Embodiment

Abstract

Abstract This chapter addresses the subject of embodiment—the aspect of the dramatic process in which actors breathe life into the characters they inhabit. I discuss how, through this breathing and this living, a new layer of reflexivity between research and creative practice is uncovered, and I suggest that the liminal act of embodying a character can evoke new questions and lead to the discovery of new epistemological frameworks in research. Discussing the auditions, rehearsals and first staged readings, or presentations of the musical, I show how the liveness of these collaborative processes served as a way of recovering experience—that is, reclaiming it, and taking its meaning to a new level. Focusing on a new group of participants—the actors—I illustrate the contributions that were made to the “Land of Smiles’ production through their own experiential knowing.