Artists and arts educators from all over the world were very saddened to learn of the death of Juliana Mary Saxton (1933-2024) in December 2024. Juliana was a wonderful professor, teacher, actor, director, orator, author and mentor. Like so many others, we have had the privilege of being inspired by, learning from and working with Juliana. She made a profound impact on our lives, philosophies and professional practice and below we each pay tribute to her.

While she will be missed by many, Juliana leaves an amazing legacy of knowledge, great wisdom and exceptional arts pedagogy and creative practice. We send our deepest sympathies to her family, friends and colleagues.

Robyn Ewing and Jo O’Mara

Professor Joanne O’Mara
Deakin University
Victoria, Australia

Tall, striking, and ever poised, Juliana stood out in every room, balcony, lecture hall or lounge she occupied. Her long white hair swept in a bun, her resonant voice, her charm and delight/ful/ing/ed laugh reverberated throughout any space she entered. Intelligent, witty compassionate, she was driven by her educational vision, her passion for theatre, and for listening to and telling the stories of others. She believed in a truer, fairer world, and worked towards this—providing a collegial whisper, a word of support, or standing up for what was right. She was a true feminist in the ways she stood by other women—working to mentor others, to build them up, and enable them to achieve their potential.

It was July 1995, and I was a few months into my PhD at Griffith Uni when I first met Juliana. I was 31, just arrived from regional Victoria, and very new to the full-time world of academic life. Drama Australia was hosting IDEA in Brisbane, and alongside this my supervisor, Philip Taylor, had organised the first International Drama Education Research Institute, IDIERI 1. I had done a lot of on the ground organising and was hosting everyone during the event itself. Part of the preparation I had done for the role under Philip’s extremely good advice, was to have read the works of everyone who was attending, so that I could converse with them.

I had already used Juliana and Norah Morgan’s book, Teaching Drama: A Mind of Many Wonders to inform my teaching and I saw it as a book about practice. However, Philip pointed out to me the innovation of the research methodology in the book, it being qualitative research based on Tasmanian student interviews. I was new to their second book, Teaching, Questioning and Learning and was captivated by it. I loved the ways in which it centralised the questioning process in cycles of teaching and learning, something I had never consciously thought through before.

IDIERI 1 was incredible—for a PhD student studying reflection-in-action in process drama in 1995, nothing could have been designed better to get you off to a flying start. I was able to talk to all my heroes there: with very long and generous conversations with Juliana and Norah, and meeting Juliana’s other long-time friend and colleague, Carole Miller. Juliana and Carole decided to run a second IDIERI at the University of Victoria in BC, Canada in 1997. I could not believe it when they asked me if I wanted to come for the better part of the year to live in Juliana’s basement apartment and help them organise the conference. Of course, I said yes.

Juliana and Carole, through hospitality, example and care, set me up to understand how to be a collegial academic, how to work well with others to achieve more than you might on your own, about academic hospitality and mentoring. We worked together on the conference arrangements every Wednesday. Juliana and Carole would have a long agenda with everything detailed to systematically complete each task. They could work for hours on end without a break, and I would always be the one to say, “does anyone want a cup of tea”, more from a personal desire to break and move than for the generosity of serving. I noticed the deep listening they did, taking on each other’s and my point of view, developing more nuanced and innovative ideas through the process. The intensity of the conversations, particularly during conceptualisation stages, led to creativity in the design and form of the conference, with innovations such as participants as researchers watching and then analysing workshops given by Cecily O’Neill, Jonathan Neelands and Johnny Saldaña. The conference also had an “Outside Eye”, Madeline Grumet, who reported back daily with an outsider to the field’s perspective. And, of course, Juliana and Carole ensured that hosting was perfect, with Juliana even assigning an official conversational host to each table at dinner. Probably unnecessary, given that it was tables of drama teachers, drama teacher educators and researchers!

During the conference time I was making a quilt in the basement apartment, sitting in the comfy chair that Dorothy Heathcote had sat on and knitted in when visiting Juliana. Upstairs, Gavin Bolton, Cecily O’Neill and others had been to dinner, Norah was staying. I thought about their work, their contributions and my luck in being there, dining with all these people. I wondered how I might write about education in ways that might make a difference? Juliana paired me up with a graduate student she was mentoring, Linda Laidlaw. She advised we would work well together. Almost 30 years, many projects, books and publications later, Juliana’s purposeful introduction to Linda has been an incredible gift. Linda and I both felt honoured and so enjoyed working with Juliana and Carole on rewriting the new edition of Asking Better Questions in 2017/8. Her other co-writer and mentee, Monica Prendergast, has also written lovingly of Juliana’s influence on her extraordinary work and the series of books they co-wrote. As Juliana’s “academic offspring” (Linda’s term!), we are influenced not just by her ideas, but also her processes and ways of working.

