NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State University Associate Professor of Theatre Sean Bartley contributed to a book which has received the Association for Theatre in Higher Education Edited Works Award.
The book, “Enveloping Worlds: Toward a Discourse of Immersivity and Participatory Performance” was edited by E.B. Hunter and Scott Magelssen and was published by the University of Michigan Press.
Bartley’s chapter is “Introduction, Invitation, and Integration in Immersive Performance.”
According to Bartley, the piece explores the changes theatre practitioners were forced to make during the COVID-19 pandemic to engage audiences and help them separate performance from their everyday life without the physical destination of theatre spaces. It highlights three particularly effective strategies for remote immersion: creating physical isolation through objects (as in Optika Moderna’s “Portalezza”), expanding the duration of a performance with phone calls and text messaging (as in Nocturnal Fandango‘s “754-200-3058″) and encouraging participant socialization via Twitter (as in Fake Friends’ “This American Wife”).
He maintains all three of these companies share one central notion that artists and groups might carry over into the post-pandemic return of in-person performances: a keen understanding that physical, digital and social interactions before the theatrical event are central to the meaning making process for audience members.
“The most pressing emotion of the pandemic for me professionally was the deep sadness of seeing so many theatre artists out of work and watching the companies and ensembles I admired most shut their doors,” said Bartley. “But as a writer who thinks about how contemporary artists engage audiences in new ways, often through technology, it was also, paradoxically, a generative time for me. So many theater makers were incredibly creative in the nimble ways they adjusted to new realities, and the solutions they struck inspired new ideas in my own writing and practice.”
Bartley won the Association for Theatre in Higher Education Edited Works Award in 2024 for his book “Experiential Theatres: Praxis-Based Approaches to Training 21st Century Theatre Artists,” which was co-edited with William W. Lewis and published by Routledge.
According to Bartley, his work as a performance scholar is a key component of how he directs productions.
“I develop theoretical ideas on the page but putting them on their feet with student and faculty collaborators often generates ideas I could not have found on my own at the keyboard.” said Bartley. “Like a lab for a scientist, the rehearsal room is the place where the ideas become concrete. I’m incredibly lucky to have support for both these aspects of my work here at NSU. The strong reputation of the Department of Theatre and Dance for performance work is long-established, but it is exciting to see a major organization like ATHE recognize us repeatedly as a place where innovative scholarship is also happening.”
The Association for Theatre in Higher Education is an advocate for the field of theatre and performance in higher education and serves as an intellectual and artistic center for producing new knowledge about theatre and performance-related disciplines.
For more information on NSU’s Department of Theatre and Dance, go to nsula.edu/theatre.