Laen Hershler will be defending his dissertation proposal on Wednesday, July 24 from 9:00AM to 10:30AM online via Zoom.
Supervisory Committee:
Supervisor: Dr. George Belliveau
Committee Members: Drs. Rita Irwin, Lynn Fels, Denise Kenney
Dissertation Title:
A Post-Qualitative Paradigm for Research-based Theater:
An Inquiry Performed in Three Moments
Abstract:
In this thesis project proposal, I examine the ontological shift from conventional qualitative paradigms to a post-qualitative (St. Pierre, 2017) and performative (Bolt, 2016) approach within Research-based Theatre (RbT). Utilizing concept-guided inquiry and diffractive analysis (Barad, 2014), I explore three key stop moments (Applebaum, 1995; Fels, 2012) from my practice as an artist-researcher in the making of RbT plays. This project investigates how post-humanist, post-structural, and new materialist thought influence a new paradigm for artistic researcher self-inquiry (Østern, 2023). This approach disrupts the binaries, structures, and foundational assumptions of conventional humanist qualitative research, opening new pathways for dynamic, in-between spaces of inquiry within RbT. The dissertation will integrate scholarly writing, multimedia, and live theatrical performance, drawing inspiration from a/r/tography (Irwin et al., 2024), to perform and enact the theoretical provocations it explores.