Five specially commissioned discussions of verbatim theatre - in the words of the people who make it. 'What a verbatim play does is flash your research nakedly. It’s like cooking a meal but the meat is left raw.’ - Max Stafford-Clark Plays which use people’s actual words as the basis for their dramaare not a new phenomenon. But from the stages of national theatres to fringe venues and universities everywhere, ‘verbatim’ theatre, as it has come to be known, is currently enjoying unprecedented attention and success. It has also attracted high-profile criticism and impassioned debate. In these wide-ranging essays and interviews, six leading dramatists describe their varying approaches to verbatim, examine the strengths and weaknesses of its techniques and explore the reasons for its current popularity. They discuss frankly the unique opportunities and ethical dilemmas that arise when portraying real people on stage, and consider some of the criticisms levelled at this controversial documentary form. 'The intention is always to arrive at the truth.' - Nicolas Kent

Copublished with Context Press This collection of transcripts, organized and annotated by Michael P. Twohig and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) founder Steven C. Hayes, guides you through ACT-based therapy processes session-by-session. The transcripts featured in ACT Verbatim present common situations that arise in clinical practice, while the commentary explains how to identify the six target ACT processes and help clients work through them to achieve psychological flexibility. For the most detailed view of ACT therapy, the clinical transcripts included here follow the development of one client struggling with anger, anxiety, and depression. Since ACT is process- rather than technique-oriented, this kind of in the moment analysis is a singularly effective way to learn to apply this therapeutic model. These transcripts will help you: •Identify client indicators that suggest you should target a specific process in therapy •Create useful exercises to foster client development in the core processes of ACT •Evaluate client advancement and structure sessions for maximum progress •Learn the different styles other therapists use to implement ACT in their own ways

Offering a roadmap for practicing verbatim theatre (plays created from oral histories), this book outlines theatre processes through the lens of oral history and draws upon oral history scholarship to bring best practices from that discipline to theatre practitioners. This book opens with an overview of oral history and verbatim theatre, considering the ways in which existing oral history debates can inform verbatim theatre processes and highlights necessary ethical considerations within each field, which are especially prevalent when working with narrators from marginalised communities. It provides a step-by-step guide to creating plays from interviews and contains practical guidance for determining the scope of a theatre project: identifying narrators and conducting interviews, developing a script from excerpts of interview transcripts and outlining a variety of ways to create verbatim theatre productions. By bringing together this explicit discussion of oral history in relationship to theatre based on personal testimonies, the reader gains insight into each field and the close relationship between the two. Supported by international case studies that cover a wide range of working methods and productions, including The Laramie Project and Parramatta Girls, this is the perfect guide for oral historians producing dramatic representations of the material they have sourced through interviews, and for writers creating professional theatre productions, community projects or student plays.

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.

Between 1936 and 1938, the Federal Writers’ Project gathered over 2,300 interviews with former slaves. Pulitzer-winner Lynn Nottage has collected and condensed these interviews into a theatrical exploration of the history of slavery in the United States. By resurrecting these slaves’ stories onstage, Nottage resurrects the voices of people who for so many years had none, and creates a space for the contemplation of the enduring effects of slavery in America.