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<b>Title:</b> “Vulnerability as Critical Practice in Socially Engaged Theatre-Making”</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><b>Editorial Team:</b> Katharine Low, Alex Halligey, Zoe Zontou and Selina Busby </span></p>
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<b>Scheduled for: </b>RiDE 32,3 (expected publication August 2027)</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">This special issue aims to critically examine applied theatre and notions of vulnerability. The collection will explore how the relationship between applied theatre and vulnerability operates
on multiple levels of engagement and understanding. While applied theatre often involves participants who may be classified as 'vulnerable' or 'at risk' in social, political, and economic terms, the practice itself requires all participants to engage in forms
of ‘critical vulnerability’ (O’Grady 2017). As practitioners working with different groups of people such as socially and economically disadvantaged women from the global majority, recovering drug addicts, people living with HIV, children in the foster care
system, refugees seeking asylum, we have observed how ‘vulnerability’ as a label frequently operates as both patronising and rooted in a colonial framework, often revealing more about those who attribute vulnerability than the perceived ‘vulnerable’ communities
themselves. This special issue invites articles that explore how power dynamics, agency, and duty of care operate within these complex interpersonal relationships. We welcome critical analyses of vulnerability as a relational practice, case studies of projects
that challenge traditional conceptualizations of vulnerability, and theoretical frameworks for understanding vulnerability in performance practice. Of particular interest are methodological approaches that reframe vulnerability as a generative, cross-cultural
perspective in applied theatre, and explorations of the ethical considerations of working with 'vulnerable' communities. Contributors might also engage with feminist and critical theorists who have advanced our understanding of vulnerability. This include,
Erinn Gilson's (2014) ethical analysis of vulnerability as a fundamental aspect of social life, Judith Butler's (2020) examination of interdependence and precarity, Claire Carter, Chelsea Temple Jones, and Caitlin Janzen’s (2024) theorisation of vulnerable
moments in research committed to social change, and Rosi Braidotti’s (2013) posthumanist theory which argues that humans and other beings are inherently vulnerable and interconnected, framing this vulnerability as a potential source of empowerment.</span></p>
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We envision this special issue as a significant contribution to the field of applied theatre, offering new frameworks for understanding and engaging with vulnerability in practice. By bringing together diverse perspectives from scholars and practitioners, we
aim to challenge existing paradigms and propose innovative approaches to working with communities in applied theatre contexts. Contributors might like to consider how applied theatre methodologies can extend and deepen interdisciplinary research with so-called
vulnerable communities. They may like to think about alternative, anti-racist, feminist, Indigenous and decolonising approaches to research methodologies and how these may be taught and shared ethically and co-collaboratively? We have proposed a series of
themes below, but welcome conversations with colleagues about other areas which address the idea of vulnerability.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><b>Potential submissions could include:</b></span></p>
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<span role="presentation" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Critical analyses of the terminology and categorisation of vulnerability in applied theatre;</span></li><li style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 15px;">
<span role="presentation" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Case studies of projects that challenge traditional conceptualisations of vulnerability;</span></li><li style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 15px;">
<span role="presentation" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">The body and performing vulnerability;</span></li><li style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 15px;">
<span role="presentation" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Ethical considerations in working with communities labelled as 'vulnerable';</span></li><li style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 15px;">
<span role="presentation" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Methodological approaches that reframe vulnerability as a generative force;</span></li><li style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 15px;">
<span role="presentation" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">The intersection of vulnerability with power, agency, and creative practice;</span></li><li style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 15px;">
<span role="presentation" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Cross-cultural perspectives on vulnerability in applied theatre;</span></li><li style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 15px;">
