2 people Players staff members explore an archive

  • “Mainly I Just Feel Angry”: Countering Academic Non-Belonging to Promote Student Mental Health and Well-Being

    • This book chapter shows the integrated relationship between students’ identities, their mental health and well-being, and their sense of academic belonging. By reflecting on a range of structural and interpersonal issues that exacerbate mental health challenges for students, instructors can consider ways that cultivating academic belonging in their classroom proactively promotes student mental health and well-being. This chapter integrates case studies developed for the CRLT Player’s asynchronous online course called An Instructor’s Guide to Promoting Student Mental Health and Well-Being to demonstrate the relevance of this approach.
    • (Simonian, C. R. (2026). Mainly I Just Feel Angry: Countering Academic Non-Belonging to Promote Student Mental Health and Well-Being. In Hales, K., Borkoski, C., & Spears, J. Cultivating a Sense of Belonging in Higher Education: The Role Fostering Connectedness, Support, and Respect Play in Student Success. UEN Digital Press. Retrieved from https://uen.pressbooks.pub/cultivatingbelonging/chapter/mainly-i-just-feel-angry/.)  

                                                          

  • Creating Climates Resistant to Sexual Harassment: Reflections for Prosocial, Equity-Focused Educational Development Trainings
    • Sexual harassment is a prominent, entrenched problem in higher education spaces. In this reflective article, the authors emphasize the importance of training academic leaders as a population that can leverage their roles toward creating institutional climates resistant to sexual harassment and other social inequities. Using an eight-hour workshop at U-M put on by the CRLT Players as a case study, the authors offer four key reflections for educational developers working to develop participant capacity toward organizational and social change. 
    • (Bean, C. R. S., & Heaton, H. (2026). Creating Climates Resistant to Sexual Harassment: Reflections for Prosocial, Equity-Focused Educational Development Trainings. Journal of Diversity and Equity in Educational Development, 1(1). Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7wp4c8fz.)

 

 

 

  • Receive, Reorganize, Return: Theatre as Creative Scholarship
    • This article focuses on the use of theatre as a mode of creative scholarship, from the research involved in sketch creation to the presentation of that research to academic audiences. The authors focus on a specific sketch developed by the CRLT Players - one that explores the consequences of subtle discrimination faced by women scientists in a research laboratory settings- to illustrate the ways in which theatre can engage audiences with research results. Interactive theatre directs and focuses an audience's attention in ways unique to the stage; the embodiment of research in 3-dimensional characters allows spectators to explore multiple perspectives on research results; and the process of critical reflection and facilitated discussion that follows the performance leads viewers to consider changes, both personal and institutional, that can address the issues depicted in the sketch.
    • (Armstrong, S. and Braunschneider, T. (2016), Receive, Reorganize, Return: Theatre as Creative Scholarship. To Improve the Academy, 35: 229-248. doi:10.1002/tia2.20040)
    • Click here to view a PDF of the article.

 

  • Use of Interactive Theater and Role Play to Develop Medical Students' Skills in Breaking Bad News
    • This article investigates the use of the CRLT Players’ interactive theater and role play with professional actors in teaching breaking bad news to medical students. The authors conclude that the use of professional actors during the role play exercises enhances the realism and pushes the students out of their own comfort zones in ways that may more closely approximate real life clinical situations. 
    • (Skye, E.P., Wagenschutz, H., Steiger, J.A, Kumagai, A.K. (2014). Use of interactive theatre and role play to develop medical students' skills in breaking bad news. Journal of Cancer Education, 29 (4). Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24683056)

 

  • Interactive Theatre: Raising Issues About the Climate with Science Faculty
    • An article detailing the CRLT Players’ interactive theater techniques that offer an effective way to raise issues about climate with science and engineering faculty. Sketches illustrating how faculty interactions shape and reflect climate—portrayals of discussions of job candidates in department meetings, efforts of senior faculty to advise and mentor junior faculty, and committee meetings evaluating tenure candidates—stimulate actor-audience interactions and raise key issues about the way power relations influence the climate and faculty morale.
    • (LaVaque-Manty, D., Steiger, J., & Stewart, A. J. (2007). Interactive theatre: Raising issues about the climate with science faculty. In A. Stewart, J. Malley, & D. LaVaque-Manty (Eds.), Transforming science and engineering: Advancing academic women (pp. 204-223). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.)

 

  • Using Theatre to Stage Instructional and Organizational Transformation 
    • This article, which appeared in Change Magazine, succinctly describes why and how the CRLT Theatre Program works as a professional development tool for issues of teaching and learning and institutional transformation. In addition, the article summarizes evaluation data concerning the impact of the Program. 
    • (Kaplan, M., Cook, C.E., & Steiger, J. (2006). Using theatre to stage instructional and organizational transformation. Change Magazine: 32-39.)