Arts, Creativities, and Learning Environments in Global Perspectives15 Performing Ensemble

The concept of ‘the ensemble’ is explored through the life of a radical theatre company's performative, creative, activist, and organizational practices, showing how it transcends the dichotomy between aesthetics and ethics to generate social change. The book presents a novel analysis supporting the idea that a theatre ensemble is not just an entity but an emergent process. Through the lens of a theatre company's performative, creative, organizational, and activist practices, the ensemble is conceptualized in its collective becoming. This socio-historical and new materialist analysis of a European theatre company (ATIR) over thirty years highlights how a group's performative capacity to make-ensemble stimulates its organizational and social processes. With a commitment to participation, listening, and horizontality, the ensemble is shown to challenge the structures of capitalism, and fosters a vision of hope for societies.