The Theatre Artist’s Guide to Consent-Based Pedagogy
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This book draws on cognitive science to identify how students’ brains change during different developmental stages and when faced with modern challenges, such as the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, early screen exposure, and chronic stress, and provides theatre educators with teaching tools, lesson plans, and practical approaches to effectively and ethically work with today’s youth. Offering shifts in facilitation techniques that align with students’ cognitive, social, emotional, and artistic needs, this text suggests ways for theatre artists and educators to adapt their teaching methodologies to better support students at their most vulnerable.
Illustrated by Erika V Bunce, this text was written to make neuroscience accessible and to support teachers in updating their practice, providing over 20 lesson plans and activities to put consent-based pedagogy into action.
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With over 20 lesson plans and activities rooted in anti-oppressive pedagogies, Universal Design for Learning, and culturally sustaining teaching strategies, this guide equips theatre artists and educators with actionable strategies for supporting students and young artists. These lessons model a shift towards transparent teaching and consent-based facilitation of creative spaces to establish theatrical learning and production processes that empower students through the use of developmentally appropriate pedagogy.
Coming Soon…
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The Devil's Advocate: Applying Kink Perspectives for Top Drop and Aftercare in Larp
This chapter was coauthored with Ilan Norwood, commissioned by the Knutepunkt editors. Due April 2026
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Dramaturgy of Sex Onstage (Review)
This book review was commissioned by the book review editors of Review: The Journal of Dramaturgy and is anticipated for publication in 2026
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An Actor’s Guide to Corporate Role Play (Review)
This book review was commissioned by the book review editor of Theatre Topics and is anticipated for publication in July 2026
Publications
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Villarreal, Amanda Rose. Forthcoming. “Research and FanFic: Teaching Inquiry, Sourcing, and Citing” in Teaching Writing in Theatre and Performance Studies: an Instructor’s Guide. Under Contract with Routledge
Villarreal, Amanda Rose. 2023. “Intimacy in Play: Training Actors for Agentic Symmetry in Unscripted Interactions.” In Experiential Theatres: Praxis-Based Approaches to Training 21st Century Theatre Artists, edited by William W. Lewis and Sean Bartley. Routledge. pp 53–63
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Villarreal, Amanda Rose. In Press. “Meet My Gaze: Crafting the Agentic Gaze for Zoom Theatre.” Theatre and Performance Notes & Counternotes 1 (1): 1–16
Rikard, Laura, and Amanda Rose Villarreal. 2023. “Focus on Impact, not Intention: Moving from ‘Safe’ Spaces to Spaces of Acceptable Risk.” Journal of Consent-Based Performance 2 (1): 1–16.
Villarreal, Amanda Rose. 2023. “Curatorial Directing and Actor Agency: Consent-Based Practices for Digital Performance.” Journal of Consent-Based Performance 2 (1): 87–103
Villarreal, Amanda Rose. 2022. “Zooming In: The Intimate Panopticon and Pandemic Performance.” Etudes 7 (2).
Villarreal, Amanda Rose. 2022. “The Evolution of Consent-Based Performance” Journal of Consent-Based Performance 1 (1): 5–23.
Villarreal, Amanda Rose. 2021. “Meet My Gaze: Actor Agency and Curatorial Directing During COVID-19” Texas Theatre Journal 18: 17–28.
Villarreal, Amanda Rose, Bella Poynton, and Gaby Martineau. 2021. “Valha11a: Agency and Genre in Emergent Virtual Larp.” Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism 36 (1): 137–57.
Villarreal, Amanda Rose, Bella Poynton, and Gaby Martineau. 2021. “Valha11a: Agency and Genre in Emergent Virtual Larp.” Global Performance Studies 4 (2): 137–57.
Villarreal, Amanda Rose. 2019. “It Happens Here: Facilitating Campus-wide Conversations Through Performance.” Texas Theatre Journal 16 (1): 1–11.
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Villarreal, Amanda Rose. 2024. “Staging Violence against Women and Girls (Review).” Theatre Topics 34 (2): 188-189.
Villarreal, Amanda Rose. 2020. “Review: Off Sites: Contemporary Performance Beyond Site-Specific.” Theatre History Studies 39: 272–275
Villarreal, Amanda Rose. 2020. “Review: Building Character: The Art and Science of Casting.” Musical Theatre Journal, 13 (3).
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Villarreal, Amanda Rose, Cessalee Smith-Stovall, and Mya Brown. 2023. “The Convergence of Consent and Cultural Competence While Staging Intimacy: Editors’ Notes.” Journal of Consent-Based Performance, 2 (2): iv-viii.
Villarreal, Amanda Rose. 2023. “Questions Worth Asking: Editor’s Comments on Questioning Past Practice.” Journal of Consent-Based Performance, 2 (1): vi-vii.
Villarreal, Amanda Rose. 2022. “Planting Our Feet: Editor’s Comments on Exploring the Many Corners of Our Emerging Field.” Journal of Consent-Based Performance, 1 (2): iii-vi.
