Using Research-based Theatre with Post-traumatic Stress Survivors with George Belliveau and Christina Cook

Event Details

  • Start: 6 July 2023 9:00 am
  • End: 6 July 2023 10:15 am
  • Categories:

This event is part of the Ethics of Trauma-Informed Research Webinar Mini-Series co-hosted by the University of Victoria’s Visual Storytelling and Graphic Art in Genocide and Human Rights Education project and the UBC-V Public Humanities Hub.

George Belliveau wearing a checked blue-grey button-down shirt, and Christina Cook wearing a cobalt blue blouse with puffed sleeves, smiling, in a sunlit room with turned wood furniture and column base, with details of their webinar "Using Research-based Theatre with Post-traumatic Stress Survivors" taking place July 6, 2023.

This session explores an arts-based research project co-developed between returning military veterans, counselling psychologists and artists. Using Research-based Theatre as a methodology, the team collaboratively created a play, Contact!Unload, which features veterans as performers sharing their stories of serving and the sometimes difficult return to civilian life. Research-based Theatre unites the research and theatre creation process. As the lead theatre artist on the project, George will share the relational learning that emerged amidst the team in the development and performances. Christina is a counsellor and worked on the project as a researcher. She will provide insights on the therapeutic potential of using theatre as a mode of research and, as importantly, the care required for all members involved during the various stages of this project.

Thursday, July 6, 2023
9:00-10:15 AM Pacific Time
Online via Zoom 

Register here

Speaker Bios

George Belliveau wearing a checked blue-grey button-down shirt, smiling, in a room with turned wood furniture and column baseGeorge Belliveau is Professor of Theatre Education at the University of British Columbia, Canada. His research focuses on Research-based Theatre and he has published extensively in the areas of theatre & drama. His latest co-edited book with G. W. Lea Contact!Unload: Military Veterans, Trauma, and Research-based Theatre (2020) explores a project with military veterans, artists and counselors. He is a trained actor, and has participated in many productions as an actor, director, or playwright.

Christina Cook wearing a cobalt blue blouse with puffed sleeves, smiling, in a sunlit room with turned wood furniture and column baseChristina Cook (she/they) is a therapist and theatre creator, and her research explores mental health through inquiry and art. Christina has facilitated and developed theatre projects in collaboration with diverse communities, from adult learners accessing education programs in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside to youth who identify as 2SLGBTQIA+. As a playwright, Christina’s work includes Quick Bright Things, published by Playwrights Canada Press and a finalist for the 2020 Governor General’s Literary Awards for Drama. Christina is a Ph.D. candidate exploring Research-based Theatre and Counselling Psychology at the University of British Columbia and serves as the research coordinator for the Research-based Theatre Lab.