Possibilities and Perspectives in Performed Research (original) (raw)
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Four quadrants of research-based theatre
2020
Research-based Theatre (RbT) is a relatively new academic methodology, gaining increased popularity across the social sciences, that involves using theatre conventions and/or public performance within the framework of a systematic research process (Beck et al., 2011; Belliveau & Lea, 2016). One of the great challenges facing practitioners of this methodology is to develop frameworks for assessment and evaluation that satisfy the needs of its overlapping artistic, research, and pedagogical considerations (Lea, 2014). Over the past two years, I have had the opportunity to participate as an artist-researcher on the teams of two RbT projects: Alone in the Ring, and Dark Secrets. Over that time, I was a facilitator, director, research assistant, and actor supporting the creative work, while simultaneously using my experiences to explore new frameworks for reflective evaluation. In this thesis I propose an adapted four quadrants (Wilber, 1998) framework for reflective analysis where inquiry is organized according to four essential perspectives: the subjective, objective, intersubjective and inter-objective. The results of which begin to carve out a more holistic reflection strategy that can offer practitioners the tools to
Shaping Research-informed Theatre: Working Beyond an 'Aesthetic of Objectivity'
This paper explores how, despite the recognition that qualitative researchers invent rather than represent their research findings through the process of writing, the same recognition is generally not adhered to amongst those who take up performance as part of their research process. The dominance of an “aesthetic of objectivity” (Denzin 2003, p. 73) assumes the performance is a neutral platform upon which research findings will be placed, thereby making them more accessible to audience members. This overlooks aesthetic interpretation, or ‘shaping,’ as an integral part of the development of research-informed theatre, which implicates a multiplicity of embodied perspectives, as well as multiple aesthetic modes of interpretation and expression. Currently there is a dearth of literature that speaks directly to this aesthetic shaping. As such, in addition to discussing an aesthetic of objectivity and how it is problematic, we will offer two examples from our own work and how aesthetic shaping was an integral part of project development and execution.
Delineating a spectrum of research-based theatre
2011
This article builds on existing definitions and classification systems of research-based theatre to offer a way to define subgenres within the field. In order to identify similarities and particularities of theatrical performances based on research, the authors first consider definitions from practitioners working within the academy and those creating theatre for the general public. After reviewing these existing traditions and definitions, the authors delineate a spectrum of research-based theatre. This spectrum is based on two defining continua: the research continuum, which distinguishes among many types of research used to inform research-based theatre, and the performance continuum, which distinguishes among different kinds of performances, audiences, and purposes of a given research-based theatre piece. The spectrum of research-based theatre formed by combining these continua may assist practitioners in determining and honoring the goals and outcomes of their own work, while not making unnecessary comparisons with those working toward different goals and outcomes.
A Spotlight on Research-Based Theatre
LEARNing Landscapes
Tell me about your research." How does one begin to convey the importance of our life's work-our research? Enter stage right, Research-based Theatre, an innovative, arts-based methodology that takes research data and brings it to life, by showing, rather than telling. In this article, we tell the story of how Research-based Theatre first came to be, and why it is especially well suited to the contemporary challenge of showcasing diverse and marginalized voices. We also share a short scene that illustrates the methodology in practice. We conclude by offering ways Research-based Theatre can be a meaningful approach for pedagogy and community-engaged initiatives. USHER: Welcome to the show. Tonight's performance is a crash course in Research-based Theatre. But first, a sneak peek backstage. Watch your step, please. The reason why I'm holding this flashlight is because this exclusive behind-the-scenes tour has a few hazardous transitions. We don't want you to trip and fall into confusion. So, let's begin at the beginning, shall we? This following passage contains a fascinating origin story of how this methodology came to be. The Origins of Research-Based Theatre: A Commentary Since the early 2000s, we (George, 4th author, and Graham, 2nd author) have explored possibilities for integrating our theatrical backgrounds into academic work. As our work progressed, and we began to articulate our approach to Research-based Theatre (RbT) (Belliveau & Lea, 2016), we often found ourselves struggling to express our understandings to colleagues in academia who had little experience in theatre, and, conversely, those in theatre who had little experience in academia. A script, shared later in this article, draws upon almost 20 years of exploration, to help communicate this unique approach to research. To fully contextualize the script, we first share a brief retrospective on the development of RbT to explore how we arrived at a place where such a script needed to be written. We come from an extensive theatre background both in and out of academia. George is a professionally trained actor who studied in Canada, and with the Jacques Lecoq school in France. He later taught theatre and English in secondary schools before earning an MA and PhD in theatre. During his first academic appointment in the Faculty of Education at the University of Prince Edward Island, he met Graham, a student in one of his classes. Graham came to his education degree from an eclectic background having studied computer science and math, while taking theatre literature and performance courses as electives. Graham had more than 15 years of experience in theatre through classes, and community and professional performances with local theatre companies as an actor, musician, playwright, director, stage manager, and technician.
