Prosthetic Ontology Into Pedagogy: Applying Garoian’s Theory to the Performing Arts

Prosthetic pedagogy, as developed by Charles Garoian, provides a framework for using artificial-real worlds created by the arts to influence and impact teaching practice. The prosthetic space is artificial, separate, from the artist and audience, yet it is felt authentically, as if it were part of their being. Garoian explored prosthetic pedagogy through visual arts and museum experiences. This research further examines prosthetic pedagogy by applying it the Theatre. The art of theatre builds worlds onstage and through performance that allow performers to be and exist apart from their physical selves in the realm of prosthetic reality. The artist and audience are able to transcend the natural and real world to enter a place of internal reality. Through a blend of auto ethnographic reflection and contemporary research, this paper considers theatrical artistic experiences as an application of prosthetic ontology and then explores how that ontology influences pedagogy.