What Is A Poem Worth?

My task as Director for poet Kerry Loughrey's PhD performance project, What Is A Poem Worth? lay outside traditional role expectations in both academic and industry contexts. In collaboration with the candidate, I was directly involved as a Partner Investigator in the process of composition, working with her to identify the most appropriate theatrical form for key points, theories and arguments in the thesis, and then shaping the work for performance: in this instance, I am claiming my work as a director as an NTRO output in its own right. My role was substantially different to that of an academic supervisor, but at the same time depended on a specialised understanding of how a practice-based Performance as Research thesis might most effectively be presented in the context of an HDR candidacy. My research question was "what combination of academic and embodied knowledges are most relevant to the development and staging of What Is A Poem Worth? as a demonstrably excellent example of research performance?"
My status as an Adjunct Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Theatre and Performance at Monash University is listed in the program for the event (appended). Copies of images taken during rehearsal and performance, and the text of the critical review on Artshub are also available on request.