Due to the lack of “how-to” pieces in the methods literature, a theatre artist who later became an ethnographer offers this personal primer in playwriting with qualitative data. Ethnodramatic research representation should be chosen not for its novelty but for its appropriateness as a medium for telling a participant’s story credibly, vividly, and persuasively. An overview of such fundamental playwriting principles as plotting, characterization, monologues, dialogue, and staging is given. The author also proposes that collaborative ventures between ethnographers and theatre practitioners should be initiated to heighten the artistic quality of ethnotheatrical presentations.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Bagley, C., & Cancienne, M.B. (Eds.). (2002). Dancing the data. New York: Peter Lang.
2.
Barone, T. (1997). “Seen and heard”: The place of the child in arts-based research in theatre education. Youth Theatre Journal, 11, 113-127.
3.
Bennett, M., Kirkwood, J., & Kleban, E. (1995). A chorus line: The book of the musical. New York: Applause Books.
4.
Bonney, J. (Ed.). (2000). Extreme exposure: An anthology of solo performance texts from the twentieth century. New York: Theatre Communications Group.
5.
Boran, K. (1999). Rising from the ashes: A dramaturgical analysis of teacher change in a Chicago public high school after probation. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, National-Louis University.
6.
Conquergood, D. (1991). Rethinking ethnography: Towards a critical cultural politics. Communication Monographs, 58(2), 179-194.
7.
Dening, G. (1996). The theatricality of history making and the paradoxes of acting. In G. Dening (Ed.), Performances (pp. 103-127). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
8.
Denzin, N.K. (1997). Interpretive ethnography: Ethnographic practices for the 21st century. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
9.
Denzin, N.K. (2001). The reflexive interview and a performative social science. Qualitative Research, 1(1), 23-46.
10.
Diamond, C.T.P., & Mullen, C.A. (Eds.). (1999). The postmodern educator: Arts-based inquiries and teacher development. New York: Peter Lang.
11.
Diamond, C.T.P., & Mullen, C.A. (2000, October 5). Rescripting the script and rewriting the paper: Taking research to the “edge of the exploratory.” International Journal of Education & the Arts, 1(article 4). Retrieved September 27, 2002, from http://ijea.asu.edu/v1n4
12.
Donmoyer, R., & Yennie-Donmoyer, J. (1995). Data as drama: Reflections on the use of reader’s theater as a mode of qualitative data display. Qualitative Inquiry, 1(4), 402-428.
13.
Eisner, E. (1997). The promise and perils of alternative forms of data representation. Educational Researcher, 26(6), 4-10.
14.
Eisner, E. (2001). Concerns and aspirations for qualitative research in the new millennium. Qualitative Research, 1(2), 135-145.
15.
Ellis, C., & Bochner, A.P. (1992). Telling and performing personal stories: The constraints of choice in abortion. In C. Ellis & M.G. Flaherty (Eds.), Investigating subjectivity Research on lived experience (pp. 79-101). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
16.
Ellis, C., & Bochner, A.P. (Eds.). (1996). Composing ethnography: Alternative forms of qualitative writing. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira.
17.
Finley, M. (2000). Street rat. Detroit, MI: University of Detroit Mercy, Greenroom Press.
18.
Finley, S., & Finley, M. (1998). Traveling through the cracks: Homeless youth speak out. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA.
19.
Finley, S., & Finley, M. (1999). Sp’ange: A research story. Qualitative Inquiry, 5(3), 313-337.
20.
Finley, S., & Knowles, J.G. (1995). Researcher as artist/artist as researcher. Qualitative Inquiry, 1(1), 110-142.
21.
Foster, E. (2002). Storm tracking: Scenes of marital disintegration. Qualitative Inquiry, 8(6), 804-819.
22.
Geertz, C. (1973). Deep play: Notes on a Balinese cockfight. In C. Geertz, The interpretation of cultures (pp. 412-453). New York: Basic Books.
23.
Geertz, C. (1983). Blurred genres: The reconfiguration of social thought. In C. Geertz, Local knowledge: Further essays in interpretive anthropology (pp. 19-35). New York: Basic Books.
24.
Glesne, C. (1999). Becoming qualitative researchers: An introduction (2nd ed.). New York: Longman.
25.
Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.
26.
Goldstein, T. (2001). Hong Kong, Canada: Playwriting as critical ethnography. Qualitative Inquiry, 7(3), 279-303.
27.
Goldstein, T. (2002). Performed ethnography for representing other people’s children in critical educational research. Applied Theatre Researcher, 3. Available from http://www.gu.edu.au/centre/atr/opt6/frameset1b3.html
28.
