Art And Activism Masterclass COVID MONOLOGUES Announced

Covid Monologues is hosting a virtual masterclass on research-based theater playwriting techniques and methodology in partnership with NYU Faculty.

Academic journals are filled with research studies on human condition, public health and the social issues of today. Theatre professionals can play a key role in communicating these findings to wider audiences through techniques of research-based theatre. In this masterclass, you will learn about the different dramatic formats that have been used to communicate research findings, the process of collecting primary interview transcripts and transforming them into documentary theatre, and techniques to position research-based theatre as activism.

Sessions include:

Documentary Theatre: Writing from Interviews facilitated by Joe Salvatore. Joe is the director of NYU Steinhardt's Verbatim Performance Lab and teaches courses in verbatim performance, ethnodrama, applied / community-engaged theatre, and new play development.

Performance as Activism facilitated by Jonathan P. Jones, PhD. Jones is the coordinator of doctoral studies at NYU Steinhardt Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions for the Program in Educational Theatre.

A History of Research Based Theatre in Public Health facilitated by Emily Hurley, PhD and Saraniya Tharmarajah.

Hurley earned her MPH and PhD from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She designed and taught "Communicating public health findings through research-based theatre" in the undergraduate Public Health Studies Program. She has coordinated researchers, theatre artists, and advocacy groups to produce original performances based on research surrounding sexual assault and HIV advocacy.

Tharmarajah is a public health researcher and theatre artist. She received her undergraduate degrees in Public Health Studies, Sociology, and Theatre Arts and Studies from Johns Hopkins University and her master's in Evidence-Based Social Intervention and Policy Evaluation from University of Oxford.

Art & Activism: Masterclass in Research Based Theatre

November 7, 2020 2-5pm EST, online

Registration www.covidmonologues.com/masterclass.

Fulbright Alumni and public health researchers Saraniya Tharmarajah and Emily Hurley received a grant from the U.S. Department of State's Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund to create Covid Monologues, a COVID-19 research-based theater project and virtual performance in partnership with Single Carrot Theatre and Baltimore-based theater artists. In April 2020, the Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs invited U.S. citizen alumni of all U.S. government-sponsored exchange programs, including the Fulbright Program, the Gilman Scholarship, and Cultural and Sports Envoys, to apply for small grants of up to $10,000 as part of the Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund Rapid Response funding opportunity. Exchange alumni from across the United States submitted proposals for public service projects that addressed issues related to the COVID-19 crisis and helped build community resilience.

The Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and implemented in partnership with the Partners of the Americas. For more information visit https://alumni.state.gov.