Brainball: Teaching Inquiry Theater as a Team Sport

This volume of the Brainball series gives the theater classroom teacher an intentional, sequenced process for creating inclusive theatre pedagogy that maximizes students’ learning. In addition, the Brainball technique offers concrete forms of meaningful assessment applicable to the theater classroom, and connects easily to our newly published national standards in theatre arts education.

Brainball is a purposeful and process-driven set of teaching strategies that gets students to “express their human experience through representative actions.” The book focuses on creating experiences that allow students to grapple with what is going on in their lives – and then work through the joys and pains through role-play activities. This book is also an excellent resource to help guide teachers in intentionally planning to get students to develop positive dispositions, collaborative teams and supportive communities where everyone contributes and everyone has an important role.

Mickey Kolis is the author of three books, a veteran public school science teacher, and currently a university professor. Making learning relevant is his highest professional aspiration.

Benjamin H. Kolis is an actor and theatre devisor in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His show CLOCKED recently won an Audience Pick Award at the Minnesota Fringe Festival.

Tara Lorence currently teaches middle school theater in Columbia Heights, MN. She graduated in 2012 with a double major in Theater and English Education from the University of Wisconsin- Eau Claire.