Gómez-Peña, G. (2000). Dangerous border crossers: The artist talks back. New York: Routledge.
29.
Goodall, H.L., Jr. (2000). Writing the new ethnography. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira.
30.
Gray, R.E., Ivonoffski, V., & Sinding, C. (2002). Making a mess and spreading it around: Articulation of an approach to research-based theater. In A.P. Bochner & C. Ellis (Eds.), Ethnographically speaking: Autoethnography, literature, and aesthetics (pp. 57-75). Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira.
31.
Grinker, R.R. (2000, Fall). In the arms of Africa: The life of Colin Turnbull. AnthroNotes, 22, 12-17.
32.
Gurney, A.R. (1989). Love letters. New York: Dramatists Play Service.
33.
Hoffman, W.H. (1985). As is. New York: Vintage.
34.
Honeychurch, K.G. (1998). Carnal knowledge: Re-searching (through) the sexual body. In W.E. Pinar (Ed.), Queer theory in education (pp. 251-273). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
35.
Hughes, H., & Román, D. (Eds.). (1998). O solo homo: The new queer performance. New York: Grove.
36.
Jipson, J., & Paley, N. (1997). Daredevil research: Re-creating analytic practice. New York: Peter Lang.
37.
Jones, J.L. (2002). Performance ethnography: The role of embodiment in cultural authenticity. Theatre Topics, 12(1), 1-15.
38.
Kalb, J. (2001). Documentary solo performance: The politics of the mirrored self. Theater, 31(3), 12-29.
39.
Kaufman, M., & the Members of the Tectonic Theater Project. (2001). The Laramie Project. New York: Vintage.
40.
Keck, M. (1996). Voices in the rain. Unpublished manuscript.
41.
Kotarba, J.A. (1998). Black men, Black voices: The role of the producer in synthetic performance ethnography. Qualitative Inquiry, 4(3), 389-404.
42.
Kozol, J. (1991). Savage inequalities. New York: HarperCollins.
43.
Landy, R.J. (1993). Persona and performance: The meaning of role in drama, therapy, and everyday life. New York: Guilford.
44.
Leguizamo, J. (with Katz, D.B.). (1997). Freak: A semi-demi-quasi-pseudo autobiography. New York: Riverhead Books.
45.
Martin, J. (1983). Talking with . . . New York: Samuel French.
46.
McCall, M.M. (2000). Performance ethnography: A brief history and some advice. In N.K. Denzin & Y.S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed., pp. 421-433). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
47.
Medoff, M. (1980). Children of a lesser God. Clifton, NJ: James T. White.
48.
Meyer, M. (1998). Transitional wars: A study of power, control and conflict in executive succession—Theatre as representation. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, McGill University, Canada.
49.
Mienczakowski, J. (1995). The theater of ethnography: The reconstruction of ethnography into theater with emancipatory potential. Qualitative Inquiry, 1(3), 360-375.
50.
Mienczakowski, J. (1996). An ethnographic act: The construction of consensual theatre. In C. Ellis & A.P. Bochner (Eds.), Composing ethnography: Alternative forms of qualitative writing (pp. 244-264). Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira.
51.
Mienczakowski, J. (1997). Theatre of change. Research in Drama Education, 2(2), 159-172.
52.
Mienczakowski, J. (2001). Ethnodrama: Performed research—Limitations and potential. In P. Atkinson, A. Coffey, S. Delamont, J. Lofland, & L. Lofland (Eds.), Handbook of ethnography (pp. 468-476). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
53.
Mienczakowski, J., Smith, L., & Morgan, S. (2002). Seeing words—Hearing feelings: Ethnodrama and the performance of data. In C. Bagley & B. Cancienne (Eds.), Dancing the data (pp. 34-52). New York: Peter Lang.
Nelson, A. (2002). The guys. New York: Random House.
56.
Norris, J. (2000). Drama as research: Realizing the potential of drama in education as a research methodology. Youth Theatre Journal, 14, 40-51.
57.
Ocklander, M., & Östlund, G. (2001). Comments on the Brad Trilogy [Letter to the editor]. Qualitative Health Research, 11(6), 725-727.
58.
Ollerenshaw, J., McVea, K., Creswell, J.W., Plano Clark, V., McEntarffer, R., & Miller, D. (2001). Stories of high school students and staff attempts to quit smoking. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association, Seattle, WA.
59.