<span role="presentation" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Decolonising notions of vulnerability;</span></li><li style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 15px;">
<span role="presentation" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Vulnerability, care and kindness;</span></li><li style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 15px;">
<span role="presentation" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Critiques of the theory underpinning the concepts of vulnerability and vulnerabilisation;</span></li><li style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 15px;">
<span role="presentation" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Posthumanism, vulnerability, and applied theatre</span></li><li style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 15px;">
<span role="presentation" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Climate change/environment, vulnerability and applied theatre</span></li></ul>
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<b>Reference list</b></div>
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<span role="presentation" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Braidotti, R. (2013). <i>The posthuman</i>. Cambridge: Polity press.</span></li><li style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 15px;">
<span role="presentation" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Butler, J. (2020). <i>Precarious Life: the Powers of Mourning and Violence</i>. London: Verso.</span></li><li style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 15px;">
<span role="presentation" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Carter, C., Chelsea Temple Jones and Janzen, C. (2024). <i>Contemporary Vulnerabilities</i>. University of Alberta.</span></li><li style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 15px;">
<span role="presentation" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Gilson, E.C. (2014). <i>The Ethics of Vulnerability: a Feminist Analysis of Social Life and Practice</i>. London ; New York: Routledge.</span></li><li style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 15px;">
<span role="presentation" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">O’Grady, A.R. (2017). <i>Risk, participation, and performance practice: critical vulnerabilities in a precarious world</i>. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. </span></li></ul>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Submission Instructions</span></h2>
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We welcome research articles (c.8,000) and other forms of contributions such as interviews, provocations, practitioner statements, creative contributions and case studies (c.2,000). All submissions will be reviewed by two anonymous referees and by the editors.</div>
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<span style="color: rgb(33, 37, 41);">Please send 300-word proposals for contributions, plus 100-word biographies for each contributor, to Kat Low (</span><span style="color: rgb(144, 109, 221);"><a href="mailto:Katharine.Low@kcl.ac.uk" id="OWAa360699e-06f6-bb87-3088-f365014d1e58" class="OWAAutoLink" title="mailto:Katharine.Low@kcl.ac.uk" data-linkindex="0" data-ogsc="rgb(144, 109, 221)" data-outlook-id="d83b67a3-f55f-445d-96e5-8228fedd0f05" style="color: rgb(144, 109, 221); margin: 0px;">Katharine.Low@kcl.ac.uk</a></span><span style="color: rgb(33, 37, 41);">)
and Alex Halligey (</span><span style="color: rgb(144, 109, 221);"><a href="mailto:alexandra.halligey@wits.ac.za" id="OWAd1965844-646a-d126-b00d-7ae5182e12fd" class="OWAAutoLink" title="mailto:alexandra.halligey@wits.ac.za" data-linkindex="1" data-ogsc="rgb(144, 109, 221)" data-outlook-id="273f2e12-6446-40f0-9c5b-a924753b6cb4" style="color: rgb(144, 109, 221); margin: 0px;">alexandra.halligey@wits.ac.za</a></span><span style="color: rgb(33, 37, 41);">). </span></div>
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<b>Timeline</b></div>
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<span role="presentation" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Deadline for proposals: 30 September 2025</span></li><li style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 15px;">
<span role="presentation" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Deadline for first full drafts: 1 June 2026</span></li><li style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 15px;">
<span role="presentation" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Final copy deadline: 5 April 2027</span></li><li style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-left: 15px;">
<span role="presentation" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Publication: expected August 2027.</span></li></ul>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><b>Editorial Biographies:</b></span></p>
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<b>Katharine Low</b> is a practitioner-researcher and is Senior Lecturer in Performance and Medical Humanities at King’s College London. She has over 20 years’ experience in applied theatre practice and health, working in the fields of sexual health, gender
equity and urban violence, in the UK and internationally. Her research is embedded in collaborations with arts and cultural organisations, medical practitioners and NGOs to co-facilitate participatory theatre and arts-based projects based around social concerns.
