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Theatre Students
Education
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Data now plays a central role in civic life and community practices. This has created a pressing need for new forms of translation and sense-making that can engage diverse publics. Existing approaches, such as delivering qualitative data through Research-based Theatre (RbT), have been effective; Northeastern University’s Data Theatre Lab extends this tradition by developing “community engaged data theater.” This approach translates quantitative data into theatrical language to engage communities in deliberative conversations on relevant issues. Bridging multiple disciplines, this process incorporates data science, participatory modeling, material deliberation, and theater.
In April 2023, the Data Theatre Lab held a two day workshop exploring the process of devising theatre from quantitative source material. In this workshop, an ensemble of undergraduate theater students collaborated with faculty members and staff members from Livable Streets, using participatory dramatic activities to analyze quantitative data related to tensions between urban green space development and gentrification. Student actors and faculty dramaturgs then used the knowledge generated through those activities to devise a a Viewpoints-based performance.
Lead by Faculty Member Dani Snyder-Young with consultation from George Belliveau.
Students who participated:
Halle Brockett (’25)
Ezekiel D’Ascoli (’23)
Donovan Holt (’24)
Finn McCormack (’25)
Sydney Love (’24)
Ren Birnholz (’23)
Other Faculty who participated:
Michael Arnold Mages (Art + Design)
Rahul Bhargava (Journalism, Art + Design)
Jonathan Carr (Theatre)
Oliver Wason (Theatre)
