Developing the Critical Verbatim Theater Artist during the Pandemic: A Transatlantic Collaboration

Article


Stamatiou, E., Kildow, E., Spearing, F., Nodding, G. and Price, J-P. 2022. Developing the Critical Verbatim Theater Artist during the Pandemic: A Transatlantic Collaboration. Artspraxis. 9 (1), pp. 13-33.
AuthorsStamatiou, E., Kildow, E., Spearing, F., Nodding, G. and Price, J-P.
Abstract

Following recent social upheavals and an unprecedented pandemic, the development of theater students to work with stories from the community has become more urgent. Because verbatim theater brings to focus real voices and often involves sensitive topics, artists/educators consider key ethical questions before their engagement with educational or community contexts. Artists/educators are developed within the fieldwork of applied theater, during their study at university, through supervision to engage communities. The pandemic made such fieldwork difficult due to online learning and teaching, so university educators tested alternative ways of simulating the experience of working with participants. This article analyzes the rationale, application and evaluation of an educational verbatim theater case study that involved British theater students and American nursing students, from the University of Chichester and Kent State University respectively. It identifies how international collaborations might offer an alternative environment to fieldwork by inviting students to consider key ethical questions before their engagement with communities. The narrative of practice reveals how it was rooted in Paulo Freire’s pedagogy. The artist/educator’s reflection highlights how such collaborations invite students to explore dialectics and the ethics of representation in verbatim theater, and to develop accountability and empathy when working with participants, which hopefully, they bring to their future fieldwork.

Keywordsverbatim theater; international collaboration; accountability; empathy; applied theatre
JournalArtspraxis
Journal citation9 (1), pp. 13-33
ISSN1552-5236
Year2022
PublisherNew York University
Publisher's version
License
File Access Level
Anyone
Web address (URL)https://sites.google.com/nyu.edu/artspraxis/2022/volume-9-issue-1/stamatiou-et-al-developing-the-critical-verbatim-theater-artist?authuser=0
Publication dates
OnlineJun 2022
Publication process dates
Deposited10 Jan 2023
Copyright holder© 2022 The Authors
Permalink -

https://repository.uel.ac.uk/item/8v6v6

Download files


Publisher's version
  • 87
    total views
  • 332
    total downloads
  • 0
    views this month
  • 0
    downloads this month

Export as

Related outputs

Parodying Through Song: How Comic Devices in King George III’s Songs in Hamilton Challenge Contemporary Dispositions About the Symbolic Value of Youth Culture
Stamatiou, E. 2024. Parodying Through Song: How Comic Devices in King George III’s Songs in Hamilton Challenge Contemporary Dispositions About the Symbolic Value of Youth Culture. in: Wetmore, K. J., Jr. (ed.) Hamilton, History and Hip Hop: Essays on an American Musical McFarland. pp. 73-88
Liminal Casting: Self-Inquisitive Scene Study in Actor Training
Stamatiou, E. 2024. Liminal Casting: Self-Inquisitive Scene Study in Actor Training . in: Peck, L. and Stamatiou, E. (ed.) Critical Acting Pedagogy: Intersectional Approaches Routledge. pp. 121-134
‘Call Me by My Name’: inclusive actor training for second language users
Stamatiou, E. 2024. ‘Call Me by My Name’: inclusive actor training for second language users. Theatre, Dance and Performance Training. 15 (2), pp. 162-178. https://doi.org/10.1080/19443927.2024.2335649
Emotion Memory versus Physical Action Towards Anti-racist Pedagogies that Make Way for Critical Praxis
Stamatiou, E. 2023. Emotion Memory versus Physical Action Towards Anti-racist Pedagogies that Make Way for Critical Praxis. in: Scott, S. and Skelton, J. (ed.) Stanislavski and Race: Questioning the “System” in the 21st Century Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. pp. 62-79
Bourdieu in the Studio: Decolonising and Decentering Actor Training through Ludic Activism
Stamatiou, E. 2023. Bourdieu in the Studio: Decolonising and Decentering Actor Training through Ludic Activism. London and New York Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.
Albania
Jonka, E. and Stamatiou, E. 2023. Albania. in: Remshardt, R. and Mancewicz, A. (ed.) The Routledge Companion to Contemporary European Theatre and Performance Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.
A screen actor prepares: Self-taping by reversing Stanislavsky’s Method of Physical Actions
Stamatiou, E. 2023. A screen actor prepares: Self-taping by reversing Stanislavsky’s Method of Physical Actions. Stanislavski Studies. 11 (1), pp. 63-79. https://doi.org/10.1080/20567790.2023.2196297
Joan Littlewood and Ariane Mnouchkine against the canon: developing the actors’ social representations through clowning
Stamatiou, E. 2022. Joan Littlewood and Ariane Mnouchkine against the canon: developing the actors’ social representations through clowning. Theatre, Dance and Performance Training. 13 (4), pp. 519-535. https://doi.org/10.1080/19443927.2021.1968026
Pierre Bourdieu and actor training: towards decolonising and decentering actor training pedagogies
Stamatiou, E. 2022. Pierre Bourdieu and actor training: towards decolonising and decentering actor training pedagogies. Theatre, Dance and Performance Training. 13 (1), pp. 96-114. https://doi.org/10.1080/19443927.2021.1943509
Stepping Forward: An Exploration of Devised Theatre’s Democratic Designs in an Actor-Training Setting
Stamatiou, E. 2020. Stepping Forward: An Exploration of Devised Theatre’s Democratic Designs in an Actor-Training Setting. in: Aragay, M., Botham, P. and Prado-Pérez, J. R. (ed.) World Political Theatre and Performance: Theories, Histories, Practices BRILL. pp. 98-113
A Materialist Feminist Perspective on Time in Actor Training: The commodity of illusion
Stamatiou, E. 2019. A Materialist Feminist Perspective on Time in Actor Training: The commodity of illusion. in: Evans, M., Thomaidis, K. and Worth, L. (ed.) Time and Performer Training Routledge. pp. 50-61
A Brechtian perspective on London Road: Class representations, dialectics and the ‘gestic’ character of music from stage to screen
Stamatiou, E. 2019. A Brechtian perspective on London Road: Class representations, dialectics and the ‘gestic’ character of music from stage to screen. Studies in Musical Theatre. 13 (3), pp. 287-298. https://doi.org/10.1386/smt_00007_1
The Economic Communities of Edinburgh’s August Festivals: An Exclusive ‘Global Sense of Place’ and an Inclusive ‘Local Sense of Space’
Stamatiou, E. 2019. The Economic Communities of Edinburgh’s August Festivals: An Exclusive ‘Global Sense of Place’ and an Inclusive ‘Local Sense of Space’. in: Galea, M. and Musca, S. (ed.) Redefining Theatre Communities: International Perspectives on Community-Conscious Theatre-Making Bristol, UK; Chicago, USA Intellect Press. pp. 133-148
Caryatid Unplugged: A Cabaret on Performing and Negotiating Belonging and Otherness in Exile
Stamatiou, E. 2017. Caryatid Unplugged: A Cabaret on Performing and Negotiating Belonging and Otherness in Exile. in: Rudakoff, J. (ed.) Performing Exile: Foreign Bodies Intellect Press. pp. 195-216