“The Democratic Field” is a theatrical ‘table read’, social research project, and civic intervention which leverages the ‘literacies’ and methods of actors to expose the role of implicit biases and subconscious perception in voter preferences.  

Beginning with policy statements from 10 Democratic candidates on selected issues, actors from the Verbatim Performance Lab then table-read these policy statements using an ‘embodied verbatim’ method.  The statements are randomized among the actors so that bodies, genders, and races are shuffled, and the audience (and actor alike) no longer know whose words they are speaking.  Forced to listen carefully to the words, and to gauge their reaction to the identities of the ‘candidate’, new awarenesses about perception and preference emerge in the listener that no form of polling or surveying can access.

Following the performance, the audience is polled for their voting preferences, to capture which of the candidates ‘won’.  Then a facilitated discussion with the audience draws out perceptions, observations, preferences, and dislikes, before the true identities of the candidates is revealed.

Our political preferences are a complex blend between persona and identity, policy and substance, self-image and projection.  This qualitative, participatory, art-based research method allows us surprising, nuanced social insights and offers audiences a reflective experience that deepens and informs their political engagement in ways that can only benefit the health of our democracy.  By iterating “The Democratic Field” through the full campaign, pairing each performance with the real debates, we will enrich the civic discourse, deepen the public conversation, and shortcircuit the reductive and destructive effects of online political media.

CLICK THE POSTERS AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE FOR SUMMARIES FOR EACH DEMOCRATIC FIELD EVENT