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Les Éphémèr`es and Homesick: A Phenomenological Analysis of Meaning-Making in Autobiographical Theatre
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Dickstein, Rachel A.
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Spring 2025
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2025
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Theatre-makers use autobiographical theatre as a medium to pull their life experiences outside themselves and recontextualize them in an embodied realm, leaving it open for the artist and audience to prescribe meaning to the piece. Autobiographical theatre is a form of theatre where the playwright, director, or ensemble collect personal experiences and reconstruct them theatrically, creating an environment that invites an audience to observe. Retelling personal experiences theatrically enables the theatre maker to re-experience their past, providing the capacity for the artist to endow meaning onto their experiences. Phenomenologists aim to understand and explain how certain experiences show up to humans and how these experiences can create meaning for people. This essay examines two phenomenological theories of art and theatre by Alva Noë and Bert States, as well as analyzing two devised autobiographical theatre pieces: one by French theatre director Ariane Mnouchkine and the other by Theatre and Performance majors at SUNY Purchase, Maggie Anderson, Dana Freeman, and Judit Queral Perramon.
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