Kim Shively and Susanne Shawyer present research and teach workshops at Theatrical Intimacy Education Symposium.
Kim Shively, associate professor of performing arts, and Susanne Shawyer, associate professor of theatre, presented research and taught workshops at the Theatrical Intimacy Education Symposium, a national conference focused on consent-based practices in the entertainment industry. The Symposium, which was held in Chicago in early August, was organized by Theatrical Intimacy Education (TIE), “a consulting group specializing in researching, developing and teaching best practices for staging and filming intimacy and more progressive practices for collaboration and leadership.”
Shively, who is also guiding faculty with TIE and has worked professionally as an intimacy choreographer and coordinator for theatre, film, and television, presented her research on consent-based practices for working with minors. Shawyer, who is affiliate faculty — dramaturgy specialist with TIE, joined Shively in a presentation about how to create a culture of consent in creative spaces by using community agreements. Together, Shively and Shawyer have published research about consent-based practices in theatre education in such scholarly journals as the “Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism and Theatre, Dance, and Performance Training.”
Theatre, film and television educators and practitioners attended the symposium to learn about consent-based practices and share their research on intimacy choreography for live performance and intimacy coordination for filmed work. In addition to sharing research, symposium participants also enjoyed hearing from experts in the field such as writer-director Tina Mabry, Broadway intimacy choreographer Ann C. James, and film and television intimacy coordinator Yehuda Duenyas.