Paget, M.A. (1995) Performing the text. In J. Van Maanen (Ed.), Representation in ethnography (pp. 222-244). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Pelias, R.J. (2002). For father and son: An ethnodrama with no catharsis. In A.P. Bochner & C. Ellis (Eds.), Ethnographically speaking: Autoethnography, literature, and aesthetics (pp. 35-43). Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira.
62.
Pielmeier, J. (1982). Agnes of God. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.
63.
Pifer, D.A. (1999). Small town race: A performance text. Qualitative Inquiry, 5(4), 541-562.
64.
Preisinger, M.A., Schroeder, C., & Scott-Hoy, K. (2000, February). What makes me? Stories of motivation, morality and me. Interdisciplinary arts performance at the 2000 American Educational Research Association Arts-Based Research Conference, Albuquerque, NM.
65.
Prendergast, M. (2001). “Imaginative complicity”: Audience education in professional theatre. Unpublished master’s thesis, University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
66.
Rogers, D., Frellick, P., & Babinski, L. (2002). Staging a study: Performing the personal and professional struggles of beginning teachers. In C. Bagley & M.B. Cancienne (Eds.), Dancing the data (pp. 53-69). New York: Peter Lang.
67.
Rohd, M. (2001). Shadows & bricks. Unpublished manuscript.
68.
Saldaña, J. (1998a). Ethical issues in an ethnographic performance text: The “dramatic impact” of “juicy stuff.” Research in Drama Education, 3(2), 181-196.
69.
Saldaña, J. (1998b). “Maybe someday, if I’m famous . . .”: An ethnographic performance text. In J. Saxton & C. Miller (Eds.), The research of practice, the practice of research (pp. 89-109). Victoria, BC: IDEA Publications.
70.
Saldaña, J. (1999). Playwriting with data: Ethnographic performance texts. Youth Theatre Journal, 13, 60-71.
71.
Saldaña, J., & Wolcott, H.F. (2001). Finding my place: The Brad trilogy. Unpublished manuscript.
72.
Schechner, R. (1985). Between theatre and anthropology. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
73.
Schreiber, R., Rodney, P., Brown, H., & Varcoe, C. (2001). Reflections on deconstructing Harry, or when is good art bad science? [Letter to the editor]. Qualitative Health Research, 11(6), 723-724.
74.
Seidman, I.E. (1991). Interviewing as qualitative research. New York: Teachers College Press.
75.
Shaffer, P. (1974). Equus. New York: Avon Books.
76.
Smith, A.D. (1993). Fires in the mirror. New York: Doubleday.
77.
Smith, A.D. (1994). Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992. New York: Doubleday.
78.
Smith, A.D. (2000). Talk to me: Listening between the lines. New York: Random House.
79.
Spry, T. (2001). Performing autoethnography: An embodied methodological praxis. Qualitative Inquiry, 7(6), 706-732.
80.
Strauss, A.L. (1987). Qualitative analysis for social scientists. New York: Cambridge.
81.
Sykes, H., Chapman, J., & Swedberg, A. (2002). Wearing the secret out. Performance at the 2002 American Educational Research Association Conference, New Orleans, LA.
82.
Terkel, S. (1974). Working: People talk about what they do all day and how they feel about what they do. New York: Pantheon.
83.
Terkel, S. (1978). Working (S. Schwartz & N. Faso, Adapters). New York: Music Theatre International.
84.
Tillmann-Healy, L.M. (1996). A secret life in a culture of thinness: Reflections on body, food, and bulimia. In C. Ellis & A.P. Bochner (Eds.), Composing ethnography: Alternative forms of qualitative writing (pp. 76-108). Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira.
85.
Turner, V. (1982). From ritual to theatre. New York: PAJ Publications.
86.
Turner, V., & Turner, E. (1982). Performing ethnography. Drama Review, 26(2), 33-50.
87.
Vanover, C., & Saldaña, J. (2002). Attunement. Unpublished manuscript.
88.
Varner, T.L. (2000). “Am I a. . . .” Qualitative Inquiry, 6(4), 456-466.
89.
Wagner, J. (1986). The search for signs of intelligent life in the universe. New York: Harper & Row.
90.
Walker, R., Pick, C., & MacDonald, B. (1991). “Other rooms: Other voices”—A dramatized report. In C. Pick & B. MacDonald (Eds.), Biography, identity and schooling: Episodes in educational research (pp. 80-93). Washington, DC: Falmer.
91.
Wilder, T. (1960). Our town. New York: Harper.
92.
Williams, T. (1976). The glass menagerie. New York: Dramatists Play Service.
