Theatre, Performance and Cognition ─ Languages, Bodies and Ecologies

Theatre, Performance and Cognition introduces readers to the key debates, areas of research, and applications of the cognitive sciences to the humanities, and to theatre and performance in particular. It features the most exciting work being done at the intersection of theatre and cognitive science, containing both selected scientific studies that have been influential in the field, each introduced and contextualised by the editors, together with related scholarship from the field of theatre and performance that demonstrates some of the applications of the cognitive sciences to actor training, the rehearsal room and the realm of performance more generally.

The three sections consider the principal areas of research and application in this interdisciplinary field, starting with a focus on language and meaning-making in which Shakespeare's work and Peter Nichols'Passion Play are considered. In the second part which focuses on the body, chapters consider applications for actor and dance training, while the third part focuses on dynamic ecologies, of which the body is a part.

Rhonda Blair, Professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX, USA, is the author of several important essays at the intersection of cognitive science and theatre and performance. She is a director, actor, co-chair of the Working Group in Cognitive Science and Performance for American Society for Theatre Research, and was the president of this organization from 2009-2012.
Amy Cook, Associate Professor at Indiana University in Bloomington, IN, USA, is the author ofShakespearean Neuroplay: Reinvigorating the Study of Dramatic Texts and Performance through Cognitive Science, (2010) and essays inTheatre Journal, TDR, SubStance, and the Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, and several edited volumes. She has been the co-chair of the Working Group in Cognitive Science and Performance for American Society for Theatre Research since 2010.