Process over Product: How Centering the Process Empowers Students Onstage and BEYOND
- Ms. A
- Aug 4
- 7 min read
Updated: Sep 26
A 7-Part Series on How to Choose a Quality Drama Program for Your School
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Process over Product
Table of Contents:
What is Process over Product?
Process Over Product means valuing how students create theatre more than what they create.
It’s a philosophy that prioritizes student growth, voice, and exploration over polished final performances. Instead of focusing solely on costumes, lines, and applause, a process-centered drama program asks:
What did the students learn about themselves and others?
How did they collaborate, solve problems, and take creative risks?
Did they feel safe and empowered to try, fail, and try again?
Were their ideas heard, and were they given space to shape the work?
In a product-centered model, the goal is performance. In a process-centered model, the end goal is the student’s transformation—creatively, socially, and emotionally.
Why does it matter in OST?
Reclaiming the Narrative
In many OST spaces, drama is the only space where students feel free to express themselves without the pressure of grades or rigid expectations. For students who rarely see themselves reflected in textbooks, mainstream plays, or history lessons, this space matters.
Too often, the Eurocentric canon, in theatre, centers white heroes and casts global majority youth as villains, sidekicks, or stereotypes. But through theatre-making, students flip the script. They tell their stories with honor, dignity, and power. Here, they’re not playing someone else’s role. They’re writing their own. That’s not just empowering—it’s transformational.
Developing Creative Expression
Creativity takes time. Students need space to explore wild ideas, test them out, make mistakes, and revise with intention. That’s the heart of the creative process.
Drama programs that center student voice don't just hand their students a script; they build scenes, develop characters, and shape dialogue through improvisation, collaboration, and deep reflection. They learn to navigate differing opinions, follow their instincts, and trust the journey of discovery. This work isn’t just about a final show, it’s about building skills that last: communication, empathy, leadership, and resilience. The process teaches them how to think, speak, and create with confidence.
Why the Process Matters—Beyond the Stage
Theatre teaches storytelling, and storytelling is a life skill.
When students learn to take an idea, develop it, revise it, and share it, they’re preparing to:
Write scholarship and college essays
Ace job interviews
Lead with clarity and vision
Speak up for themselves and others
In today’s world, storytelling has power. Whether in politics, marketing, or social media, those who shape the narrative shape the world. Theatre helps students do just that—authentically, purposefully, and with pride. Not every student will become an actor. But every student will need to tell their story. That’s why we center the process, because students who find their voice will learn how to use it to change the world.
What does the Research say
When students actively create their scenes, characters, and stories rather than simply receiving a script, they engage in a skill-building process with deep developmental impact. Research shows that creative, improvisational work strengthens executive functioning skills, such as working memory, cognitive flexibility, impulse control, and attention, because students must plan narratives, stay in character, adapt to others, and revise in real time.
Dramatic play is closely linked to emotional intelligence and social self-regulation, as children learn to manage their characters’ emotions and navigate ensemble dynamics. Studies further confirm that theater games and role-play scenarios improve critical thinking and social behaviors through structured, creative interaction.
This means the act of devising theatre is more than creative expression; it’s intentional cognitive training. When students brainstorm, negotiate, rehearse, and refine their own stories, they’re not just making art; they’re practicing real-time decision-making, collaboration, and emotional awareness. These are the very skills that support learning in school, self-advocacy in interviews and essays, and problem-solving throughout life.
Citation: Gadsden, V. L., & Erwin, J. E. (2025). Executive functioning and dramatic inquiry: Strengthening cognitive and social capacities through devised performance. Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance. https://doi.org/10.1080/13569783.2025.2457745
✨ Strong drama programs don’t just produce shows — they transform students.
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What does it look like at PEAK Theatre Arts?
During my 16-week residency at Dalzell Lance High School, in partnership with the Children's Institute, I had the privilege of guiding students through the full creative journey. We gave students the mic to write a play. It was about inviting them into the process—honoring their ideas, voices, and lived experiences as the foundation of the work. Step by step, students built the world of the play, created complex characters, and explored bold, urgent themes that mattered to them. Here’s how we did it—and how the creative process became a space for discovery, expression, and transformation.
Here’s the breakdown:
Spark the Story: Idea + Theme Discovery
We opened with powerful, student-led prompts: What makes you feel trapped? What would you fight for? What does justice look like in the future? Through journaling, group discussions, and drama-based activities, students unearthed core themes—grief, survival, betrayal, hope—and used those ideas to inspire their central conflict. Their vision? The escape room- a metaphor for the pressures, systems, and choices young people face today.
Build the World: Character + Setting Creation
Next, each student built a character from the inside out. Not just names and costumes but values, secrets, traumas, and dreams. Together, they designed a 2050 world full of tension and mystery, with its own rules, authority figures, and resistance movements. This deep world-building gave students ownership, not just of what happened in the play, but why it mattered.
Write it Together: Scene Building + Dialogue
Scripts didn’t come from a textbook; they came from them. Using theatre games, improv, and story-mapping, students co-wrote each scene. They worked in writing pods, pitching ideas, testing dialogue out loud, and giving one another feedback.
Rehearse the Revolution: Bringing the Story to Life
As scripts took shape, students stepped into rehearsal, exploring movement, blocking, and emotional beats. Because they had written the story themselves, performances were layered with vulnerability and truth. Rehearsals were also places of discovery: scenes were adjusted, dialogue sharpened, and characters deepened. Nothing was fixed. Everything was open to evolution.
Perform + Reflect: Owning the Moment
On performance day, they shared their original story and embodied characters shaped by their lived experiences, questions, and hopes. Afterward, I invited our students back to the stage for a Q&A. The audience had a chance to ask questions. Through the Q&A, students had the opportunity to reflect on their journey. Who they were when they entered the program, how they’ve grown, and the skills they’ve developed along the way. They reflected on what the experience meant to them, what they learned, and how they might carry those lessons forward.
This wasn’t just the end of the process. It was the beginning of their journey toward becoming nurturing leaders, compassionate collaborators, and bold, empowered storytellers.
What to Ask When Choosing a Drama Program?
If you're an educator, school leader, or parent looking for a program that centers student voice, here are some questions to consider:
How much time is dedicated to exploration, rehearsal, and reflection, not just the final performance?
Are students involved in creating content, or are they just handed a script to memorize?
What opportunities do students have to make mistakes, revise, and try again?
How is success defined beyond the final performance?
Coming Up in Part Seven- Joyful Joyful
The truth is, not every drama program radiates joy. Some are built on pressure instead of play. Some reward favoritism over fairness. Some make students feel like they have to earn their place, instead of knowing they already belong.
At PEAK Theatre Arts, we believe joy is essential, not extra. What makes a drama space truly magnetic for young people? Joy- deep, soul-level joy. The kind that comes from being seen, celebrated, and safe enough to take creative risks.
In our final post of the series, we’ll explore what it means to create a joyful, emotionally safe, and affirming space where students can thrive. When joy is centered, learning sticks. Expression soars. And students return—again and again—not just for theatre, but for themselves.
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