Renee Lynch, University of Washington, Seattle, USA

I was talking to a colleague recently about the first-year composition course we are teaching and had an epiphany. I was trying to craft the next assignment sequence to focus on research skills, but I was feeling wary about scaffolding and grading twenty-three, five-to-seven-page research papers from first-year students in the remaining three weeks of the academic quarter. Then suddenly, it dawned on me: the end result doesn’t have to be a research paper!

In today’s world, there are so many ways in which we interact with insights gleaned from a research process; podcasts, infographics, and documentaries are just a few of the myriad ways that research-based claims find their ways into lives outside of academic contexts, where their impact can be broader and more transferrable. Given that my composition course focused on rhetorical awareness, it seemed fitting that the end result of our research skills sequence should be the writer’s choice of product to share what they had found in a way that seemed the most meaningful and impactful, given the intended audience and purpose.

As a current PhD student, I often internally debate the efficacy of a written dissertation as the best vehicle for my social justice-oriented research. I want to make change, provoke deep questioning, and invite many voices to the conversation, including those who do not have access to, time for, or interest in reading academic prose.

Enter: research-based theatre.

In her book, Staging Harriet’s House: Writing and Performing Research-Based Theatre, Tara Goldstein offers exciting and practical insights into how research can be made more impactful, engaging, and accessible by utilizing the power of theatre. Throughout the book, Goldstein tracks the development of one of her many research-based plays, Harriet’s House, which was performed as part of the 2010 Toronto Pride Festival. The play itself centers on the story of an adoptive mother, Harriet, who grapples with coming out to her three daughters, two adopted from Colombia and one biological from a previous marriage to a man. While struggling to introduce her partner to her daughters, Harriet is also diagnosed with breast cancer which further impacts her family dynamics and sense of self. The script of Harriet’s House is included in an appendix. The book is then devoted to telling the story of how this play came to be, providing theoretical background, notes on process, and anecdotes, peppered with the joys and challenges of doing this work.

Goldstein begins by succinctly laying out an overview of research-based theatre and its many iterations in drama, anthropology, and other fields (accompanied by an annotated bibliography in an additional appendix) as well as some samples from previous research-based plays that she has written and produced for pedagogical purposes as a TESOL educator (see Goldstein, 2016). It seems that what was unique about Harriet’s House was its scope, aiming to be a fully produced theatrical performance, in a formal venue with lighting, sound design, a full set, and professional actors.

Ambitious and dedicated, Goldstein roots herself in her desire to create a platform for lived issues in transnational adoption in same-sex families. Her efforts to have this performance included in the Toronto Pride Festival reflect not only her belief in the value of drama to embody social tensions and provoke empathy but also her resolve to increase representation of marginalized voices. She has taken her cue from Josefina Lopez, author of Real Women Have Curves, who suggests that writers ask, “In what world is it ok to be me? Create that world. With your vision you give other people the inspiration to create a world where they too belong” (as cited in Goldstein, 2012, p. 47).

Goldstein’s research was based on interviews with transnational adoptive same-sex families in the Toronto area as well as texts including scholarly articles, personal narratives, and films. These appear in a “Texts Consulted” section at the end of the play script. She then identified themes, conflicts, and key insights and then translated them into fictional storylines and characters, an overall “blend of realist, interpretive, and dramatic research and writing techniques” (Goldstein, 2012, p. 35) followed by an intensive revision process further discussed in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 approaches the issue of assessing the value or impact of research-based theatre while chapter 4 recounts the tales, and at times tribulations, of mounting the production. Chapter 5 is helpfully framed as frequently asked questions (FAQ) about the play and other arts-based research, including words specifically for graduate students seeking institutional support.

What makes this book special among other resources I have come across is the practical, straightforward generosity towards those hoping to follow in her footsteps, from including example budgets for grant applications and simple writing exercises to cautionary tales about insurance and wrestling with representation in casting. Her down-to-earth tone and clearly laid-out processes are very user-friendly while also reflecting the complexities of undertaking a research project, writing a play, and then producing it, all of which she completed while chair of her department. She is intimately aware of the intensive, multifaceted work involved but is never overbearing or discouraging. Instead, she stresses the need for collaboration, networking, and prioritizing time for one’s own writing in order to make such processes possible.

This book inspires me as a researcher because I often wonder how to make my academic work useful and available to a wider audience. I want to honor other ways of knowing that are embodied, emotional, visual, aural, and interpersonal that include the many voices and tensions that exist in my work. As a TESOL educator with a passion for theatre, I wonder how to realistically connect these dots to create something potentially transformative. Many others have forged the path, but Tara Goldstein holds a lamp by which I can see a real way forward.

References:

Goldstein, T. (2012). Staging Harriet's House: Writing and Producing Research-Informed Theatre. New York: Peter Lang.

Goldstein, T. (2016). Border Crossing in the Classroom through Performed Ethnography. Penn GSE Perspectives on Urban Education, 13(1), 4-19.