Putting the Document into Documentary: An Unwelcome Corrective?

"Verbatim drama," the current trend in British documentary theatre, capitalizes on the presumed authenticity of the voices represented and on the "unmediated" theatricalization of the truths they ostensibly reveal. The works of Moisés Kaufman and his Tectonic Theater Project present an alternative, appropriating avantgarde theatre techniques and acknowledging the presence of the artist in shaping the representation of the realities depicted.