What is Verbatim Performance?
Verbatim performance is the precise portrayal of an actual person using their exact speech and gestural patterns as a data source for investigation, literally “word for word” & “gesture for gesture.” Read more about verbatim performance and the VPL mission statement.
Recent Projects by VPL
Who Gave That Inaugural Address?
What happens when the words of Bill Clinton come from a young man from Pakistan? How do we respond when a young woman speaks the words of Donald Trump? What does that do to us?
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Not Sure I'm Free To
In the fall of 2024, VPL, in partnership with two Steinhardt courses, Creating Ethnodrama & Documentary Theatre and International Human Rights Activism and Education, began an arts-based investigation into academic freedom and freedom of expression at New York University.
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That's Not a Partisan Feeling, That's Patriotic
A new interview-based project aimed at better understanding what people living and working in the United States want and expect from a President ahead of the upcoming election.
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Bertolt Brecht and 21st Century Verfemdung
An exploration of Verfremdung (“defamiliarization”) using 21st century examples from politics and culture alongside Brecht’s testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947.
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We're Not There Yet
An exploration of moments from the confirmation hearings of Judge Clarence Thomas in conversation with the 50th anniversary of Title IX and ongoing conversations of issues of sexual violence on college and university campuses.
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News and Events
VPL in the Press
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Analysts say Trump faces risks heightened by gender when he debates Harris
As Donald Trump prepares to debate Kamala Harris, analysts warn that gender dynamics raise the stakes, with Trump risking backlash if he appears aggressive or bullying. Harris, as a Black woman, faces her own challenge of balancing assertiveness with likability. Past incidents, like Trump’s 2016 behavior toward Hillary Clinton, serve as warnings. NYU professor Joe Salvatore, who co-led a gender-swapped reenactment of a Clinton-Trump debate, was surprised that viewers found the female Trump “strong” and “concise,” revealing that gender can shape voter perceptions in unexpected ways.
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During the December 2023 congressional hearing on campus antisemitism, three female university presidents—Liz Magill (Penn), Claudine Gay (Harvard), and Sally Kornbluth (MIT)—faced intense scrutiny, prompting questions about whether gender influenced their treatment. While officials denied bias, critics pointed to moments like Rep. Glenn Grothman’s reference to Magill as “the gal from Penn” and the disproportionate backlash that followed. NYU professor Joe Salvatore noted that reactions to Magill’s composure, such as her smiling under pressure, reflected how women are socially conditioned to navigate high-stakes situations differently—and are often judged more harshly for it.
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Ahead of the 2022 midterms, NYU professor Joe Salvatore launched Whatever You Are, Be a Good One, an interactive performance using real interviews to explore political and social divides. Performed by students in the Verbatim Performance Lab, the show invites audience participation and aims to build empathy through personal stories. “We’re going to find that folks are a little closer together,” Salvatore said, challenging the idea that Americans are as polarized as media and politics suggest.
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Drama teachers often attempt to create documentary theatre with their students but without the necessary structure and framework. The Verbatim Performance Lab (VPL) creates verbatim documentary theatre performances that disrupt political, cultural, and social narratives using existing cultural media and interviews as a site of inquiry. VPL offers a specific methodology of theatre-making to schools that guides youth through the process of devising their own original interview-based verbatim documentary theatre performances. This article outlines the pedagogical methods VPL implements with students through this process of arts-based inquiry and articulates three key innovations identified through the experience of creating work with youth.
Courses
MPAET-GE 2114
MPAET-GE 2117
1 - 3 Credits
MPAET-GE 2115
3 Credits
Contact Us
Joe Salvatore, Lab Creator and Director js1655@nyu.edu
Keith R. Huff, Associate Lab Director keithrhuff@nyu.edu