Verbatim Theatre Methodologies for Community Engaged Practice Perspectives from Australian Theatre

Verbatim Theatre Methodologies for Community-Engaged Practice offers a framework for developing original community-engaged productions using a range of verbatim theatre approaches. This book's methodologies offer an approach to community-engaged productions that fosters collaborative artistry, ethically nuanced practice, and social intentionality. Through research-based discussion, case study analysis, and exercises, it provides a historical context for verbatim theatre; outlines the ethics and methods for community immersion that form the foundation of community-engaged best practice; explores the value of interviews and how to go about them; provides clear pathways for translating gathered data into an artistic product; and offers rehearsal room strategies for playwrights, producers, directors, and actors in managing the specific context of the verbatim theatre form. Based on diverse, real-world practice that spans regional, metropolitan, large-scale, micro, independent, commercial, and curriculum-based work, this is a practical and accessible guide for undergraduates, artists, and researchers alike.

1. Histories, definitions and applications 2. Community Immersion 3. Interviewing and Listening for Aesthetics 4. Transcription, Exploration, Community-engaged Workshopping 5. Playwriting: Translating Stories into Performance 6. Verbatim and community-engaged work in rehearsal and beyond 7. Ethical Practice: Private lives, public stages, and making space for stories

Sarah Peters is a playwright and senior lecturer in drama at Flinders University, Australia. David Burton is a playwright and researcher in Queensland, Australia.