ABSTRACT Stress and burnout in the educational field primarily in teaching is not a new phenomenon. A great deal of research and analysis to the contributing factors of causation to teacher burnout has been executed and analyzed. The struggle of the artist/teacher, hybrid professionals that maintain two concurrent roles, offers a perspective to burn out that has gone unnoticed. The conflict of roles for the artist/teacher does not infer that the teacher role is incapable of reconciling with the artist role but because of this unique scenario the stories of art teachers and burnout often go unheard. Today's public educator is contending with established stress factors as well as emerging and evolving stress factors. How does this phenomenon impact the artist/teacher's ability or inability to be creative? What are the implications of burnout and its impact on artist/teachers personal and professional work? This qualitative study was conducted using Narrative/Autoethnograpy, Narrative/Ethnography and A/r/tography. The stories of four artist/teachers provides in-depth accounts of their experiences as teachers and how that profession has affected their art making process and well being.

The purpose of this study is to explore the question: what are the ways in which the texts An Actor Prepares (1936) by Constantin Stanislavski and Theatre of the Oppressed (1985) by Augusto Boal intersect with each other and diverge from each other such that in their intersection/divergence a new horizons of understanding may emerge? This question is important in the context of rethinking theatre education. The principle methodology of analysis used is what Shaun Gallagher (1992) terms a "moderate hermeneutics" in which the aim is a "dialogical conversation" leading to a "creative communication between the reader and the text" (p.10). The reason for undertaking a hermeneutical analysis of the two texts is that hermeneutics offers an approach in which the researcher may deeply analyze texts and therefore create new understandings and meanings from those texts. Through the use of hermeneutical analysis, the relationship between the writer and text, and a reader and text becomes a dialectical relationship. A "dialectical relationship" is a conversation between writer, reader and the text. This conversation leads to new interpretations.

The purpose of this study was to explore current pedagogical approaches of undergraduate directing curricula in selected U.S. institutions of higher learning. Building on the work of Clifford Hamar and Anne Fliotsos, the thesis builds a foundation for further study of contemporary directing pedagogy. Fourteen course syllabi were collected voluntarily from members of The Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) and served at the primary source material. They were interpreted and analyzed qualitatively for components that identified the methods and philosophies of the instructor and/or institution. From these syllabi, the researcher found 11 "skill categories" which cover all potential skills and bodies of information that, according to the data, a director should master. The categories are: (1) Script and Performance Analysis; (2) Directorial Techniques and Methods; (3) Production Practices; (4) Role and History of the Director; (5) Actor Training; (6) Technical Knowledge; (7) Personal Growth, Expression, and Vision; (8) Collaboration; (9) Communication; (10) Directorial Criticism; and (11) Storytelling. The categories fall on a spectrum ranging from practical based "knowledges" to skills based in individual resources and artistry, termed "abilities." Once these categories were established, the researcher examined two case study institutions: State University of New York at Buffalo (UB) and University of New Hampshire (UNH). The researcher collected public information concerning the guiding philosophies, financial profile, and curricula for both universities. From this data, combined with the 11 categories, the researcher found that the "personality" of the institution was reflected in the pedagogical approach of their respective directing courses. In the case of UB, a research-oriented institution had a production-focused directing course. UNH, with its Liberal Arts philosophy that promotes personal exploration, had a directing course that emphasized the artistic resources of the individual. Most importantly, this work creates a foundation from which future studies can be built. Broader and deeper analysis at a national level can now be approached with a framework of evaluation and analysis, leading ever closer to an understanding of the art and craft of directing.