“Documentary theatre … goes beyond pure documentation: it’s about questioning the meaning and significance of truth and information,” writes Mona Mehri in “Staging ‘the Document’ at the Avignon Festival.” Documentary theatre uses existing nonfiction sources—interviews, oral histories, articles, governmental reports, etc.—to create works of performance. In this section, you’ll find content about pieces created this way and thoughts from artists working in this form.
The Latest
Podcast
Documentary Theatre as Witness in Ukraine
by Ash Marinaccio, Veronika Skliarova
14 January 2026
Podcast
Artist-Led Citizen Journalism at the Frontlines
by Ash Marinaccio, Zoe Lafferty
9 January 2026
Podcast
Process and New Play Development with the Civilians' R&D Group
Democracy and Identity at Finland’s Tampere Theatre Festival
7 October 2019
Sam Williams dives into several of the productions at Finland’s Tampere Theatre Festival, which ran between August 5 and 11 and which was curated based on the theme of bravery.
An Interview with the Founders of Wry Crips Disabled Women’s Theatre Group
21 August 2019
Michaela Goldhaber, current artistic director of Wry Crips, talks to the founding and early members of the disabled women’s theatre group about their history.
Redfern Arts Center at Keene State College presented a performance of The Telling Projectlivestreamed on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Thursday 4 April at 4:30 p.m. PDT (San Francisco) / 6:30 p.m. CDT (Chicago) / 7:30 p.m. EDT (New York).
Mona Merhi reflects on four productions at France’s 2018 Avignon Festival that were created based on real-life events, people, or documentary material and questions whether staging documents is an ethical process.
Anthony Dvarskas discusses the process of researching and creating America is Hard to See, a documentary theatre piece detailing the lives of a small community of sex offenders, and the town that had to adjust to their new neighbors.
Yuko Kurahashi talks about the Collidescope 3.0 project, which uses movement, video projections, and soundscape to explore black and white relations in American history.
Director Alex Hare discusses using a town hall format for Chains Don’t Rattle Themselves, a song cycle performance about incarceration and how it affects individuals and their families.
Jonathan Mandell reviews Anna Deavere Smith’s latest solo performance piece, which presents seventeen real-life characters to establish a connection between school failure, the prison system, and police killings.
Amy Brady interviews Michael Arve about Dangerous Theatre, a piece he’s directing based on Hallie Flanagan’s 1938 testimony to the Special Committee to Investigate Un-American Activities.
Susan J. Terrio reflects on Marissa Chibas Preston’s new play, Shelter, about journey of unaccompanied minors from Mexico to the US, directed by Martin Acosta.
Playwright Deborah Lake Fortson Addresses the Teenage Sex Trafficking Crisis
5 February 2016
Charlotte Meehan and Adara Meyers sit down with playwrights Deborah Lake Fortson and Amy Merrill, director Robbie McCauley, and law enforcement and community stakeholders to talk about youth sex trafficking and The BODY & SOLD Project.
José Torres-Tama writes about the development of Aliens, Immigrants & Other Evildoers, a sci-fi Latino noir performance about the Latino immigration experience.
Beyond Sacred: Voices of Muslim Identity was an interview-based theatre production by Ping Chong + Company and LaGuardia Performing Arts Center exploring the diverse experiences of Muslim communities within New York City—livestreamed by CultureHubon the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Thursday 1 October at 1 p.m. EDT (New York) / 18:00 BST (London) / 17:00 GMT / 12 p.m. CDT (Chicago) / 10 a.m. PDT (Los Angeles).
