Location: PNX138 (This session is closed to general attendance)
Abstract
The tradition of collecting data from and shared by audiences has been a key factor in the growth and development of audience studies in theatre and performance (Sauter 2019, Snyder-Young and Omasta 2022, Freshwater 2009). And yet, there is still much work to be done, particularly in relation to data collection and interpretation (Sedgman 2019). Consideration of ethics, contexts, biases, and ownership frame and shape the field of theatre audience research–at times in unseen and/or unacknowledged ways. This data, and our disciplinary and methodological inheritances in approaching it, will be the focus of our proposed seminar.
Seminar participants are asked to bring a piece of primary audience data, such as an interview transcript, an observational field note or reflection, survey results, a social media post, etc. During the seminar, participants will discuss their data and the contexts and means of production in order to help surface explicit and implicit inheritances of the field. Our goals are to answer questions such as: How are audience data reflective of histories, identities, and legacies of theatre-making? How can audience data help to surface the inheritances of our field? What insights or theoretical interventions can audience data offer to long-held ideas around theatre?
Each participant will have 5-10 minutes to share their data pieces, after which we will break off into smaller groups defined by common themes, and then come back together as a larger group discussion and closing. Submissions from both experienced audience researchers and newcomers to the field are welcome.
Works Cited
Freshwater, Helen. Theatre and Audience. Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.
Sauter, Willmar. “What Areas of Spectatorship Need to Be Studied in Contemporary Contexts?.” Performance Matters 5, no. 2 (2019): 147-149.
Sedgman, Kirsty. “On rigour in theatre audience research.” Contemporary Theatre Review 29, no. 4 (2019): 462-479.
Snyder-Young, Dani, and Matt Omasta, eds. Impacting theatre audiences: Methods for studying change. Routledge, 2022.
Biographies:
The Centre for Spectatorship and Audience Research promotes the investigation of the psychology, phenomenology, and position of spectatorship in theatre. Our current directors are Kelsey Blair, University of the Fraser Valley, Kelsey Jacobson, Queens University, Signy Lynch, University of Toronto, Scott Mealey, Crandall University, and Jenny Salisbury, University of Toronto.