Mirjam Kreuser M.A.

What am I researching?

In our sub-project on "Disability Performance as Human Differentiation. Performances of Deviance and Performance in Historical Change.", I embody the research interest that deals with the question of disability in contemporary theater. My focus is on research on mental illness and disability and their representation and processing in autobiographical performances.

What attracts me to it?

Theater productions and performances as well as scientific work on the topic of mental illness are currently less present in the German-speaking countries. Above all, I am interested in following and accompanying how the theater landscape is currently (re)shaping itself in this regard and asking in which regard English-speaking performances could be adapted and be relevant to the German discourse.

Where do I come from?

As a theater scholar, I initially do not seem to have the usual connection to the field in the form of psychological or social science research. I am therefore interested in what new perspectives theater studies vocabulary can contribute to the description of the mentally ill or disabled everyday experience and in what form these experiences are performatively (re)produced in autobiographical performances.

Where am I going?

Through an intersection of autoethnographic and qualitative interview research with "classical" phenomenological performance analysis, I strive to bring the voices of artists and even mentally ill or disabled audiences more into focus. I am interested in the social coming together of different bodies in performance and practices of accessibility and care in these encounters.

Foto: Stephanie Füssenich