Wading the Quagmire: Aesthetics and Ethics in Verbatim Theater Act 1

Abstract

The authors draw on their collective decades of theater creating and viewing to expose how they navigate the innumerable ethical and aesthetic enmeshments of verbatim theater. Mirroring the realms in which each writer works, Wading the Quagmire is an edited and manipulated refraction of conversations between the two authors presented through a script-based structure. Each author discusses, describes, and defends their approach, drawing on salient moments from their theater practice, sharing entanglements, and reflecting on the learnings of practice. In the end, the authors resist ethical prescriptions, while identifying the tight rules they work within and the consequences of breaking them.