About the Institute

Convened by faculty from Brown University's Department of Theater, Speech and Dance, this Institute will explore the role of theater and new media in political and social movements, with a particular focus on the potential of diverse art forms to advance principles of non-violence and civic debate. The Institute responds in particular to the diverse political and social movements of the past year, staged all around the world. What is new in these movements?  What do they owe to different theories, traditions and practices of expressive freedom and participatory politics? The Institute will address these questions through lectures, readings, performances and discussions organized around four interconnected themes: transgression, translation, transformation and transcendence.  We invite scholars from the humanities and beyond, and artists and performers working in different genres and media, to contribute to an interdisciplinary exploration of the ways in which creative production—whether scripted, improvised, devised, choreographed, or spontaneous—expands the civic imagination and conjures new understandings of public space.

Convening Faculty

Erik Ehn
Head of Playwriting and Professor of Theatre Arts & Performance Studies, Department of Theatre Arts & Performance Studies

Patricia Ybarra
Associate Professor of Theatre Arts & Performance Studies, Department of Theatre Arts & Performance Studies

Application Information

BIARI 2012 is no longer accepting applications. 

Please send questions to: biari@brown.edu.