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Jennifer Kitchen

Biography

I am a theatre education scholar and practitioner, I completed my PhD on the social justice implications of playful and collaborative approaches to teaching Shakespeare at The University of Warwick in 2018 before going on to hold an Institute of Advanced Studies Early Career Fellowship 2019-2020. During my time at Warwick I have supported teaching and research within Education Studies, Warwick Business School and The Institute of Advanced Teaching and Learning. Most recently I have contributed to the Education Studies Postgraduate Modules ‘Education and Society’, 'Drama and Theatre Studies in Theory and Practice' and 'The Role of Story in Drama and Theatre Education'

Before beginning my doctorate I worked as a theatre education workshop leader and youth theatre director, including a year’s residence with Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. I continue to practice on a freelance basis in areas relating to Shakespeare, storytelling and early years’ theatre education.

Research Interests

Active Shakespeare Education; Drama and Theatre Education; Social Justice in Arts Education; Play and Creativity in Education; Educational Communities of Practice.

I currently hold an Honorary Research Fellowship with the department in recognition of my research and writing work.

Recent and Forthcoming Publications

Forthcoming 2025 ‘Restorying Play in Educational Drama and Theatre’ in Research in Drama Education Special Edition - RiDE 2056: The Futures of Drama Education And Applied Theatre And PerformanceLink opens in a new window

Forthcoming 2024 ‘“Shakespeare on your doorstep”: opportunities for inclusion and participation in the educational and community work of the Shakespeare North Playhouse’Link opens in a new window in The Shakespeare North Playhouse: Replica Theatres and their Uses London: Routledge eds. Keenan, Timothy

2024 with Tracy Irish Teaching and Learning Shakespeare through Theatre-based PracticeLink opens in a new window London: Arden Shakespeare

2024 Critical Pedagogy and Active Approaches to Teaching ShakespeareLink opens in a new window Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

2022 ‘Shakespeare Youth Performance Festivals as Spaces for Postcolonial Restorying’ in The Routledge Companion to Theatre and Young People London: Routledge eds. Busby, Selina; Freebody, Kelly and Rajendran, Charlene

2022 with Turner-King, Rachel 'Convening the International Drama in Education Research Institute (IDIERI) Conference: Past, present and futures' in Applied Theatre Research, 10:1, 7-19

2020 ‘Theatre Education and Populism: the ensemble ‘family’ as a space for dialogic empathy, civic care and social hope’ in British Educational Research Journal Special Edition ‘Interrogating education: critical thinking in the time of populist politics’

2018 'Playfulness in performative approaches to teaching Shakespeare' in The Arts in Language Teaching. International Perspectives: Performative – Aesthetic – Transversal LIT Verlag: Berlin eds. Mentz, O and Fleiner, M

2015 'The ensemble domesticated: Mapping issues of autonomy and power in performing arts projects in schools'Link opens in a new window in Power and Education 7:1, 90-105