AustLit

'Jan Cohen-Cruz describes engaged performance as a dialogue between the social call of a community and the cultural response of an artist, where the overall process ‘must benefit the people whose lives inform the project’ (2). Engaged performance has ‘social justice aspirations’ (8), ‘without being dull and pragmatic’ (13); its goals are ‘aesthetic and something else’ (11). I engage with this assertion that you can have multiple aspirations for a work ‘without compromising either’ (12). Extending on Cohen-Cruz's definition of engaged performance, I suggest that the process which emerged in the Eternity project was an example of engaged playwriting.' (Preamble introduction)