The Distinguished Visiting Humanist program brings eminent scholars and public intellectuals to the University of Rochester for three or four days to engage in such activities as public lectures, course participation, workshops, demonstrations, and group discussions.

Visible Parts: How to Watch Actors

How do we learn how to watch acting? This may seem like a naive question because many of us observe a lot of acting on big screens, small screens, and very small smart devices daily. Acting is probably the most widely enjoyed artform, and yet it is also the artform for which we have the least developed analytical vocabulary. It is almost as if there is an implicit belief that evaluating acting is so “natural” that viewers do not need to think about it, and/or that not noticing acting means that the acting is “natural” and, therefore, good. Naturally, I think there is a lot to unpack in those assumptions. I also believe that the many lacunae about how to gauge acting offer opportunities for a cultural reboot—an opening for new ways of viewing in the future.

About the Speaker

Ayanna Thompson

Ayanna Thompson is an expert in Shakespearean studies specializing in Renaissance drama and race in performance.

Unofficially known as the “Othello whisperer,” Thompson is the director of the Arizona Center for Medieval & Renaissance Studies and creator of the RaceB4Race symposium, an ongoing conference series and professional network community for scholars of color.

Thompson is a Regents Professor of English and director of the Arizona Center for Medieval & Renaissance Studies. Thompson’s studies also include British literature, theatre, race and gender politics.

She is the author of several books, including "Shakespeare in the Theatre: Peter Sellars," "Teaching Shakespeare with Purpose: A Student-Centred Approach," "Passing Strange: Shakespeare, Race, and Contemporary America," and "Performing Race and Torture on the Early Modern Stage.”

The Distinguished Visiting Humanist is a program of the Humanities Center.