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 News, 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 The Frontiers of Being 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
