Title
How we know what we know: Theatre and Theory of Knowledge

Workshop description
Art is the lie that brings us closer to the truth.

This workshop is inspired by Pablo Picasso’s famous quote which helps us to glean the purpose of the Arts. This workshop will help you engage philosophically with knowledge in the arts and theatre specifically. It will help you to make connections between your teaching, the methodology of other subject areas and the big questions of life related to how we know anything! All in an hour and a half!
Can you spot the lie yet?

Learning outcomes

Participants will:

• engage with big questions using personal knowledge to support your ideas, and analyse where this knowledge comes from (experience, culture, community) and how this might affect our perspectives, ethics and bias
• understand the different interpretations of the word ‘truth’ from objective truths to personal faith and the role that evidence plays in this
• better understand the methodology and purpose of theatre and its role in discovering ‘the truth’ and how this in turn influences how your students know things about themselves and the world around them

Target audience
Designed for secondary theatre and arts teachers, teachers of DP Theatre, and any teacher interested in philosophy.

Level: Advanced

Nita Dewse

I’ve been teaching Theory of Knowledge for the last 4 years and really love how it has added depth to my regular teaching. Despite the fact that this sort of thinking regularly makes my brain hurt, it has also helped to confirm why the Arts are so important in a student’s life; how grappling with emotion, intuition and faith provide balance to an education system that mostly assesses language, memory and reason.

However, it has also helped me see the connections between other subject areas as well – the beauty of mathematics or the imagination of a scientist for example. The main unifyng thing, however, is humankind’s constant quest for finding ‘the truth’. Despite the different approaches taken across subject areas, mankind’s desire to understand ‘how we fit into the world/universe’ is a great unifier and Theatre plays a great role in this across all cultures and ages.

Event coordinator
Helen Abbott helen@ista.co.uk

Region 1: Asia & Europe
Thursday 12th May 2022
9:00 am – 10:30 am British Summer Time (BST)
10:00 am – 11:30 am Central European Summer Time (CEST)
4:00 pm – 5:30 pm Singapore Standard Time (SST)

Region 2: Americas & Europe
Session 2 Americas/Europe
6:00 am – 7:30 am Pacific Daylight time (PDT)
9:00 am – 10:30 am Eastern Daylight time (EDT)
2:00 pm – 3:30 pm British Summer Time (BST)
3:00 pm – 4:30 pm Central European Time (CEST)

The workshop will take place on Zoom.
Joining instructions will be emailed to participants 24 hours before the event.
Some familiarity with Google Drive, Google Docs etc. would be helpful, but is not a requirement.

Places are limited to 25 participants

The cost of this/these sessions is GBP £35 per person for ISTA members and GBP £40 per person for non members.

Please note that once booked and invoiced the registration fees are non-refundable and non-transferable as per our event terms and conditions.

Any materials shared with you prior to the workshop, such as the workbook. A notebook and pencil are always useful.

Space requirements
If possible, please try to have a small amount of space near to you for any practical work.