In order to truly examine critical cultural and social issues pertaining to young people, researchers must find ways to overcome the ways in which young people naturally filter their responses when speaking with adults, as these filters may limit what researchers are able to discover through interviews and focus groups. Working through theatre offers the opportunity for researcher and participant to co-construct knowledge. Drama workshops and the creation of a theatrical performance creates a community in which ideas and questions can be deeply examined and self-filtering and censorship mitigated; participant voice is centered and privileged. For seven weeks, I worked with thirteen high school girls to explore issues of identity through a devised theatre performance. My intent was to examine the ways arts-based research might provide more insight than traditional qualitative methods. This article discusses how working through theatre provided a space in which the girls I worked with felt more comfortable expressing their uncensored thoughts and opinions and offers a deeper insight into the ways working through the arts provides a model for participatory research that yields deep and nuanced understandings.

为了真正检查与年轻人有关的重要文化和社会问题，研究人员必须找到克服年轻人与成年人交谈时自然过滤其反应的方法，因为这些过滤条件可能会限制研究人员通过访谈和交流发现的内容。专门小组。通过剧院工作为研究人员和参与者提供了共同建构知识的机会。戏剧研讨会和戏剧表演的创建创造了一个社区，在社区中，思想和问题可以得到深入研究，自我筛选和审查制度得到缓解；参与者的声音集中且享有特权。在七个星期的时间里，我与十三名高中女生一起，通过精心设计的戏剧表演来探讨身份问题。我的目的是研究基于艺术的研究可能比传统的定性方法提供更多见解的方式。本文讨论通过剧院工作如何为与我一起工作的女孩提供一个更舒适的空间来表达他们未经审查的思想和见解，并提供对艺术工作方式的更深入了解，从而为参与式研究提供模型，从而产生深刻而细微的理解。