Recent publications include:<a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9781349959747" id="OWAb49de80c-a9ce-b39e-a6a2-5eddb2f9a70e" class="OWAAutoLink" title="https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.palgrave.com%2Fgp%2Fbook%2F9781349959747&data=05%7C02%7Ckatharine.low%40kcl.ac.uk%7C056daf04f12c4ea9db7b08ddc855a200%7C8370cf1416f34c16b83c724071654356%7C0%7C0%7C638886992323771393%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=%2BzJw%2B0MI5ZWo2cczPJ3H%2BJG5jKp%2Fn6emtO5Zfb4rV5w%3D&reserved=0" originalsrc="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9781349959747" data-linkindex="2" data-auth="NotApplicable" data-ogsc="black" data-outlook-id="b77bfe64-3527-4177-ab81-afe5c74756c8" style="margin: 0px;"> </a><i><a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9781349959747" id="OWAb49de80c-a9ce-b39e-a6a2-5eddb2f9a70e" class="OWAAutoLink" title="https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.palgrave.com%2Fgp%2Fbook%2F9781349959747&data=05%7C02%7Ckatharine.low%40kcl.ac.uk%7C056daf04f12c4ea9db7b08ddc855a200%7C8370cf1416f34c16b83c724071654356%7C0%7C0%7C638886992323808305%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=QIBWiHuSzBKy1Cx%2F%2FJ8OMljf5nZeCPsv4Cmkj9pOVpw%3D&reserved=0" originalsrc="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9781349959747" data-linkindex="2" data-auth="NotApplicable" data-ogsc="black" data-outlook-id="92500b7a-30cf-49e1-8f1e-ec0d233fa785" style="margin: 0px;">Applied
Theatre and Sexual Health Communication: Apertures of Possibility</a> </i>(2020, Palgrave Macmillan). She currently hosts a podcast called<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/histories-caroline-guinness-and-kate-thomson/id1558730896?i=1000587472514" id="OWA4299a663-a4d0-3d1b-7801-f374c2f5dd3b" class="OWAAutoLink" title="https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpodcasts.apple.com%2Fgb%2Fpodcast%2Fhistories-caroline-guinness-and-kate-thomson%2Fid1558730896%3Fi%3D1000587472514&data=05%7C02%7Ckatharine.low%40kcl.ac.uk%7C056daf04f12c4ea9db7b08ddc855a200%7C8370cf1416f34c16b83c724071654356%7C0%7C0%7C638886992323829207%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=thNIGQcx06mC3AXhyILSUIkDC3SM65eqoytnqDYf%2F0M%3D&reserved=0" originalsrc="https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/histories-caroline-guinness-and-kate-thomson/id1558730896?i=1000587472514" data-linkindex="3" data-auth="NotApplicable" data-ogsc="black" data-outlook-id="858ecf06-196c-44e9-a482-9aeb916bb8ae" style="margin: 0px;"> Positively
Women: Past and Present</a>.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><b>Alex Halligey </b>is a senior lecturer in the Interdisciplinary Arts and Culture Studies Department at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Alex uses theatre and performance as
research tools and conceptual lenses for understanding cities, with a particular, though not exclusive, focus on cities in the global south. She runs participatory theatre process with city residents to explore their experience of day-to-day placemaking practices.
Alex is also a practicing performer, theatre-maker and Alexander Technique teacher.</span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><b>Selina Busby</b> is a professor of applied and social theatre at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and a National Teaching Fellow. She is an academic and theatre practitioner who
makes performances with community groups and her research-practice focuses on theatre that invites the possibility of change. She uses participatory and emancipatory research methods, and has worked in prison settings, youth theatres, and with people living
in adverse conditions both in the UK and internationally. Recent publications include: <i>Applied Theatre: A Pedagogy of Utopia (2021) </i>Methuen. </span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><b>Zoe Zontou</b> is an Associate Professor of Drama at Liverpool Hope University. With over 15 years of experience in applied theatre, her research explores the role of socially engaged arts
in reshaping societal perceptions of addiction recovery. She has led numerous applied theatre projects in both the UK and Greece. Recent publications include, "Dark Night Ends: The Ethics of Vulnerability in Applied Theatre", appears in <i>Applied Theatre:
Ethics</i> (edited by Sadeghi-Yekta, K., & Prendergast, M., 2021). She is currently working on a monograph titled <i>Performing Addiction Cultures: Politics, Ethics, Aesthetics</i>, which is due to be published by Routledge in 2025.</span></p>
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