Verbatim Theatre Research Paper

Verbatim theatre is communal storytelling at its best. What are the benefits of such storytelling as a collective act?
To say that Verbatim Theatre is communal storytelling implies that it is the community telling stories. Such storytelling employed as a collective act allows for many benefits including the voicing of previously unheard stories from a variety of perspectives, feeding stories into the wider communities and allowing for action to be taken, and providing a venue for the search of truth. Good.
The communal nature of Verbatim Theatre means that a great variety of perspectives are voiced. In The Laramie Project we hear about issues such as homophobia and the “live and let live” culture, hate crimes, identity and justice system from a wide variety of perspectives including, but not limited to: homosexuals, heterosexuals, doctors, judges, family and friends of both the victim and the offenders. Similarly, Run Rabbit Run voices a variety of opinions from within the community from iconic personages such as Rupert Murdoch and Andrew Denton, to football club members and coaches, and old and young supporters of the Rabbitohs and corporate entities from other football clubs. This great variety enables both sides of a story or community to be represented:
A priest in The Laramie Project asks the Tectonic Theatre Company team members to “stick to what is true” and not to “twist my words” because of their ethical responsibility. This admonishment was included in the script for The Laramie Project but it is implied for all pieces of Verbatim Theatre. A benefit of the collecting of people’s opinions and stories is that communities around the world look to Verbatim Theatre when searching for truth about or within a