Editor’s Note: The following review was written by Jason Sebacher about Temporary Stages III by Jo Beth Gonzalez. The publisher provided a complimentary copy of this book.
Dr. Jo Beth Gonzalez’s Temporary Stages III: How High School Theatre Fosters Spiritual Strength and Critical Consciousness reads less like a textbook and more like an extended conversation with a veteran theatre teacher who has spent decades thinking carefully about why this work matters. It is philosophical without being abstract, practical without being prescriptive, and above all deeply usable for educators working with young people right now.
Gonzalez writes from nearly forty years in the classroom, and that lived experience saturates every chapter. While she grounds her ideas in critical pedagogy and theory, the book never drifts into academic distance. Instead, it is packed with examples, testimonials, classroom stories, and reflective case studies that feel instantly recognizable to anyone who has run a rehearsal room. You are not being lectured at; you are being invited into the author’s process of thinking through the ethical, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of teaching theatre.
At the center of the book is Gonzalez’s concept of “critical spiritual pedagogy,” a framework that links theatre-making with students’ inner lives and their growing awareness of social structures and injustice. Whether she is writing about grief, failure, trauma, identity, or social justice, Gonzalez insists that theatre education is a site of real human development. Her chapters on processing loss, navigating the emotional aftershocks of the pandemic, and creating inclusive spaces for LGBTQ+ and BIPOC students are especially resonant. These are not abstract ideals; they are lived classroom realities examined with honesty and care.
The long-term devised project Free To Fly, which addresses youth sex trafficking, serves as a powerful example of how sustained theatre work can cultivate empathy, agency, and resilience in students. Gonzalez is careful not to romanticize difficult subject matter; she openly discusses the risks, responsibilities, and safeguards required when working with psychologically intense material. That balance of courage paired with ethical attention runs throughout the book.
The book’s candor is what ultimately makes it so engaging. Gonzalez writes as a colleague, not an authority figure handing down instructions. She shares missteps, doubts, and moments of self-questioning alongside successes. That vulnerability gives the book its warmth. Reading it feels like talking shop after a long rehearsal: reflective, generous, and grounded in mutual respect for the complexity of the work.
For working theatre teachers, the value of Temporary Stages III is how immediately it translates into practice. Nearly every chapter offers moments you can imagine adapting for your own classroom: approaches to discussion, ways of framing difficult (perhaps intimidating) topics, and reminders of how much emotional labor theatre educators already do. The book doesn’t pretend teaching is tidy. Instead, it acknowledges the complexity of guiding teenagers through art-making while they are figuring out who they are. Gonzalez gives language to experiences many teachers already recognize but rarely see articulated so clearly.
More than anything, the book feels companionable. It reads like the kind of professional dialogue we wish we had more often: thoughtful, honest, and grounded in shared work. Theatre educators will find affirmation here, but also an invitation to reflect more intentionally on how rehearsal rooms shape students’ inner lives as much as their performance skills. It’s a book you finish wanting to talk about with colleagues, not shelve.