The last seminar of my “Introduction to Literary Theories” course in the fall semester of 2020 involved really difficult material on gender and race; it was exposing; none of the students had their cameras on. I was nearly in tears. Kept composure. We had been navigating well through the semester, with this and the other first-year module on poetry—subjects adjacent to theatre as a result of my situation within a department of English literature. This semester, I've been more bold, gently asking students to turn cameras on; I remember, though, always, Owen Parry's articulation of audience participation at the start of a Zoom event for the Welsh National Theatre. Some people hang back; some people are highly present (front-row types—I was always one of those); but all of this is good.1 I've been relaxing my need to “see” everyone out there. As a committed lecturer—a relapsed performer who has found solace in lecture stages—I'm always keen to read the room, normally; to see body posture, faces, engagement or puzzlement, and to respond to this; everything nonverbal that goes on. I was devastated, unsurprised, at the end of a conversation with a colleague on the development of what may become a major “Creative Hub,” to hear that our lecture halls might be replaced with sort of multifunction rooms, as if movable chairs meant we could suddenly be free. I think not enough is understood of the theatre of a lecture hall—the theatricality, the performativity, of what goes on—ways this is live, deeply so; ways students are not “passive” at all listening. That we don't need to go to “participatory art” in order to find ourselves within an ethical, social, committed space together; everything of that sort is lost with screens, or nearly. The sentiment of speaking out into a void.

中文翻译：

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现场笔记（从桌子上）：持有

2020年秋季学期我的“文学理论概论”课程的最后一次研讨会涉及到关于性别和种族的非常困难的材料；它暴露了；没有一个学生打开相机。我几乎要流泪了。保持镇定。由于我在英语文学系的工作，我们在这个学期和其他第一年的诗歌模块中一直很好地导航——与戏剧相邻的科目。这个学期，我更加大胆，温柔地要求学生打开相机；不过，我始终记得欧文·帕里（Owen Parry）在威尔士国家剧院的 Zoom 活动开始时对观众参与的表述。有些人退缩；有些人非常活跃（前排类型——我一直是其中之一）；但这一切都很好。1我一直在放松“看到”外面的每个人的需要。作为一个忠诚的讲师——一个在演讲阶段找到安慰的复发的表演者——我总是热衷于阅读房间，通常情况下；查看身体姿势、面孔、参与或困惑，并对此做出反应；一切非语言的事情。在与一位同事就可能成为主要“创意中心”的发展进行对话时，我感到震惊，并不感到惊讶，听到我们的演讲厅可能会被多功能厅取代，好像可移动的椅子意味着我们可能突然自由了。我认为对演讲厅的剧院了解不够——戏剧性、表演性，以及正在发生的事情——这就是生活的方式，深刻地如此；学生在聆听时完全不“被动”的方式。我们不 不需要去“参与式艺术”，以便在一个道德、社会、承诺的空间中找到自己；屏幕上的所有东西都丢失了，或者几乎丢失了。说出来的感觉是虚无的。