Creative process of adapting a picture book for theater: a writing session with Education students

Abstract

Childhood literature opens up to (possible/probable) worlds, whose experience by adults and children results from the dialogic relationship between author, reader, and text(s). The unique expressiveness of the stage requires a careful creative process when adapting these works for theater.
Writing workshops are privileged creative spaces that challenge participants, stimulating their creativity and developing their skills in analysis, reflection, and authentic production of different texts and textual genre models—in this case, literary ones intended for children.
It is within this context that a proposal for an open creative writing workshop was developed for Education students in Higher Education, facilitated by an instructor specialized in Education and Portuguese. Based on the analysis of a children’s picture book, students were asked to individually create a theater scene focusing on one character and integrating it into the dramaturgy of a project still in development. To achieve this, the initial work and the dramaturgical structure of the project were collaboratively analyzed, with additional scenes created by participants being incorporated. The processes prior to drafting and the revision phase were shared among participants.
Reflecting on the session’s development, the following objectives were pursued: (i) analyze the participants’ productions in the study and (ii) reflect on the potential of writing sessions for theater. A content analysis was conducted, revealing that the participants’ sensitive and creative written production, stemming from the collaborative activities carried out during the session, demonstrates the immense possibilities that adapting this (and other) picture books offers.
From this didactic experience, we present a proposal for designing and implementing a creative writing session.