Villarreal, Amanda Rose. 2022. “Editor’s Comments.” Journal of Consent-Based Performance, 1 (1): iii-iv.
Pace, Chelsea, Laura Rikard, and Amanda Rose Villarreal. 2022. “Welcome to the JCBP.” Journal of Consent-Based Performance 1 (1): 1–4.
Villarreal, Amanda Rose. 2015. “One Voice: Devising with Youth as Emancipatory Pedagogy.” Texas Educational Theatre Association Notes from the Field 2015. 72-91.
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2024. “Fears and Tears: Larp, Kink, and What We Can Learn From Each Other” Solmukohta Conference: Tampere, Finland.
2024. “Empowered Roleplay: Fueling Growth Through Gestalt and Introductory Improvisational Technique” California Career Development Association: Online
2023. “Open Space Facilitation as Equitable Devising Pedagogy.” Devising and New Play Nurturing: Encouraging Diverse Voices Through New and Rebuilt Practices. Association for Theatre in Higher Education: Austin, TX.
2022. “Stepping In: Living and Witnessing Traumas Not My Own.” American Society for Theatre Research: New Orleans, LA.
2022. “Intimacy in Play: A Case Study in Actor Training for Gamified Performance” Experiential Theatres: Praxis-Based Approaches to Training 21st Century Theatre Artists. Association for Theatre in Higher Education: Detroit, MI
2022. “Invitations: Game Mechanics that Shape Digital Spectatorship and Performance” Rehearsing Audience Research: Critical Strategies for Digital Experiences. Association for Theatre in Higher Education: Detroit, MI
2022. “Devising Delayed: The Art of Invitation and Emergent Narrative” COVID-era Devising: Contributing Toward a New Canon. Association for Theatre in Higher Education: Detroit, MI
2022. “Intimacy in Play: Training Actors for Gamified Performance” The Revolution Will Be Syllabized: Experiential Practice in the Theatre Studies Classroom Roundtable. Mid-America Theatre Conference: Cleveland, OH
2021. “Immersive Intimacy: Towards a Broader Discourse of the Spectrum of Consent” Enveloping Worlds: Toward a Discourse of Immersivity and Participatory Performance. American Society for Theatre Research: San Diego, CA
2021. “Agency and Intimacy Choreography” Curated Open Panel: Negotiating Agency and Consent in Performer Training. Theatre and Performance Research Association: Liverpool, UK
2021. “Re: Framing Our Gaze.” RE: Framing Actors in Online Stages. Association for Theatre in Higher Education: Austin, TX
2021. “Online Intimacies and Agency in Digital Theatre Practice.” Framing Just Spaces: Digital Revolution, Intervention, and Reflections. Output in the Interstice: Performance and Product in Times of Hiatus Symposium: Buffalo, NY
2020. “Theatre With, Not For: TYA as Anti-Oppressive Pedagogy.” Theatre for Young Audiences as Tool of Anti-Oppressive Pedagogy. Association for Theatre in Higher Education: Detroit, MI
2020. “Creating Immersive Agents: Consent Mechanics for Immersive Performance.” HERE Summit and Festival: Pasadena, CA.
2020. “Theatrical Application: Using Performance for Social Justice.” Research and Innovation Office’s Broader Impacts Summit: Boulder, CO.
2020. “When Breaking Character is Building Character: Reinforcing Boundaries in Immersive Performance.” (At) the Boundaries of Character. Mid-America Theatre Conference: Chicago, IL.
2020. “Building Character and Career Construction” co-presented with Enrique Villarreal. Crafting Character. Mid-America Theatre Conference: Chicago, IL
2019. “Humanizing Educational Environments: Humanities for Retention.” New Scenes: Transdisciplinary Collaboration in Action. Association for Theatre in Higher Education: Orlando, FL
2019. “Training Students, Training Staff: Educational Larp as Utilized on College Campuses” Community Engagement and High Impact Practices in Two-Year Colleges: How Theatre Programs are Serving Our Campus Communities.” Association for Theatre in Higher Education: Orlando, FL
2019. “It Happens Here: Invisible Theatre and On-Campus Controversies” Staging Academia: Campus Controversies in American Drama. American Literature Association 30th Annual Conference on American Literature: Boston, MA
2019. “Implementing Consent in Audience Engagement” Immersive Design Summit: San Francisco, CA
2018. “It Happens Here: Enacting Change Through Theatre Education.” Texas Educational Theatre Association Academic Symposium: Dallas, TX
2018. “Breaking Through: Inciting Change through Performance with Police.” Panel: Unhushed: Artivism as Amplifier of Unheard Voices. Association for Theatre in Higher Education Conference: Boston, MA
Shawna Mefferd-Kelty, Emily Rollie, and Amanda Rose Villarreal. 2018. How to Refresh and Ignite Your Introduction to Theatre Class. Association for Theatre in Higher Education Conference: Boston, MA
2018. “It Happens Here: Performances to Promote Campus-wide Conversations of Consent” Theatre as a Liberal Art Debut Panel. Association for Theatre in Higher Education Conference: Boston, MA