BEYOND THE STAGE: VERBATIM THEATRE AS A COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
Date
2024-09-16
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
ORCID
0009-0006-1187-0855
Type
Thesis
Degree Level
Doctoral
Abstract
This dissertation explores the potential of verbatim theatre to be used as a community development process. It examines how social capital might be re-envisioned as a network of place-based relations, with the view of community as process; one which must be constantly and consistently repeated and maintained. The central argument is: verbatim theatre can be used as a way to create a non-literal place for ‘communing’ where humanization can occur. The conceptual framework is inspired by Indigenous knowledges, and critical discussion of the creation of place including race, dehumanization, and humanization. Indigenous knowledges offer non-colonial ways of conceptualizing how we understand, measure, and value spaces, places, and the interconnected relationship between all things. Social capital can be seen as sociality, or networks of relations between people and spaces that become places when they are endowed with meaning. This meaning is produced through relationships between people, which can only happen in place. Theatre arts have the potential to create places where ‘systematic humanizing’ can occur. These places can be both literal and imaginative.
Two main methodologies are used: the methodology of a/r/tography to directly situate art and the artists journey within the work, and exploratory case studies to learn about the practices of two companies using the arts for social change (Forklift Danceworks and Big hART). The main methods are research-based theatre and verbatim theatre - the process of making a play out of interviews. Findings reveal methods and tools for using the arts to create places of humanization, as well as a specific process for using verbatim theatre for this purpose. This research includes the new verbatim play Pleasant Hill Talks, edited from interviews with one hundred people in the Pleasant Hill neighbourhood in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The play is an example of how verbatim theatre creates a place for humanization. Specific findings about the process and the Pleasant Hill neighborhood are included both inside and outside the play. These findings relate to the strengths, challenges, and hopes of people in the Pleasant Hill community, as well as the method of using verbatim theatre as a community development process.
Description
Keywords
theatre, verbatim theatre, humanization, community development, place, social capital
Citation
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
Department
Interdisciplinary Studies
Program
Interdisciplinary Studies