Ethical Issues in an Ethnographic Performance Text: the ‘dramatic impact’ of ‘juicy stuff’

Abstract This confessional tale describes the author's first time venture with producing an ethnographic performance text, an alternative mode of research presentation. In ethnotheatre, significant selections from a qualitative study's field notes and interview transcripts are carefully arranged, scripted, and staged for an audience to enhance their understanding of the participants’ lives. This particular project dramatised the story of Barry, an adolescent who dreams of becoming a professional actor. Barry participated in a longitudinal study of drama and theatre as he progressed from kindergarten through sixth grade. A follow‐up study from his sophomore (tenth) through senior (twelfth) years in high school observed his continued and exemplary participation in the art forms. Barry, his mother and his two high school theatre teachers were interviewed to assess the social influences on his career goals and to gain multiple perspectives on his ways of working. Unknowingly, the researcher was to grapple wit...