Evaluation Lessons from a Theatre Company

Main Article Content

Tamara M. Walser
Keith Bridges
Kate Mattingly

Abstract

Charter Theatre is a small professional theatre in Washington, DC. Its mission is to develop and produce new plays. This includes seeking out new plays, working with the playwrights to clarify their aesthetic intentions, developing a strong script, and then producing those plays. Like other organizations, Charter Theatre wants to be accountable. Its members believe they are responsible to the audience to do the best work they can do. They saw the need for evaluation early on—a repeatable process to assure the quality of their work. However, they didn’t want a factory that would create the same kind of work over and over. In theatre, variety is part of the point. In developing their process, Charter Theatre’s Artistic Director questioned,” How do you evaluate a play without sucking all the life from it?” 

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Article Details

How to Cite
Walser, T. M., Bridges, K., & Mattingly, K. (2008). Evaluation Lessons from a Theatre Company. Journal of MultiDisciplinary Evaluation, 5(10), 67–70. https://doi.org/10.56645/jmde.v5i10.192
Section
Ideas to Consider in Evaluation

References

Alkin, M. C. & Christie, C. A. (2004). An evaluation theory tree. In M. C. Alkin (Ed.), Evaluation roots: Tracing theorists' views and influences (pp. 203-217). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412984157.n2 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412984157.n2

Eisner, E. W. (2002). The arts and the creation of mind. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

King, J. (2007, November) Bringing evaluative learning to life. Plenary session presented at the annual meeting of the American Evaluation Association, Baltimore, MD.

Russ-Eft, D, & Preskill, H. (2001). Evaluation in organizations: A systematic approach to enhance learning, performance, and change. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing.

Senge, P., Scharmer, C. O., Jaworski, J. & Flowers, B. S. (2004). Presence: An exploration of profound change in people, organizations, and society. New York, NY: Doubleday.

Westley, F., Zimmerman, B., & Patton, M. Q. (2006). Getting to maybe: How the world is changed. Canada: Random House.