Empathy Working Group with Jenny Salisbury

Empathy is a deeply contested and highly suspect term in spectatorship scholarship. However, despite critiques as far ranging as Brecht, Rousseau, and Lather, empathy persists in cultural dialogue around art reception. How might we approach this disparity in the 21st century? Join Associate director Jenny Salisbury, whose research focuses on verbatim and documentary theatre technique, and delve into current theory, research, and qualitative data surrounding the storied problem of empathy.

• Explored L.B. Cummings' thorough Introduction in Empathy as Dialogue in Theatre and Performance. Palgrave Macmillan, London 2016.

  • Available through academic libraries as an e-book. Please email a request for the article if needed.

• A presentation and exploration of the problem of empathy in Canadian collective creation, supported by case studies The Public Servant by Common Boots Theatre and Out at School, a research-informed theatre piece in development at OISE, through Prof. Tara Goldstein's research team.

• As always, shared coffee, tea, and goodies.

Presented at Jackman Humanities Institute