Ethnography and ethnographic writing are celebrated as means of exploring and rendering our understandings of human interactions via creative modes of expression. The article stresses the importance of writing during all phases of ethnography from data collection to reporting. Specifically, the author seeks to demonstrate how ethnography and playwriting can work together as both research and art. The author has been writing plays inspired by ethnographic research and getting them produced at small professional theatres for about 20 years and hopes to pass on some of what she has learned in the form of general principles. Excerpts from her latest play, The Fabulous Ruins of Detroit (2009), are included to illustrate points addressed in the article.
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