Graham W. Lea

Delineating a Spectrum of Research-Based Theatre

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.

Research-Based Theatre in Education

The use of theatre in educational research has grown over the past three decades froma novel method for disseminating research results into an emerging methodologythat has the potential to simultaneously gather, analyze, and disseminate data (Norris,2000). This entry explores some of the literature on research-based theatre, lookingat ways the work has been defined and some of the current debates and issueswithin the field.

Approaches to Developing Research-Based Theatre

This article explores the literature to identify and describe three general approaches used in the development of research-based theatre scripts: collective, playwright-centred, and composite. Each approach is situated within both conventional and research-based theatre literature. After elucidating each approach, a representative project of each approach is explored in depth. Discussions of the projects, undertaken in 2009 at the University of British Columbia, provide insight into some of the tensions inherent in working in each approach.

Staging Therapeutic Enactment with Veterans in Contact!Unload

ABSTRACT This article shares an excerpt from the research-based theatre production Contact!Unload. The play, developed with military veterans using community theatre approaches, explores experiences of veterans transitioning from active service and living with trauma-related stress injuries. The excerpt included in this article provides a theatricalized example of therapeutic enactment (TE), a central intervention of the Veterans’ Transition Project (VTP). After contextualizing both TE and VTP, the script provides a visceral example of one veteran’s experiences both in service and in a TE. This article provides an example of using TE with veterans living with traumatic stress injuries and, in doing so, demonstrates the potential of research-based theatre as a methodology for engaging in and sharing psychological research.