Juliana was fond of telling legendary family stories: of a long train trip she took across Canada with her mother, who was a leader of the Girl Guides Movement, and stories from her father and grandfather. Her grandfather had shaken Napoleon’s hand. She would proffer her hand and say, “Shake the hand of someone who has shaken the hand of someone who shook the hand of Napoleon”. In this act, she was giving status to the shaker, who was then endowed with the gift of being able to do the same thing from the distance of one additional handshake. Her father, who had been a Brigadier in the Canadian army in the Second World War would say to her, “If you want to know the effect you have had, get a bucket full of water, look at it, then put your hand in, swish it around and take it out. When you look it again, it will be exactly the same as it was before”.

However, while Juliana was endowed with the humility that the “hand in the bucket” metaphor teaches, the world she dove into is not the same as it was before she entered it. She has deeply affected those she encountered, those who knew her, worked with her, listened to her speak, attended a workshop, watched the plays and films she was in, and those who have read her many publications. Her work expands the minds and wonders of drama and theatre education.

I am proud to have shaken the hand of Juliana Saxton. If you did not have the pleasure, next time you see me, ask me and I will shake your hand. Then you will have shaken the hand of someone who shook the hand of the wonderous Juliana Saxton, whose work resonates throughout drama and theatre education, and whose mentorship lives on through her academic offspring, so many wonders in so many minds.


Professor Emerita Robyn Ewing AM
University of Sydney
Australia.

I first came to know the inimitable Juliana Saxton, professor, teacher, actor, director, orator, through her writing. When I was beginning to teach drama as a sessional lecturer in the Bachelor of Education (Primary) at the University of Sydney in 1989, there were two books that were my constant companions. Both were by Norah Morgan and Juliana Saxton: Teaching Drama: A mind of many wonders and Teaching, Questioning and Learning. These powerful, inspiring texts really shaped the way I wanted to work with my primary teacher education students.

So… when I met Juliana, Norah and their dear friend and colleague Carole Miller in 1995 at Brisbane’s International Drama in Education Association conference I was SO in awe and very excited and, yes, rather overwhelmed: I was a real fan girl. And yet they were so warm, generous and kind, incredibly humble and gracious. Juliana was such a great intellect but always the first to acknowledge the collaborative nature of her work as never a solo flight but always on the wings of others’ clear and stimulating thinking.

A wonderful professional and personal friendship blossomed. In Juliana’s words, we were such commensurate souls. I treasure the opportunities I had to visit Victoria University on Vancouver Island and participate in Juliana and Carole’s workshops over the years, to explore big philosophical issues, to teach and write with them, to share thoughts, ideas, reflections, great books and articles – and to debate the meaning of life and the issues and challenges facing educators. It was amazing to listen to Juliana’s wonderful stories about her life, her travels and experiences. Juliana was such a great raconteur and had such a wide and impressive perspective on the state of education and the world, deep and reflective thinker about pedagogy and about the role that the Arts should play in our lives and learning.

Juliana and Carole, became Honorary Professors in our Faculty and visited the then Education Faculty at the University of Sydney a number of times to give keynotes and work with staff and our preservice teachers. They also generously supported the School Drama program, our partnership with the Sydney Theatre Company and shared their knowledge, wisdom and practice in several workshops with our teaching artists and the teachers involved in the program.

We treasured the times we travelled together – on Vancouver Island, in Sydney and the Blue Mountains, in Ireland, French Polynesia, Auckland….such special memories, such deep philosophical conversations, and such fun. Again, in Juliana’s words, truly perfect times.

Juliana, thank you for your knowledge, great wisdom and exceptional practice! Thank you for the opportunities you gave me, and so many others too. I am really aware that you touched and often changed lives in wonderful ways. Thank you for your mentoring and companionship, for the privilege of travelling with you in mind and body.

Vale Professor Juliana Saxton. What an amazing legacy you leave.

Professor Emerita Robyn Ewing AM
University of Sydney