The Janus Paradigm: American Academic Theater, the Liberal Arts and the Massacre of Genius

An increasing skepticism toward the value of academic theater, argues Franklin J. Himes, is threatening the dramatic arts' continuation as an independent discipline. The Janus Paradigm presents a gateway through which American academic theater and theater-derived media may enter upon a more socially vital course of training to meet the socio-economic demands of the 21st century. Himes reviews some formative ideologies and trends in the liberal arts and American theater education. He then explains the Janus paradigm, with its framework of six aspects and fourteen expectancies which support a cooperative system of interdisciplinary theory and coordinated practice. Himes applies the model to a sampling of textbooks in theater, film, and performance studies, and he discusses its potential impact on administrative structures, faculty values and attitudes, the production program, and curriculum design.