Engaging Theatre, Activating Publics: Theory and Practice of a Performance on Darwin

  • Saul E. Halfon Virginia Tech
  • Cora Olson Virginia Tech
  • Ann Kilkelly Virginia Tech
  • Jane L. Lehr Cal Poly
Keywords: performance, public engagement, agonism, expertise, Darwin

Abstract

The Theatre Workshop in Science, Technology and Society (TWISTS) is a unique public engagement project. Theoretically, TWISTS seeks to activate publics around contemporary science and technology issues by producing agonistic cultural spaces in which participants are confronted with and engaged by multiple perspectives. It thus seeks to enact a model of Public Engagement with Science and Technology (PEST) that is oriented toward neither individualized educational models nor policy deliberation and consensus. Its engaged STS performance model instead merges expanded notions of expertise with challenges and techniques derived from critical performance theory, such as recentering participants, rethinking purpose and evaluation, and reworking narrative structure. Practically, TWISTS’ four existing performance cycles have been sites for both extending and challenging the theory. Using a unique system of expert interviews, writing, and theater games, these performances were collaboratively derived by a range of participants. The “Living Darwin” performance serves as a case study for exploring the tensions of this collaboration. Negotiating a set of different perspectives over the place of Darwin in contemporary life, and the proper way to represent him and his influence, was challenging, but proved productive in developing a performance that raised these issues for the audience within an agonistic space.

Author Biographies

Saul E. Halfon, Virginia Tech

Saul Halfon is Associate Professor of Science, Technology, and Society at Virginia Tech. He works in the political sociology of science and technology, especially food governance, the politics of demography and population, and the international politics of food and risk. He also has an ongoing interest in public engagement efforts. He served as co-Director of TWISTS and the Choices and Challenges public engagement program.

Cora Olson, Virginia Tech

Cora M. Olson currently works as an engaged Instructional faculty member at Virginia Tech and the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine. Her instructional practices focus on disrupting the dominant narratives of medicine through intersectional critiques of medical education techniques, biomedical practices, and biomedical constructions of ethical theory. Her research has two foci: one on the role of pedagogy as intervention in medical and pre-medical education and the other on the regulation and construction of athlete bodies through biomedical research.  Cora served as a long term Graduate Assistant for TWISTS.

Ann Kilkelly, Virginia Tech

Ann Kilkelly is Professor Emeritus of Women's Studies and Theatre Arts at Virginia Tech. She is a teacher of theater, women's studies, historical dance forms, and community engagement. She has published on community-based performance and has tap-danced in a range of professional and local venues. She was TWISTS’ artistic director.

Jane L. Lehr, Cal Poly

Dr. Jane Lehr is the Director of Student Research and a professor in Ethnic Studies and Women’s, Gender & Queer Studies at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. She is Faculty Director of the California State University Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) in STEM Program at Cal Poly. Her teaching and research focus on the complex relationships between gender, race, culture, science, technology, and education. Her PhD is in Science & Technology Studies and Women's Studies at Virginia Tech. She was the founder and co-director of TWISTS.

References

Bicât, Tina, and Chris Baldwin, eds. 2002. Devised and Collaborative Theatre: A Practical Guide. Ramsbury, Marlborough, UK: Crowood P Ltd.

Boal, Augusto. 1979/1982. The Theatre of the Oppressed. New York: Urizen Books/Routledge.

Boal, Augusto. 1992. Games for Actors and Non-Actors. New York: Routledge.

Boler, Megan. 1999. Feeling Power: Emotions and Education. New York: Routledge.

Carroll, Sean. 2005. Endless Forms Most Beautiful: The New Science of Evo Devo and the Making of the Animal Kingdom. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.

Chambers, Samuel A. 2001. “Language and Politics: Agonistic Discourse in The West Wing.” December 11. http://ctheory.net/ctheory_wp/language-and-politics-agonistic-discourse-in-the-west-wing/.

Checkoway, Barry. 1997. "Core Concepts for Community Change." Journal of Community Practice 4 (1):11-29.

Cless, Downing. 1996. "Eco-Theatre USA: The Grassroots is Greener." The Drama Review 40(2):79-102.

Cohen, Benjamin R., and Wyatt Galusky. 2010. "Guest Editorial for Special Issue: Embodying STS." Science as Culture 19 (1):1-14.

