New York University
Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development
Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions
Program in Educational Theatre
82 Washington Square East, Pless Annex 223
Creative Play in the Arts E17.2059
Wednesday: 4:55 - 6:35pm
Black Box Theatre, Pless 14
Dr. Nancy Smithner
Office telephone: 212-998-5250 email: ns23@nyu.edu
Office hours by appointment: 212-998-5868
Course Description: This course explores the playful elements in personality, culture and artistic creation, through vocal and movement improvisation, song, mask work, exploration and creation of ritual, story writing and telling, and investigation of the clown/fool/trickster. The theoretical interpretations of play in child development and Drama in
Education practices will also be examined.
Objectives: Students will discover and analyze the meaning of creative play in their personal development as artists and teachers, recognizing basic principles which unite the arts and impart universality to both aesthetics and education.
Class Format: This class is experiential and participatory, and a majority of the exercises are physical. Please come dressed to move, or bring comfortable clothing to change into.
Required texts:
Huizinga, Johan. Homo Ludens. Boston: Beacon, 1955.
Nachmanovitch, Stephen. Free Play. New York: Jeremy M.
Tarcher/Perigree Books, 1990.
Turner, Victor. From Ritual to Theatre: The Human Seriousness of Play.
New York: Performing Arts Journal Press, 1982.
Other reading assignments, which are listed in the following schedule will be on reserve at Bobst Library, Level A, or will be given to the class in the form of handouts.

Assignments:
(1) Play Box weekly ritual: each week students are required to bring in a quote, an image, an idea or an object which represents the notion of “play,” and place it in the box. These present-day “play artifacts” will be compiled into a weekly paper entitled “Playback,” which will be handed out each week, thus enabling us to experience and understand the depth and breadth of play in everyday life.
(2) Two five page papers, one examining and critiquing the
Huizinga text, and the other exploring one of the other two required texts, either Turner or Nachmanovitch. This is not a book report or summary of the book, but your commentary on and analysis of the theories presented.
Depth of thought is essential. Follow M.L.A. or A.P.A. guidelines. Due
October 26th (Huizinga) and November 16 th (other).
(3) A five page essay on one of the following elements of creative play in contemporary performance, ritual or celebration:
-- Performance (i.e. dance, drama, street theatre, performance art, vaudeville, opera, etc.)
-- Ritual (i.e. religious service, funeral, hazing, etc.)
-- Celebration/Event (i.e. Halloween, wedding festivities, sporting event, game)
Please reference theoretical course readings in relation to your research in the paper.
Follow M.L.A. or A.P.A. guidelines. Due December 7th, the last day of class.
(4) Group Ritual/Performance Piece: The final project will consist of the creation of a ten minute original performance piece or ritual, incorporating at least three of the following components: masks, movement, voice, music, costumes/props. The emphasis will be on the process of creation, rather than the product. Students will work in groups of three or four, and the piece should be geared so that the entire class is involved or engaged in some way. This work will be presented on
December 7th, the last day of class.
Assessment: Evaluation will be based on participation in discussions, games, improvisations and composition work; timely completion of all written and performance requirements; and attendance, which is extremely important as this is an experiential course -- more than
one absence will effect the final grade.
Breakdown:
Play Box: 10%

Papers: 20% each (60%)
Participation and Attendance: 20%
Group Ritual: 10%
Other: Students are encouraged to take notes on the exercises presented in class immediately following the class session or the next day, in order to maintain a record valuable teaching resources or workshop techniques.
Questions are welcomed by the instructor and individual appointments can be scheduled to discuss the work in progress.
Do You Have Any Particular Needs?
Please let me know if there is anything I should be aware of regarding you and a particular need or characteristic, such as a medical condition, an early pregnancy, a sensory or hidden disability, etc. that may influence our interactions, your participation, or your personal well-being. I want to make the course as inclusive as possible, so I’d appreciate your communication to keep me informed about you.
Open Door Policy
It is my every intention to create a safe environment and a comfortable learning community for everyone in the class. If at any time you feel unsafe or uncomfortable, please feel free to address these issues with me. I would suggest setting up a time to speak with me during our office hours, but if my available times conflict with your other obligations, please email me with other possible times that might work for you, and we’ll make an appointment.
Blackboard
As we continue to participate in the fast paced development of technological resources in the new millennium, Blackboard at NYU continues to develop new and innovative ways for students to utilize a web-based interface to enhance their learning experience. One of the most important aspects of the
Blackboard is the additional time it allows for students to interact with course materials, post responses to the readings and respond to their peers’ postings, access external links on the internet, and discuss challenges and best practices. http://www.nyu.edu/its/faq/blackboard/students/index.html#help

Proposed Schedule: Creative Play in the Arts Fall 2011
September 7 Introduction/Greeting Ritual
Creativity
2010
September 14
Reading: Bronson, Po & Ashley Merryman, “ The
Crisis, Newsweek, July 19,
Word Play/Storytelling
New
2008
September 21
Reading: Robin Marantz Henig, “Taking Play Seriously,”
York Times Magazine, February 17,
Ancestors of ritual in
Reading: Roger Caillois, Chapter 1: “The Definition of
Play” from Man, Play and Games
Concepts in Theatre and
Education
Nan Smithner, “Creative Play: the importance incorporating play, liminality and teaching K – 12,” Key
Drama
September 28 Play in Drama in Education Practices
Reading: Nellie McCaslin, Chapter 3, “Play,” in Creative
Drama in the Classroom and
Beyond as
Gavin Bolton, “The Game of Drama,” in Drama
Education
October 5 Trust/Atmosphere/Ritual
Reading: Victor Turner, From Ritual to Theatre,
Introduction & “Liminal to Liminoid, in Play,
Flow, Ritual”, (pages 7 – 60)
October 12 Child’s Play

