Investigating The \u27audience\u27 In Theatre For Young Audiences: The Call For Artistic Educators

Theatre history provides little information on theatre audiences and how the concept of an audience has changed over time. Through the investigation of theatre history texts, theatre theorists\u27 manifestos, and interviews with workers in the field of theatre for young audiences, this thesis outlines the theatre audience from the first performance to the present and examines how the history of the concept of child and young audiences has developed in recent years. Opposing views exist on the subject of how a child is perceived as well as the purpose and role of a theatre audience. In this thesis, I investigate the classical, romantic, realist, modern, and current theatre movements and how scholars and theorists have perceived or written about their audiences in an effort to cultivate an understanding of what an audience is today and how the concept of theatre etiquette has or has not changed throughout history in order to relate these findings to experiences of audiences today. I began this thesis with a general knowledge of audience, from a personal perspective as a performer and audience member. However, through my collected data, I find that audiences are valued in distinctive ways throughout various movements in theatre history. With this understanding, I wrote a short book to help young audience members to understand what the present conventions are as a theatre audience member