Standing Ovation

Reviews / Votes

Standing Ovation is less a how-to guide for other research-based theatre than an inspiration for such work. Each project, the authors realize, must find its own way; there is no method. But here is a look backstage at the fears, frustrations, and ultimately the triumphs of production. -- Arthur W. Frank * From The Foreword * Hats off to these investigators for reflecting both physician and patient perspectives with humor, in a manner that is neither reductive nor competitive, and for honoring profound needs. -- Barbara Mains * Medscape Women's Health Ejournal, (Posted 10/03/2002) * It is a compelling, informative, and uplifting experience to witness this performance and to read how it was constructed... The book and videotape are valuable additions to the small but lively performance ethnography scene. . . . In addition to bringing forth very helpful ideas about how to do performative/research work, they also are very provocative in terms of helping people live with disease and relate to others who are afflicted. -- Mary Gergen, Penn State University * Forum: Qualitative Social Research, Vol. 4, No. 3, Sept. '03 * The authors, a social scientist and a psychosocial and behavioral health administrator, describe the process of blending the experience of living with cancer and the dissemination of their findings through a live theater audience...The authors are careful to create a vivid description of the cast members' involvement in the process and their emotional responses to being so closely aligned with the disease...[They] answer "yes" to the question, "Is the use of theatrical performance an effective way to communicate the results of social science research to healthcare providers and the public?" -- Janic Phillips, PhD, RN, FAAN * Oncology Nursing Forum, Vol. 30, No 5, 2003 * [The book is] a successful attempt to link social-science research to drama and carries out in practice what many social scientists only do in theory: it listens. . . . A very useful tool to convey the cancer experience to physicians, patients and carers. -- Lorraine Fincham, Middlesex University * Medical Sociology Online, Vol. 29, No. 3, Winter 2003 * Bravo! Humanistic psychology at its best! The authors of Standing Ovation have shown the power of group search and driven the golden spike in the railway to spiritual consciousness. -- Duncan B. Blewett, PhD, author of <I>The Frontiers of Being<I> An original and courageous attempt to make patient-centered research and its results more readily available to those whose concerns really are at stake. . . . The process of describing the dramas is impressively described. . . . The authors of Standing Ovation must be complimented for a very personal, honest and thoughtful account of what they went through: fears and concerns, joys and victories, ambivilence and uncertainties, struggles and unclarities, nearness and loyalty, -- Hanneke de Haes, University of Amsterdam * Health Expectations *