Theatre as Research – A Mysterious Mix
eTropic: electronic journal of studies in the tropics, 2016
The Australian Curriculum mandates that Arts will be taught as part of the Foundation to Year 10 program in schools. My background as a Theatre-in-Education performer and as a Drama teacher has informed an approach to doing research with children, which involves making up plays about local stories. Firstly, local folk are interviewed and their anecdotes are recorded as data. The children then analyse and interpret the data, as a group, with the help of their teacher. It is then synthesised into a written play script. I have found this Theatre as Research approach to be a wonderful tool for integrating the teaching of local history with the Arts. It also has potential to strengthen community bonds and enhance inter-generational communication. Once the play has been created, the storytellers are invited as audience members to see their lives played out on stage.<br />The paper will relate examples of how I have performed ethnographic Drama with various secondary and tertiary stu...
Antemortem: Collaborative Research in Theatre and Performance Studies
Global Performance Studies, 2021
Why Collaborate? The collaborative turn in labour has, in recent years, reconfigured the workplace and workforce to maximise resources: time, space, and infrastructure are shared in a bid to "humanise profit." Open offices, cloud documents, multi-tasking, and distributed management: all are trademark characteristics of shared labour in the early 21st century. As theatre and performance scholars, we are often incredulous of this turn. Not least because sharing time and space in the act of labouring is, perhaps, an obvious point in any material analysis of performance, but also because our performative analytic tools provide us with the insights necessary to appreciate that collectivity does not necessarily mean solidarity. Artist collectives and collaborative labour frequently function at various points along the spectrum between shared autonomy and unwilling acquiescence. And yet, in the arts there is a persistent tendency to think in terms of genius and singular artistic voice. And, so we should ask again, even when our object of study is-and has historically been-collaborative in nature: why do we remain professionally obsessed with becoming singular voices?
Creating for the Stage and Other Spaces: Questioning Practices and Theories
Creating for the Stage and Other Spaces: Questioning Practices and Theories, 2021
edited by G. Guccini, C. Longhi and D. Vianello (in collaboration with A. Ciuffetelli and M. Sottana) AMS Acta - Università di Bologna Authors: over 70 authors Pages: 948 ebook (pdf) - 12 MB Multilingual: english, italian, french ABSTRACT: This volume brings together most of the interventions by artists and scholars of the Third EASTAP Conference (European Association for the Study of Theatre and Performance), which should have been held in Bologna from 27 February to 1 March 2020, scheduled among the events of the VIE Festival 2020 and the activities of the Department of the Arts / DAMSLab. When everything was ready, the Conference, the last part of the Festival and the DAMSLab programme were suddenly canceled due to the first restrictions related to the pandemic. Following those sudden and unexpected events, the need to leave memory of the project arose from many quarters. It was thus decided to propose a publication which, while significantly differentiating from the original structure designed for the Conference, explicitly and directly refers to it, remaining an exceptional and significant testimony of the state of studies on theatre and performance in the pre-Covid era. The Conference plan envisaged two macro-sectors which concerned, one, the practices and theories relating to the composition of the texts; the other, the practices and theories relating to the composition of performative events referable to the methods of scenic writing. The volume takes up this polarity by framing it in a different division of relations, which explains – thanks to the groupings and their titles both the relations between text and text and those between sector and sector. The most consistent chapters are dedicated to performance and post-dramatic textuality: Questioning performance: theories and practices (17 reports) and Creating text for the stage: theories and practices (21 reports). The other chapters then come to place themselves in the force field described by these main groupings. Perfomer's body: the dancer, the actor (6 reports) and Creating for other spaces: landscape, sound, multimedia (7 reports) are ideally framed in the polarity of the performace, where to highlight the centrality of the body and the relational dynamics activated by spaces, sounds, and new technologies. Collective creations and community plays (7 reports), on the other hand, focuses on performance and new textuality.
2010
In this paper a community based applied theatre director reviews the origins of a collaborative applied theatre arts and social sciences research project, summarizing the study and its theoretical underpinnings. The director highlights the study’s emergent themes and reflects on the choices of how these were woven into the play, No Particular Place to Go . Reflecting on the duality of roles within the devising process, the director discusses the importance of balance between artistic autonomy and research dissemination, the parallel roles of researcher and deviser, noting both the challenges and successes of research based theatre collaboration.
In this article, we describe three areas of design that need to be considered when conceptualizing a performed ethnography/ research-informed theater project in the field of education: research design, aesthetic design, and pedagogical design. We present 30 questions that performed ethnographers and research-informed theater artists might ask ourselves when we conceptualize our projects. We then provide a discussion of four recent projects that engage with the questions presented and conclude by arguing that (a) research design and aesthetic design interact with and feed into each other and (b) research and aesthetic decisions impact the pedagogical work our projects do.