“Do you need help?”: Dialogics of Change in Community-Based Theatre

It was a hot, sweaty day in Newport News, Virginia, in 1986. Cornerstone Theater's designer, Lynn Jeffries, was building a set for the company's first community-based production, Our Town, cast in part with local participants. Three kids rode up on bikes and drawled, “What y'all doin’...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Theatre survey 2016-09, Vol.57 (3), p.419-423
Main Author: Kuftinec, Sonja Arsham
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Children
Chinese languages
Community theater
Designers
Essays: On the Theatre & Social Change
Jeffries, Lynn
Theater
Theater companies
Citations: Items that cite this one
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Summary:It was a hot, sweaty day in Newport News, Virginia, in 1986. Cornerstone Theater's designer, Lynn Jeffries, was building a set for the company's first community-based production, Our Town, cast in part with local participants. Three kids rode up on bikes and drawled, “What y'all doin’?” Jeffries responded that they were building a set for a play, noting that she felt like she was “speaking Chinese.” The boys sat for several more minutes. “Do you need help?” And that, according to Jeffries, was “where it all kicked in.”
ISSN:0040-5574
1475-4533
DOI:10.1017/S0040557416000430