This essay examines the impact of U.S. college students’ engagement with performative traditions from their cultural upbringings in an ensemble-based devised theatre process that I directed at a Predominantly White Institution in the spring of 2020. Situating findings within discussions of culturally engaging pedagogies and the politics of race and cultural equity in U.S. theatre and higher education, this research considers the counter-hegemonic possibilities of culturally conscious devising. Relying on participant self-reporting from post- process interviews, I explore three aspects of ensemble members’ creative process: the impact of ‘mapping’ cultural assets within the collaborative process, experiences of vulnerability in times of cultural sharing, and participants’ understandings of and connections with their communities as a resource to their theatre-making. Additionally, I assess the effectiveness of this project’s approaches to devising that were designed to cultivate critical perspectives on cultural values and practices. I argue for increased pedagogical attention to students’ engagement with cultural traditions as a means of invigorating ensemble-based devising practice and responding to cultural inequities in the systems of higher education.

这篇文章探讨了我在 2020 年春季在一个以白人为主的机构指导的基于合奏的设计戏剧过程中，美国大学生从他们的文化成长中参与表演传统的影响。将研究结果置于文化参与教学法和美国戏剧和高等教育中的种族和文化公平政治，这项研究考虑了文化意识设计的反霸权可能性。依靠参与者在后处理采访中的自我报告，我从三个方面探讨了合奏成员的创作过程：“映射”文化资产在协作过程中的影响、文化共享时期的脆弱体验、以及参与者对其社区的理解和联系，作为他们戏剧制作的资源。此外，我评估了该项目设计方法的有效性，这些方法旨在培养对文化价值观和实践的批判性观点。我主张在教学上增加对学生参与文化传统的关注，以此作为激发基于合奏的设计实践和应对高等教育系统中的文化不平等的一种手段。