Connolly, William E. 2005. Pluralism. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Connolly, William E. 2008. William E. Connolly: Democracy, Pluralism and Political Theory. Edited by Samuel Allen Chambers and Terrell Carver. London/New York: Routledge.

Darwin, Charles. 1859. The Origin of Species: By Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. First ed. London: John Murray. http://darwin-online.org.uk/converted/pdf/1859_Origin_F373.pdf.

Darwin, Charles. 1881. The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms, with Observations on their Habits. London: John Murray. http://darwin-online.org.uk/converted/pdf/1881_Worms_F1357.pdf.

Davies, Sarah, Ellen McCallie, Elin Simonsson, Jane L. Lehr, and Sally Duensing. 2009. "Discussing Dialogue: Perspectives on the Value of Science Dialogue Events that Do Not Inform Policy." Public Understanding of Science 18 (3):338-353.

Davies, Sarah R. 2014. "Knowing and Loving: Public Engagement beyond Discourse." Science & Technology Studies 27 (3):90-110.

Delborne, Jason, Jen Schneider, Ravtosh Bal, Susan Cozzens, and Richard Worthington. 2013. "Policy Pathways, Policy Networks, and Citizen Deliberation: Disseminating the Results of World Wide Views on Global Warming in the USA." Science and Public Policy 40:378-392. doi: 10.1093/scipol/scs124.

Delborne, Jason A. 2011. "Constructing Audiences in Scientific Controversy." Social Epistemology 25 (1):67-95. doi: 10.1080/02691728.2010.534565.

Dolan, Jill. 1988. The Feminist Spectator as Critic. Ann Arbor, Mich: UMI Research Press.

Downey, Gary L. 2009. "What is Engineering Studies for? Dominant Practices and Scalable Scholarship." Engineering Studies 1 (1):55-76.

Dryzek, John S. 2000. Deliberative Democracy and Beyond: Liberals, Critics, Contestations. Oxford Political Theory series. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Einsiedel, Edna, and Deborah L. Eastlick. 2000. "Consensus Conferences as Deliberative Democracy: A Communications Perspective." Science Communication 21 (4):323-343.

Einsiedel, Edna, Erling Jelsøe, and Thomas Breck. 2001. "Publics at the Technology Table: The Consensus Conference in Denmark, Canada, and Australia." Public Understanding of Science 10 (1):93-98.

Elam, Mark, and Margareta Bertilsson. 2003. "Consuming, Engaging and Confronting Science: The Emerging Dimensions of Scientific Citizenship." European Journal of Social Theory 6 (2):233-251.

Evans, Robet, and Harry Collins. 2008. "Expertise: From Attribute to Attribution and Back Again?" In The Handbook of Science and Technology Studies, edited by E. Hackett, O. Amsterdamska, M. Lynch and J. Wajcman, 609-30. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Ezrahi, Yaron. 1990. The Descent of Icarus: Science and the Transformation of Contemporary Democracy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Fisher, E. and R. L. Mahajan. 2010. “Embedding the Humanities in Engineering: Art, Dialogue, and a Laboratory.” In Trading Zones and Interactional Expertise: Creating New Kinds of Collaboration, edited by M. E. Gorman. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Fisher, E., R. L. Mahajan, and C. Mitcham. 2006. “Midstream Modulation of Technology: Governance from Within.” Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, 26 (6):485-496.

Fortun, Kim, and Todd Cherkasky. 1998. "Counter-expertise and the Politics of Collaboration." Science as Culture 7 (2):145-172.

Guston, David H. 1999. "Evaluating the First U.S. Consensus Conference: The Impact of the Citizens’ Panel on Telecommunications and the Future of Democracy." Science, Technology & Human Values 24 (4):451-482.

Haraway, Donna. 1988. "Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective." Feminist Studies 14 (3):575-599.

Haraway, Donna. 1991. Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature. New York: Routledge.

Haraway, Donna. 1992. Primate Visions: Gender, Race and Nature in the World of Modern Science. London: Verso.

Harding, Sandra. 1993. "Rethinking Standpoint Epistemology: What is “Strong Objectivity”?" In Feminist Epistemologies edited by L. Alcoff and E. Potter, 49-82. New York: Routledge.

Harding, Sandra. 2006. Science and Social Inequality: Feminist and Postcolonial Issues. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press.

