What does tableau mean in Theatre?

What does tableau mean in Theatre?

​Tablo's disciplined, proactive and creative drama techniques can be used successfully and imaginatively in the classroom. This is a low-risk strategy that requires teams of students to use their bodies to represent an event or situation as if time had stopped. Tableau helps students apply, expand, and express their knowledge by asking them to take on the roles of people or objects to create vivid pictures of characters in a story or people and objects in a historical event. The benefits of Tableau in the classroom are many. Tableau helps teachers engage students with different learning styles. It can serve as a quick assessment tool for student learning as students “show what they know” with still pictures. Tableau can support students' literacy achievement when used to prepare and motivate students to understand text and analyze literary elements such as character, plot, theme, conflict, and resolution. Tableau works best in and supports collaborative learning environments. While working in Tableau, students practice collaboration and compromise as they share ideas to create and express one powerful idea.

Reference: Connections to the learning in the Classroom by Walton Arts Center
waltonartscenter.org/globalassets/wac/forms/smart_residency_tableau_study_guide_14.pdf