rehearsal and production processes. Furthermore, it shows what educational requirements are based on the musical-theatrical narrative forms. Do these aesthetic experiences focus only on rehearsals or performance instead of a long-term change in the target group's perceptions? In addition, it must be observed if there is a critical reflection on the experiences of the creation and rehearsal processes with young audiences in the institution. Are there influences on other productions, education processes or even on the design of the season program based on the experience with the target group?The subject of research requires an interdisciplinary approach including (musical) theatre studies, pedagogical, ethnographical, perception-philosophical methods as well as methodological approaches from everyday culture, childhood researches and institutional criticism.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants