Incorporating Activist-Oriented Theatre Into the Feminist Studies Classroom

Abstract In 2020, a professor of gender, sexuality, and feminist studies at Middlebury College in the United States invited me as a visiting scholar-artist to help students stage the docudrama Jane : Abortion and the Underground. The mission: to both rethink normative constructs of gender, sexuality, and abortion and also to produce a play. Many students had no experience with GSFS or theatre. We staged two sold-out performances and recorded a focus group exploring how theatre shaped students’ learning about reproductive justice. This article addresses the pedagogical potential of incorporating theatre into the feminist studies classroom to deepen student engagement and learning.