Heddon, Deirdre, and Jane Milling. 2006. Devising Performance: A Critical History. Basingstoke, UK/New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Holden, Constance. 2002. "Random Samples: From PUS to PEST." Science 298 (5591):49.

Hilgartner, Stephen. 2000. Science on Stage: Expert Advice as Public Drama. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.

Irwin, Alan. 2001. "Constructing the Scientific Citizen: Science and Democracy in the Biosciences." Public Understanding of Science 10 (1):1-18.

Irwin, Alan. 2014. "From Deficit to Democracy (Re-Visited)." Public Understanding of Science 23 (1):71-76. doi: 10.1177/0963662513510646.

Irwin, Alan, Torben Elgaard Jensen, and Kevin E. Jones. 2013. "The Good, the Bad and the Perfect: Criticizing Engagement Practice." Social Studies of Science 43 (1):118-135.

Irwin, Alan, and Brian Wynne, eds. 1996. Misunderstanding Science? The Public Reconstruction of Science and Technology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Jackson, John P., and Nadine M. Weidman. 2004. Race, Racism, and Science: Social Impact and Interaction. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.

Jasanoff, Sheila. 2004. "Science and Citizenship: A New Synergy." Science and Public Policy 3 (1/2):90-94.

Joss, S., and J. Durant. 1995. Public Participation in Science: The Role of Consensus Conferences. London: London Science Museum.

Keynes, Randal. 2001. Annie's Box: Charles Darwin, His Daughter and Human Evolution. New York: Fourth Estate.

Kilkelly, Ann, with Collaborators, Carol Burch-Brown, and Celeste Miller. 2009. “Living Darwin.” Blacksburg: Virginia Tech.

Kleinman, Daniel Lee, and Katie Vann. 2016. "Ongoing Engagement of Science, Technology and Society." Engaging Science, Technology, and Society 2(2):1-2. doi: 10.17351/ests2016.95.

Kurath, Monika, and Priska Gisler. 2009. "Informing, Involving or Engaging? Science Communication, in the Ages of Atom-, Bio- and Nanotechnology." Public Understanding of Science 18 (5):559-573.

Leach, Melissa, and Ian Scoones. 2006. The Slow Race: Making Technology Work for the Poor. London: DEMOS.

Lehr, Jane L. 2006. "Social Justice Pedagogies and Scientific Knowledge: Remaking Citizenship in the Non-Science Classroom." Ph.D. Dissertation, Science and Technology Studies, Virginia Tech.

Lehr, Jane L., E. McCallie, S. Davies, B. R. Caron, B. Gammon, and S. Duensing. 2007. "The Value of “Dialogue Events” as Sites of Learning: An Exploration of Research and Evaluation Frameworks." International Journal of Science Education 29 (12):1467-1487.

Lengwiler, Martin. 2008. "Participatory Approaches in Science and Technology: Historical Origins and Current Practices in Critical Perspective." Science, Technology & Human Values 33(2):186-200.

Leonard, Robert H., and Ann Kilkelly. 2006. Performing Communities: Grassroots Ensemble Theaters Deeply Rooted in Eight U.S. Communities. Oakland, CA: New Village Press.

Liberatore, Angela, and Silvio Funtowicz. 2000. "'Democratising’ Expertise, ‘Expertising’ Democracy: What Does This Mean, and Why Bother?" Science and Public Policy 30 (3):146-150.

Mayer, I., and J. Geurts. 1999. "Consensus Conferences as Participatory Policy Analysis: A Methodological Contribution to the Social Management of Technology." In The Social Management of Genetic Engineering, edited by P. Wheale, R. von Schomburg, and P. Glasner, 279-301. Aldershot: Ashgate.

McCallie, Ellen, Larry Bell, Tiffany Lohwater, John Falk, Jane Lehr, Bruce Lewenstein, Cynthia Needham, and Ben Wiehe. 2009. “Many Experts, Many Audiences: Public Engagement with Science and Informal Science Education.” A CAISE Inquiry Group Report. Washington, DC: CAISE.

McCaughey, Martha. 2008. The Caveman Mystique: Pop-Darwinism and the Debates Over Sex, Violence, and Science. New York: Routledge.

McKibben, Bill. 2005. “Imagine That: What the Warming World Needs Now is Art, Sweet Art.” Grist April 25. Accessed June 7, 2010. https://grist.org/article/mckibben-imagine/.

