# Performing an Academic Paper

How can we bring an academic paper to life using our bodies and speech? What would it look like to "perform" an academic paper?


## Introduction
Performing academic content takes place in many different forms, and includes a spectrum of possibilities, from cold reading an essay to performing a dramatic scene inspired by the content. Bringing written text to life using the voice & body can amplify content to be more accessible and relatable, and gives the performer an opportunity to add emotional depth to their delivery.

In TheatreLab, we have started creating a spectrum of different kinds of performances of an academic paper:


## Cold & Warm Readings

One the one end, you have **cold readings**, which are direct readings of the original texts, without any added elements. Just reading the paper aloud as it was written. This might be the first time you read it aloud before making any performance choices, and is rarely a tool to be used when performing or presenting in front of an audience.

A compilation of a cold reading:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6oY-_zxxH3s" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

One step above a cold reading is a **warm reading**, which may include adding images, strategic pauses, and deliberate affect to your reading to enhance the audience's experience. There are certainly contexts in which reading directly from the original text is appropriate, however adding elements like adjusting tone, speed, and using your body can make your performance/presentation more digestable or compelling for your audience to watch and listen.

## Deviating from Text
Anything beyond a cold & warm reading is probably going to start deviating from the original text. Likely, you might start to try and find the key points from the text to emphasize in your presentation, making sure the audience walks away with what you need them to understand.

Perhaps you choose to deliver a **powerpoint presentation** or **explainer video** to summarize the key points of the paper for someone who doesn't have the time to read or have trouble digesting complex language from the original paper.

## Teasing Out the Story
Every great performance or presentation uses the power of story-telling. Following a simple story structure can be a great starting place to start plugging your original content into.


Writer and spearker Nancy Duarte presents a u[nique structure for presentations](https://youtu.be/1nYFpuc2Umk) that for great communication. Her structure places the audience as the hero of the story being told, and uses a unique structure called the persuasive story pattern, which involves a series of "what is" and "what could be" statements, in which the communicator pursuades their audience towards a "new bliss" that can be achieved through their call to action.


## Crafting a Dramatic Monologue

While Duarte's structure may be useful for a presentation, particularly something like a Ted Talk or podcast, another option for conveying the emotional or personal aspects of an academic essay can be through dramatic scenes or monologues.

***When might one want to perform a dramatic monologue for an academic essay?***

Crafting a dramatic monologue from an academic paper can serve the following purposes:

* Bringing a particular perspective to a topic with multiple stakeholders
* Playing to the emotional underdones of a paper, highlighting the humanity within the topic
* Keep audiences engaged by keeping them entertained - giving them a character to root for or against
* Bring audiences into a world in which the topic of the essay is at the forefront of our lived experience


Dramatic Monologue version of cold-read article:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rM6msAwlAXM" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

## Elements of an academic paper

**Introduction**

* Creating context
* Describing the structure
* Introducing the central argument (thesis)

**Body**

* Argument
* Counterargument
* Explainations
* Analysis

**Conclusion**

* Restatement of central argument (thesis)
* Review of key points
* Relevence, Significance, and Importance (so what?)

## Performing a Monologue

A monologue is like a speech from a play: one person speaks, and in that speech there are clues to their character, the character of the implied person or people that they are speaking to, the situation in which it is spoken and the story that has led to this situation.

Monologues have their own important elements, which include:

* Relationship
* Conflict
* Clarity
* Response Points
* Resolving Button
* Owning the Space

**What are some key differences between a paper and a speech?**

| Paper | Speech |
| -------- | -------- |
| Complex, highly detailed language, can be reread for understanding | casual, simplified, must be understood in one hearing |
Has many levels of facts, summaries, and longer applications | Streamlined information so that audience hears the facts without getting lost in complexity
Words must convery tone and bias | uses body, face, and tone of voice to express emotion and tone

## Performing a Scene (or series of scenes)

A scene often involves more than one character, and has either a verbal or non verbal relationship between the characters in the scene.