A-Playful-Path_DeKoven-web

The dramaturgy of games
I had to play it first. And when I did, I realized that the clearly playful game of Duck-Duck-
Goose fully satisfied my criteria for a meaningful, kid-produced, kid-acted, kid-directed,
theatrical experience. It was highly dramatic. It was something they actually wanted to do,
actually could organize and become engaged with. Thus I began work on my “theater” curriculum
and my lifelong exploration of the Theater of Games.
I soon discovered I was working within a global theater. Searching for more and more games,
I found books of games from all over the world. The games that are played out in the Theater
of Games are in fact a form of literature – not written, maybe, not even oral, perhaps, but
“enacted” – and thus handed down, from generation to generation, neighbor to neighbor,
culture to culture. The literature of games can convey complex relationships, roles and consequences,
issues of conflict and heroism.
The comic-tragedy of Duck-Duck-Goose holds a great fascination for young audiences, and
is one of many variations on a theme of what one can only call the “Game of Tag.”
Somebody’s IT.
One person is singled out and assigned a role different from the undifferentiated many. This
makes his actions so monstrously predictable that we call him IT, because in order to do what
he’s supposed to, he always has to do it.
IT Doesn’t Want to Be IT.
In fact, IT’s only goal is to make somebody else IT.
If IT tags you (all it takes is contact), you’re IT (instantaneous reversal of roles).
Before most children play Tag, they find themselves fascinated into sheer delight by a group
of tag-like “games” called “Monster.” Played by very small children – almost as soon as they
are old enough to waddle – and large adults. Somebody is Monster —usually it’s type-cast.
That person, IT-like, chases everybody else. Everybody else runs and runs until the Monster
catches them and eats, or tickles, them up. Then, everybody runs away again, and the
Monster does his thing. The kids play the Monster to laughing exhaustion. And then wait to
continue the drama the moment the Monster shows signs of readiness.
As a theater piece, it’s as profound as it is entertaining. It describes a relationship between
pretend fear and its pretend victims. It is an irreversible relationship. It is enforced equally by
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