Enhancing Audience Engagement and Best Practices

Abstract

This article reviews the practices Theatre One in Nanaimo, Theatre North West in Prince George,  and Western Canada Theatre in Kamloops have used to engage their audiences, while also surveying the best practices of performance companies across North America,  to the end of providing a spectrum of examples of  small steps that can have significant impact . Studies show that individual and collective well being can be enhanced by community participation, and the writer argues that contemporary theatre companies can play an increasingly important role in fostering that well being in our highly technologized age.