Will Shuler

I am Vice-Dean of Education and Student Experience for the School of Performing and Digital Arts and a Senior Lecturer in Drama and Theatre Studies. My research and teaching is focused in the area of performance pedagogies, teaching and performance-making with new technologies (AR, VR, XR), and Queer theatre/Greek tragedy. I have published book chapters on higher-education role-immersion games in relation to the pedagogic theories of contemporary French philosopher, Jacques Rancière “The Emancipated Educator: Chance, Will, and Equality in Higher Education Role-Immersion Pedagogies,” Rancière and Performance (Rowman and Littlefield, 2021) and the educative functions of ancient Greek choral training qua military training “The Greek Tragic Chorus and Its Training for War: Movement, Music and Harmony in Theatrical and Military Performance,” War and Theatrical Innovation (Palgrave, 2017).  

I have received funding to develop several educational projects around new technologies in teaching and performance-making. My work on the funded development of a web-based Augmented Reality (AR) toolkit for distance teaching and performance-making (ARStorydecks) resulted in being shortlisted for the prestigious Times Higher Education Innovative Teacher of the Year Award (2022). I shared some of my findings in an article for THE “Augmented Reality in Teaching: Key Challenges and How to Overcome Them” (2022). I was also the lead on a funded project to develop an actor-training toolkit for onboarding on Volume LED Virtual Production film sets (2022).

My teaching interests include storytelling and acting for Cinematic Virtual Reality (Cine-VR), theatrical film adaptations, aesthetic philosophy, games and play, Greek theatre, and dramatic structure. I am interested in hearing from students researching areas relating to performance/performative pedagogies, AR/VR/XR teaching and/or performance-making, and/or Queer theatre (including Greek tragedy).