Mermikides, Alex, and Gianna Bouchard. 2016. Performance and the Medical Body. London: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama.

Mouffe, Chantal. 2000. The Democratic Paradox. London/New York: Verso.

Mulvey, Laura. 1975. "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema." Screen 16 (3):6-18.

Mutz, Diana Carole. 2006. Hearing the Other Side: Deliberative Versus Participatory Democracy. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press.

Nowotney, H., Scott, and M. Gibbons. 2001. Re-thinking Science: Knowledge and the Public in an Age of Uncertainty. Cambridge: Polity.

Oddey, A. 1996. Devised Theatre. New York/Oxford: Routledge.

Odegaard, M. 2003. "Dramatic Science. A Critical Review of Drama in Science Education." Studies in Science Education 39(1):75-102.

Pearson, G., and B. Holligan. 2002. "Using Drama to Communicate Science." Annual Public Communication of Science and Technology (PCST-7) Conference.

Pestre, Dominique. 2008. "Challenges for the Democratic Management of Technoscience: Governance, Participation and the Political Today." Science as Culture 17 (2):101-119.

Rip, Arie, T. J. Misa, and J. Schot. 1995. Managing Technology in Society: The Approach of Constructive Technology Assessment. London: Pinter.

Rohd, Michael. 1998. Theatre for Community Conflict and Dialogue: The Hope Is Vital Training Manual. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Drama.

Rowe, G., and L. J. Frewer. 2005. "A Typology of Public Participation Mechanisms." Science, Technology, & Human Values 30 (2):251-90.

Sainsbury, Lord, and Mike Dexter. 2000. Science and the Public: A Review of Science Communication and Public Attitudes to Science in Britain. London: A Joint Report by the Office of Science and Technology and the Wellcome Trust.

Schechner, Richard. 1988. Performance Theory. Revised and expanded. New York: Routledge.

Schutzman, Mady, and Jan Cohen-Cruz, eds. 1994. Playing Boal: Theatre, Therapy, Activism. New York: Routledge.

Schutzman, Mady, and Jan Cohen-Cruz. 2006. A Boal Companion: Dialogues on Theatre and Cultural Politics. New York: Routledge.

Sclove, Richard. 2000. "Town Meetings on Technology: Consensus Conferences as Democratic Participation." In Science, Technology, and Democracy, edited by D. L. Kleinman. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

Sclove, Richard. 2010. “Reinventing Technology Assessment: a 21st Century Model.” Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. https://ecastnetwork.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/reinventingtechnologyassessment.pdf.

Selin, Cynthia, Kelly Campbell Rawlings, Kathryn de Ridder-Vignone, Jathan Sadowski, Carlo Altamirano Allende, Gretchen Gano, Sarah R. Davies, and David H. Guston. 2016. "Experiments in Engagement: Designing Public Engagement with Science and Technology for Capacity Building." Public Understanding of Science 26 (6):634-649. doi: 10.1177/0963662515620970.

Shepherd-Barr, Kirsten. 2006. Science on Stage: from Doctor Faustus to Copenhagen. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Sullivan, John, Sharon Petronella, Edward Brooks, Maria Murillo, Loree Primeau, and Jonathan Ward. 2008. "Theatre of the Oppressed and Environmental Justice Communities: A Transformational Therapy for the Body Politic." Journal of Health Psychology 13 (2):166-179.

Tselfes, Vasilis, and Antigoni Paroussi. 2009. "Science and Theatre Education: A Cross-disciplinary Approach of Scientific Ideas Addressed to Student Teachers of Early Childhood Education." Science & Education 18 (9):1115-1134. doi: 10.1007/s11191-008-9158-2.

Wilsdon, J., and R. Willis. 2004. See-Through Science: Why Public Engagement Needs to Move Upstream. London: DEMOS. Open Access Book.

Woodhouse, Edward, David Hess, Steve Breyman, and Brian Martin. 2002. "Science Studies and Activism: Possibilities and Problems for Reconstructivist Agendas." Social Studies of Science 32 (2):297-319.

Zuiderent-Jerak, Teun. 2015. Situated Intervention: Sociological Experiments in Health Care. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Zuiderent-Jerak, Teun, and Casper Bruun Jensen. 2007. "Editorial Introduction: Unpacking 'Intervention' in Science and Technology Studies." Science as Culture 16 (3):227-235.

Published
20 Jun 2020
Section
Research Articles