Finding the Necessary Distance: Theorizing Ethnographic Research-Based Theater

Over the past two decades, methodological approaches that operate at the intersection of theater and ethnography have gained both popularity and critical attention. However, given the newness of these endeavors, certain methodological and theoretical elements of such approaches remain unexplored. This is particularly the case in fields such as health research, where people often use theater as a tool of knowledge translation. This article aims to broaden and enrich the growing canon of work in this area in two directions. First, it provides an empirical example of a theatrical script that emerged from a health research project informed both by ethnographic and creative, performance-based practices. In this project the authors used fictionalized accounts of history to help audiences engage with contemporary cultural/ethical issues regarding pandemic planning and response. Second, the authors theorize that this project can be usefully understood as having incorporated a hermeneutic approach to inquiry, and we introduce the notion of mimetic distance as a means of making sense of this project's success. This article asserts that these theoretical contentions provide further interpretive and creative scope for ethnographic research-based theater and, thus, can usefully expand this growing field.