Classroom Exercise: Verbatim Theatre

If you’re looking for a great cross-curricular activity for your drama classroom, delve into verbatim theatre.

Verbatim: in exactly the same words, word for word

Verbatim theatre uses a process in which a playwright interviews subjects on a particular topic or issue, records the responses, then uses those words exactly as they are — no changes.

There are some challenges to this type of project: How do you construct a theatrical experience with this material? You can’t change things around to make them more dramatic. You’re bringing real people, speaking their own thoughts, to life.

Why verbatim theatre?

• This process is often used to share a specific story or event. It's ideal for exploring cross-curricular topics.
• Verbatim theatre gives voice to people who would not normally have a platform.
• The process creates dialogue in a way that most playwrights have to manufacture otherwise. The subjects speak naturally, so their dialogue includes all the ums, pauses, slang, regionalisms, repeated words, and other speech mannerisms that happen in conversation.
• It’s a tool to study the physicality of a specific person or group of people. How do you imitate the gestures, physical stance, and expressions of someone else? Verbatim theatre is a great way for students to work on creating a physical character and hear/analyze natural dialogue.

Examples of verbatim theatre

• The Laramie Project - Moises Kaufman and the members of the Tectonic Theatre Project interviewed people in Laramie, Wyoming after the murder of Matthew Shepard.
• Aftershocks by Paul Brown - This play is based on interviews of survivors of an earthquake and the effect of the disaster.
• Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 by Anna Deavere Smith - Based on interviews about the effects of the Rodney King trial and verdict.

What’s the process?

• Choose a topic or event as the source.
• Find interview subjects.
• Subjects must be real people speaking in their real voice.
• The interviews must be recorded so that you can transcribe the text exactly.
• When you perform the text, speaking verbatim is key. You’re bringing someone else to life through this process and it’s important to convey their thoughts and words exactly.

How can I use this?

• Choose a topic and have students interview each other.
  • Example: Students share with each other their opinions and stories about bullying.
• Choose a specific question/story topic and everyone in the class has to find an interview subject.
  • Example: Interview a parent, uncle/aunt, or grandparent and ask the question, “What was high school like for you?”

Adapting the process

Verbatim theatre is widely thought of as an oral process: Subjects are interviewed and their words are used as text for a play. It makes sense; you’re going from one oral form to another. But when you’re using such a process in the classroom, you’re limited to events and topics that exist in the immediate world of your school, your students, and your community. Everything depends on who your students can find to interview.

When you’re looking for cross-curricular activities, the immediate world can be limiting. Here are some suggestions to expand the concept of verbatim theatre and make it more flexible for a cross-curricular project using YouTube:

• Explore a moment in history that has been recorded.
  • Example: The first nationalized television debate between Nixon and John F Kennedy.
• Explore a moment in current events by taking different clips of the same individual talking about a specific event.
  • Example: Toronto Mayor Rob Ford accused of various activities caught on video.
  • Example: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has been accused of holding back Hurricane Sandy funding. Research videos of him talking back in October about the hurricane and what he says now about the accusations.
• Choose a specific topic and find YouTube clips that show a real person speaking on that subject.
  • Example: Marion Jones denying/admitting to using steroids. * * *