Michael Cheng

MA Arts Pedagogy and Practice

2024

Michael is an applied drama practitioner and educator who integrates applied drama with other art forms in socially-engaged projects.

Receiving grants from various organizations like the National Arts Council (NAC) and the Singapore International Foundation, he has worked with diverse groups such as children and youth with disabilities, seniors and at-risk communities. He also teaches applied drama methods as a freelance trainer and adjunct lecturer.

An accredited trainer in Playback Theatre, Michael travels internationally to teach and learn alongside his students. He is also an accredited guide and trainer for The Listening Hour. In both practice and teaching, Michael fosters a person-centered learning environment by creating a safe, brave and soft space. He encourages collaborative exploration and shared understanding for deeper learning.

Michael serves as artistic director of Tapestry Playback Theatre and is co-founder of the SEED Collective. He is a current recipient of the NAC Arts Scholarship.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-cheng-applieddrama/

touchdesun@gmail.com

Thesis abstract

The deeper notes of a story: Making listening visible in Playback Theatre

This paper explores the elements of empathetic listening and what effective activities might develop these skills among Playback Theatre performers. Playback Theatre is an improvisational form of community theatre based on the dramatisation of personal stories. Performers must deeply attend to the stories shared by audience members and then spontaneously enact those stories through improvised dramatic vignettes. However, an effective enactment depends on more than just the faithful representation of narrative details. To elicit the deeper notes of a story, the performer needs to listen with empathy.

The paper first examines empathetic listening, or how performers can listen for the deeper notes in a story. It explores the unique phenomenological experiences of Playback performers in the act of listening to personal stories, surfacing four distinct levels of listening (to self, others, teller and story). Secondly, the research documents and investigates the efficacy of activities that were used in building empathetic listening. It offers practical and theoretical insights to strengthen the listening capacities of Playback Theatre practitioners, ultimately enriching the transformative potential of this applied theatre form.

School of Creative
Industries

Michael Cheng

Work

Thesis abstract

Work experience