A new approach to consent practices on stage

How can consent practices shape the way students learn in theatre and dance classrooms? To address this question, Professors Elaine DiFalco Daugherty and Heather Trommer-Beardslee, from CMU's Department of Theatre and Dance, co-authored “Consent Practices in Performing Arts Education”, in October 2024. The book establishes consent as a principle for shaping policies and practices in performing arts. The authors examine power dynamics within classrooms and offer tools to address them by adapting consent protocols from professional theatrical environments for university classrooms and rehearsals. The idea is to guide educators to create spaces for students where everyone respects personal boundaries.  

One specific example of how consent practices are integrated into university spaces involves a simple color-based scheme. Prior to each rehearsal, students use a color-coded scheme called the traffic light exercise, to communicate consent to touch about each area of their body. Red indicates never touch, yellow means touch is allowed if given permission, and green means it is always okay to touch that part of the body. 

Daugherty and Trommer-Beardslee are excited to continue their research on this important and timely topic. Daugherty’s goal is to prepare her theater students for their chosen career paths while advocating for the integration of consent practices in every theatrical space she works in. Trommer-Beardslee is inspired by her dance students and their efforts to transform the dance industry. Her goals include collaborating with her students to create performance-based art and engaging in scholarly projects that emphasize innovative teaching, learning, and choreographic practices. The efforts of these faculty members are making a difference. First-year student Caden Curtin was involved in the Fall 2024 production Young Frankenstein, and worked under Daugherty’s direction in this month’s production, Six Years Old. He says he feels more seen and more comfortable around his peers, along with having a better understanding of personal boundaries.