Playbuilding as Qualitative Research

Joe Norris was a co-founder and the artistic director of the Mirror Theatre, a social issues focused touring theatre troupe, and he co-edited the book Learning to Teach Drama: A Case Narrative Approach. He has served as the Theatre-in-Education Network Chair and Research Network Chair for the American Alliance for Theatre and Education. He presently teaches courses on integrating the arts in the curriculum, learning through drama, curriculum theory, qualitative research, drama as a way of knowing, and the principles of learning at St. Francis Xavier University.

"...Devising and performing theatrical work are sometimes perceived by non-practitioners as mysterious and elusive processes. But Joe Norris's Playbuilding as Qualitative Research accessibly documents the empirically-grounded and socially-conscious productions of Canada's renowned Mirror Theatre for a broad readership in the communities of education, sociology, social work, human communication, film and media production, and the arts. Norris persuasively makes the case for playbuilding as a genre of qualitative research that adheres to the principle tenets of inquiry in which art-based research and research-informed art are collaborative, emergent, data-driven, relevant, and ethical acts for audiences' social concerns and needs. Joe Norris's rigorous scholarship and sensitivity to lived experience weave together to present an engaging narrative of how qualitative researchers--not just theatre artists--can elegantly dramatize the salient issues of our lives for community reflection and action."... -Johnny Saldana, Arizona State University "...A key contribution of the book is Norris's invitation to consider theatre as a form of research that extends discussions instead of only presenting particular findings. More specifically, the theatrical presentation becomes part of the ongoing research itself as he invites his audience to engage with the given topic post-performance...I recommend Playbuilding as qualitative research for all arts-based researchers, and in particular those interested theatre/drama educational research. Readers will find a balance of theory, methodology, practice, and history in Norris' book, and as significant, they will witness nearly 30 years of creative, research work by a passionate, thoughtful, internationally-known theatre education practitioner-scholar."...--George Belliveau, International Journal of Education and the Arts "Just when I was all comfortable thinking I knew just what qualitative research is, how to conduct it, how to present the results, and especially how to judge the quality of it all, here comes your book with all of its genre-bending, category-blurring, deconstructing, reconstructing, unconstructing rhetoric. I read the plays, go back to the sections on how to create these productions, then back to plays again, and I can see how the productions can be seen as renderings of the data produced by the collective process. I can even see how you have a discussion section after your plays when you can discuss the implications and limitations of the work. It's just that I really hadn't thought about how similar research and art can be and what can happen when we push past the metaphor and take seriously what research can be when we embrace its artistry."--Ronald J. Chenail, The Qualitative Report "...There have long been gaps and questions in the story of how group constructed performance pieces and playbuilding actually become part of an accessible route towards valid qualitative research in theater. Joe Norris reclaims the voice of the theater practitioner in this latest addition to the Developing Qualitative Inquiry series. In Playbuilding as Qualitative Research he expertly guides the reader through the theory, techniques and experience of this participatory research approach in a way which will open the genre to the many, many theatre and arts practitioners who will be able to better join the dots between their own teaching and practice and its potential contribution as research."...--Jim Mienczakowski, Abu Dhabi Education Council

• PrefacePART I The BackgroundPART II The ScriptingPART III The Performance WorkshopAppendices References Index About the Author