“All the World’s a Stage” – Bridging the Generational Gap through Theatre

This research arose from a shared interest and collaboration between two colleagues in different academic fields. Neda Norouzi is a doctoral student in Architecture and Human Development, interested in how the physical environment affects intergenerational collaboration. Sarah Lyon-Hill is a doctoral student in Urban Planning, studying community-based theatre as an alternative approach to community and economic development. Both authors have theatre backgrounds due to their fathers’ professorial careers in script writing and set design. Understanding their common background and interest in building collaborative relationships among diverse groups, these authors turned to the growing presence and effects of intergenerational theatre programs (IG theatre). IG theatre emerged from the community-based theatre movement, which focuses on building the capacity and voice of different and often marginalized groups within communities through intergroup collaboration and helping diverse groups find a shared community identity (Strimling 2004).