DRAMATURGIES OF THE OTHER: SELF-MAKING & SENSE-MAKING IN CONTEMPORARY DOCUMENTARY THEATRE
WORKSHOP WITH MARTHA BOUZIOURI

This workshop underscores the problem that is the broad, stereotypical representation of the identity of the migrant in the dominant Western discourse (in the media, politics and, at times, in art).

It calls for the creation of counter-narratives that emphasize the diverse, subtle, underrepresented facets of the identities of those who are or have been refugees, narratives that would challenge the “threat or victim” binary. Documentary theater emerges in this context as a response to representational hegemony and offers an inclusive, human-oriented space that welcomes self-determination and encourages socio-political awareness.

Participants of the workshop will look at the parallels between conducting anthropological research and staging a contemporary documentary theater production. The group will use anthropological methods (informal conversations, interviews, fieldwork journals, and audiovisual recordings), rediscover them, reconsider them together, and work to dramatize them in a script, ultimately presenting their work in the form of an experimental documentary performance.