Middle School Ethnographic Theatre Project
Since the start of the semester, a number of my middle school students have approached me about putting on a show. We don’t have a dedicated middle school “drama club” anymore or any other officially sanctioned time to meet.
Last semester, we produced our competition piece—which, while it didn’t move on to nationals, still received an excellent rating. I had been racking my brain trying to come up with a simple production—something that wouldn’t require a hefty royalty payment or the investment of purchasing scripts. Maybe something in the public domain, or from one of those theatre teacher websites with a repository of easy-to-produce material.
Then I discovered ethnographic theatre.
Discovering a New Style
Through my MFA class Creative Dramatics, I was introduced to a theatre style I wasn’t familiar with: ethnographic theatre. Given that my undergraduate and graduate studies were in anthropology, the word ethnographic immediately stood out. I couldn’t wait to learn more—and now I have.
As I would define it, ethnographic theatre (also known as verbatim theatre) is the act of presenting a community on stage through interviews and other recorded accounts, allowing an audience to become aware of that community’s stories and experiences in a powerful, authentic way.
Learning about this form—and especially reading and listening to the work of Anna Deavere Smith—was incredibly inspiring.
The Spark of an Idea
Our school is moving to a new building next school year, and I thought: what a great way to cap off our seven-year stay in this borrowed space and look ahead to the future.
I reached out to our seventh and eighth graders and ended up with thirteen interested students. I introduced them to the concept of ethnographic theatre and pitched the idea:
We would create: Voices of Our School: An Ethnographic Theatre Project.
Students would go around campus interviewing peers, teachers, parents, and administrators to collect stories, emotions, and reflections about our time in this space—and their hopes, expectations, and fears about moving to the new building. We spent our first meeting brainstorming together.
Building the Framework
Afterward, I set up a Google Classroom and drafted a step-by-step Google Doc to guide the process. Here's how it works:
Students will collect and transcribe interviews, then submit them to me.
Interviewees’ identities will remain anonymous (only labeled by group: student, teacher, parent, administrator).
Students won’t know who conducted which interview or who the interviewee was.
This ensures participants can be candid and students avoid replicating real individuals’ speech or mannerisms.
While traditional ethnographic theatre often includes mimicking the speaker’s voice and delivery, we’re intentionally sacrificing that element to protect anonymity and create a safe environment for open, honest responses.
Looking Ahead
Students will have about a month to gather and transcribe their interviews. After that, we’ll begin rehearsals during lunch and after school. I also plan to write a short introduction for students to present at the beginning of the performance, helping the audience understand what ethnographic theatre is and why we’re doing this project.
Final Thoughts
It’s my sincere hope that this project will be a learning opportunity for both my students and myself—and that it will bring insight, empathy, and unity to our school community as we move toward a new chapter.
If you’re interested in trying ethnographic theatre with your students, click here for my step-by-step guide. I’ll also be posting updates as we go—stay tuned!