Mind Readers: Imagining Research-led Practice in Doctoral Education.

In the summer of 2014, four of us, three PhD candidates and one professor, gathered around a table to discuss an increased demand from graduate students and the academic market to find innovative ways to merge scholarship and theatrical practice within the doctoral education experience. 1 While in many ways our discussion focused on how to develop us as in-demand products for an over-saturated job market—a market that was increasingly seeking production experience of doctoral students in theatre history, literature, and criticism—we also knew that, through performatively approaching our research, we gain insight into our work and become better teachers and thinkers. 2 Like many graduate students in theatre and performance studies, we first fell in love with our fields through production work. Some of us entered grad school with professional acting, directing, or stage-management experience. Yet the …