Children’s
Reading: Joseph Chilton Pearce, “Play,” in Magical Child
Teach Self-
Magazine, Sept. 25,
Scarlett & Naudeau, “Introduction,” in
Play
Tough, Paul, “Can the Right Kinds of Play
Recommended:
Control?” New York Times
2009
Rozik, Chapter 12: Culture As Play/
Game, in The Roots of Theatre
October 19
Nachmanovitch
A Comparative Discussion: Huizinga, Turner,
Reading: Mechthild Nagel, "Play in Culture and the
Jargon of Primordiality: A Critique of Homo
Ludens" in Play and Culture Studies, Vol. I
Rozik, Chapter 14: Playing as Thinking, in The
Roots of Theatre
October 26 Clown/Fool/Trickster: Disguise
Reading: Bahktin, Rabelais & His World
First Essay Due
Animals/Mask
November 2
Children selection
November 9 final
Performance
Reading: Donald Baker, “To Play or Not to Play” in
Elements of Nature and Drama
Brian Sutton Smith, “Play and Ambiguity”
TBA
Reading: Richard Schechner, “The Future of Ritual,”
Discussion: chapter in book by the same title
Contrasting Play, Ritual, Celebration, &

November 16
Life
Secret/Make Believe/Dark Play
Reading: Schechner, “Playing,” in The Future of Ritual
Erving Goffman Erving, Chapter 1 from The
Presentation of Self In Everyday
Second Essay Due
November 23 Contemporary and Cultural Interpretations of Play
Construction
Reading: Gaskins, Laight & Lancy, “The Cultural of Play” in Play and
Development
Play in
Lasater & Johnson, “Culture, Play and Early
Childhood Education,” in Children’s
Diverse Cultures
November 30
December 7
Planning final rituals and performances
Symbols: The Labyrinth
Reading: Fisher, Adrian & Georg Gerster, selections from The Art of the Maze
Final Rituals & Performance
Third Essay Due
Play Bibliography
Bahktin, Mikhail. Rabelais and His World. MA: MIT Press, 1965.
Boal, Augusto. Games for Actors and Non-actors. New York: Routledge,
1992.
Bolton, Gavin. Drama as Education. Essex, UK: Longman, 1984.

Callois, Roger. Man, Play and Games. ILL: University of Illinois Press,
2001.
Courtney, Richard. Play, Drama & Thought. New York: Drama Book
Specialists, 1974.
Goffman, Erving. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. London, Penguin
Books, 1979.
Goldman, L.R. Child’s Play: Myth, Mimesis and Make-Believe. New York and Oxford: Berg, 1998.
Goncu, Artin & Suzanne Gaskins, eds. Play and Development. London:
Lawrence Earlbaum Associates, 2007.
Harrison, Adrian. 36 Games Kids Love to Play. MA: Northeast Foundation for Children, 2002.
Hartley, Ruth and Robert M. Goldenson. The Complete Book of Children’s
Play. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1963.
Huizinga, Johan. Homo Ludens. Boston: Beacon, 1955.
Hughes, Fergus. Children, Play and Development. Wisconsin: Allyn & Bacon,
1995.
Jenkinson, Sally. The Genius of Play. Gloucestershire, UK: 2001.
Johnstone, Keith. Impro for Storytellers. New York: Routledge, 1999.
Kalliala, Marjatta. Play Culture in a Changing World. Berkshire, England:
Open University Press, 2006.
McCaslin, Nellie, ed. Children and Drama. New York and London:
Longman, 1981.
---, Creative Drama in the Classroom and Beyond. New York: Longman,
1996.
Nachmanovitch, Stephen. Free Play. New York: Jeremy M.
Tarcher/Perigree Books, 1990.
Pearce, Joseph Chilton. Magical Child. New York: Bantam, 1980.

Paley, Vivian Gussin. A Child’s Work: The Importance of Fantasy Play. Ill:
University of Chicago Press, 2004.
Reifel, Stuart, ed. Play & Culture Studies, Volume I: Diversions and
Divergences
in Fields of Play. Greenwich, Conn: Ablex Publishing Corporation,
1998.
Reesman, Jeanne Campbell. Trickster Lives: Culture and Myth in American
Fiction. GA: University of Georgia Press, 2001.
Roopnarine, Jaipaul L. and James E. Johnson, Frank H. Hooper, eds.
Children’s
Play in Diverse Cultures. New York: State University of Albany Press,
1994.
Rozik, Eli. The Roots of Theatre: Rethinking Ritual and Other Theories of
Origin.
Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2002.
Scarlett, W. George & Sophie Naudeau, Dorothy Salonius-Pasternak,
Iris Ponte. Children’s Play. CA: Sage Publications, 2005.
Schechner, Richard. The Future of Ritual. London & New York: Routledge,
1995.
Spolin, Viola. Improvisation for the Theatre. Illinois: Northwestern
University Press, 1999.
Turner, Victor. From Ritual to Theatre: The Human Seriousness of Play.
New York: Performing Arts Journal Press, 1982.
Van Hoorn, Judith, ed. Play at the Center of the Curriculum. NJ: Prentice
Hall, 1999.
Willeford, William. The Fool and His Scepter. London: Arnold, 1969.
Winnicott, D.W. Playing and Reality. New York: Routledge, 1986.