Drama e Role-playing game: o que as crianças viveram em 2.170?

Abstract

This research explores the association between the Drama approach and the Role-Playing Game (RPG), specifically the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) system, in theatrical practices with children. The central problem of this study is to investigate how children appropriate and engage with proposals emerging from the combination of Drama and RPG, aiming to understand whether this intersection fosters active participation among the children involved. To address this question, a Drama process entitled 2.170 was carried out during the second semester of 2022 with six children aged between nine and eleven. The sessions occurred on Saturdays, from 2 pm to 5 pm, in Block 3M of the Santa Mônica campus at the Federal University of Uberlândia. Throughout the process, the children were invited to inhabit imaginative narratives and collaboratively construct a fictional universe, assuming roles, solving problems, and making decisions within a shared, imaginary environment. The theoretical framework of the study is grounded in authors such as Cabral (2012), Pereira (2021), O'Neill (2015), Neelands and Goode (1990), and Sarturi (2012), among others. Dorothy Heathcote’s (1995) Mantle of the Expert (MoE) approach served as a key methodological and aesthetic foundation for this research, enabling the children to engage actively, critically, and collaboratively, thereby enriching their experience and expanding their participation in the narrative development. Finally, the writing methodology mirrors the processual and organic nature inherent to Drama. Just as a Drama process unfolds through the interactions among participants, the writing of this research evolves dynamically, revealing its layers throughout the investigative journey. The results indicate that the integration of Drama and role-playing created a meaningful and creative space where children not only participated but became active collaborators in the shared experience.