AustLit

'In this way, the book brings together theory and practice in an intersectional and situated manner, providing the reader with all the tools they need to comprehend the complexity of each case study and simultaneously demonstrating through the discussion how art and performance synthesises knowledge and enables embodied understandings. Sisters Grimm critically engage with cinematic texts to 'challenge certain filmic inscriptions of history and their basis in heteronormative, patriarchal, colonial and racist ideologies' (116), responding with what Stuart Hall (1980) describes as oppositional reception or oppositional reading which occurs when the person watching the film interprets it in a different way than what the author of the film intended (which French also describes as 'queering the text' (118)). Hot Brown Honey's tagline, 'Fighting the power never tasted so sweet' (2015), is the title of the concluding chapter, and sums up one of the central themes of the book: that queer feminist performance can function simultaneously as a political platform and an engaging form of entertainment. Combining collaborative and solo vignettes, Hot Brown Honey weaves together a variety of performance styles such as an aerial ribbon dance that deals with the theme of domestic violence, a burlesque 'strip' which metaphorically performs the removal of colonisation from the body of the performer and an exhilarating beatbox performance.' (Publication abstract)

'The process of creating verbatim theatre often involves interviewing a community of storytellers, documenting these conversations and using the stories to inform the creative development of a play. These practices prompt the act of personal storytelling, and the material generated in a verbatim theatre process often includes the core features of belonging, such as identity narratives, people making sense of their experiences and discursively identifying their sense of self and how they belong in their community. I suggest that these features, in combination with the common verbatim conventions of direct address and diegetic theatricality, form a dramaturgy of belonging. I propose a dramaturgy of belonging and suggest that the sense of community belonging experienced by audiences is a direct result of the practice of community immersion and interviewing in a verbatim theatre process.'  (Publication abstract)

'Jan Cohen-Cruz describes engaged performance as a dialogue between the social call of a community and the cultural response of an artist, where the overall process ‘must benefit the people whose lives inform the project’ (2). Engaged performance has ‘social justice aspirations’ (8), ‘without being dull and pragmatic’ (13); its goals are ‘aesthetic and something else’ (11). I engage with this assertion that you can have multiple aspirations for a work ‘without compromising either’ (12). Extending on Cohen-Cruz's definition of engaged performance, I suggest that the process which emerged in the Eternity project was an example of engaged playwriting.' (Preamble introduction)

'Verbatim theatre involves interviewing a community of storytellers based on a topic or event, recording these conversations, and using the stories as stimuli to create performance. In 2014, I wrote and performed in a verbatim play titled 'bald heads and blue stars', and triangulated a documentation of this process through a 'Reflective Practitioner Case Study' methodology to research a theory, model and impact of verbatim theatre practice for my PhD. I identified that there was a significant gap in the field of research concerning the impact that involvement in a verbatim theatre process had on a community of participants. To address this gap, my research included a series of anonymous surveys with the interview participants (who I refer to as the community of storytellers) who shared their stories in the creation of 'bald heads and blue stars'. This community of storytellers were fifteen women from across Queensland who have experienced alopecia, an autoimmune disorder that results in varying degrees of hair loss. At three key junctures across their involvement in the verbatim theatre process the community of storytellers were invited to complete a survey about their experience. This article analyses their responses in reference to the broader academic field and suggests that involvement in a verbatim theatre process intervened in the storytellers' self-awareness, enriched their interpersonal communication around the central themes of the performance, and created stronger community connections.'(Abstract)

'‘bald heads and blue stars’ is an original verbatim play by Sarah Peters that explores the female experience of Alopecia. Alopecia is an autoimmune condition that results in varying degrees of hair loss. It is like an uninvited house guest; it gives no warning of its arrival, you never know how long it’s going to stick around and it always behaves badly in front of your friends. Sarah spent three months interviewing women with Alopecia, and this exciting new Australian play shares these stories of heartbreak and hilarity as we journey through beauty, identity, tattoos and deciding when to tell your new boyfriend that you wear a wig.' (Production summary)