A new Routledge Undergraduate Research Series book: Undergraduate Research in Theatre: A Guide for Students showcases Michelle Hayford’s insight on the “high-impact practice”(2) of theatre research. A valuable resource for both faculty and undergraduate theatre artists, this book encourages “creative scholarship [that] values mutual exchange and collaborative creation” (30) in all dramaturgical, design, devising, and production processes while engaging in thorough, ethical research practices. Theses, class/curriculum development (resources provided), and department accountability to “seek dialogic performance in community with others”(107) can empower students to contribute to the progression of the discipline.

Hayford emphasizes the value of theatre’s experiential learning methods within undergraduate research, describing how skills developed in theatre are sought after in fields beyond the arts and humanities. The first half of the book explains the value of reading literature reviews so that “new scholars…join the conversation as informed participants”(10). As a result  they can then skillfully organize paratextual sources to “legitimize…theatre as a site for creative and critical inquiry where research is taking place in active and embodied ways”(20). Although theatre is the primary focus for exploring topics such as ethical responsibility to human participants, copyright, qualitative and quantitative data analysis, and disseminating research, the advice Hayford offers applies broadly to student researchers across arts and humanities disciplines.

Once accustomed to using to varied sources, theatre-artist readers can deep dive into applying research methods within a live project. Chapters Eight through Ten centralize performance itself and show how even the most standard scripted theatre incorporates research practices. Hayford delves into the responsibility of research required for “performers [themselves] as change agents” (92), “performance ethnographers”(91) for dialogic scripts, and decentralized storytellers for communities. Moving behind the scenes, Chapters Eleven through Fourteen tackle not only designer “solutions to art-making in the most unexpected circumstances”(123) but the importance of teaching “self-advocacy and negotiation skills to combat pay and labor support disparities they will face in the industry” (141). Every role, from stage manager to performer, must recognize how “the impulse to connect theory to practice, and embodied methodology to production”(172) is a constant liminal affair that they will grapple with as a theatre artist.

Hayford does an excellent job connecting the realm of theatre to the rest of the arts and humanities as valid, and effective research. Not only does she give students the tools to create thoughtful and passionate projects, but she consistently shows how crucial it is to “diversify and evolve academic theatre, enabling theatre graduates to enter their careers with less trepidation… to foster equitable work environments”(125). Using case studies from theatre departments across the world, Hayford emphasizes undergraduates’ current role in revolutionizing the discipline. When curating a piece of any significance, the “content… is only limited by the imagination and research efforts of its creators”(172). This book makes an important addition to the Routledge series, which includes several other volumes dedicated to arts and humanities, including one on Film Studies previously reviewed on this site. Any academic theatre scholar can benefit from Hayford’s inspiration to enact a multimedia, hands-on approach within their own undergraduate research.

Evelyn Wohlbier is a senior theatre major at Lewis & Clark College

The following is an excerpt from a new book I co-edited with Susan Kattwinkel, Performing Arts as High-Impact Practice, with particular emphasis on our chapter on undergraduate research.

Our overall goal was to acknowledge that the performing arts contribute to “high impact practices,” (HIPs) as identified by the American Association of Colleges & Universities. Using the well-known map of the HIPs to illustrate the centrality of performing arts practices in higher education, Kattwinkel and I call for increased participation by performing arts programs in general education, and campus and community initiatives. We use specific case studies as a guide. Ours is the first book to explicitly link the performing arts to HIPs. As a result, it will help institutions implement best practices to meet the transformative educational goals of students and ready them for the creative careers of the future. At stake is the viability of performing arts programs to continue to serve students in their pursuit of a liberal arts education.

Each chapter describes the performing arts disciplines’ contributions to one particular HIP, including a chapter on undergraduate research. Accepting creative activity as research is still contested ground, even among artists. Administrators and faculty need to advocate for the understanding of creative activity as research, and creative scholarship by students and faculty should be acknowledged for their contributions to the institution’s research profile. Ensembles and individuals that create plays, choreography, and compositions are conducting undergraduate research, and we need to educate our peers in other disciplines that this is the case. In our chapter on the HIP of undergraduate research, we review the literature of the performing arts as research and trace the history of the incorporation of undergraduate research into the higher education landscape. We present two dynamic case studies. First, Kathy L. Privatt describes how engaging students in a dramaturgy project of their own choice has been a fruitful model of individual research. Second, Malaika Sarco-Thomas illustrates the benefits of integrating theory and practice in a dance project that gives undergraduates the framework in which to pursue their own research project.

Critical reviews of the book have been extremely positive:

“A combination of advocacy of arts in higher education, common sense, creative thinking, and twenty-first century ideas, this book reconsiders the myriad ways in which the arts could make our institutions richer and our students’ pathways more innovative, leading to career outcomes that transform society.”

–Nancy J. Uscher, Dean, College of Fine Arts, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

“An absolutely crucial read for practitioners, teachers, and scholars of the performing arts. Remarkably cogent, it meets a long-outstanding need: a point-by-point, thoroughly evidentiary argument for bringing the arts from the margins of higher education practice to the center, where they can help students meet the challenges of this new age.”

— Jacob Pinholster, Associate Dean, Herberger Institute for Design & the Arts, Arizona State University

Cover Photo courtesy of Yasmin Falzon

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