ABSTRACT
This chapter is a description of the evolution, presentation, and reception of a theatre performance based on research about eating and feeding experiences when living with serious illness. The performance of Who Cares? aligned with Bourriard’s concept of relational aesthetics, connecting the stories of interview participants with the audience through the actors, and incorporating feedback from the discussion that followed the performance into ongoing research. The program of research and the use of performance in knowledge mobilization (making research findings known to multiple audiences, in this case, the university community and the public, also known as public-facing scholarship), had dual purposes: to raise awareness of the challenges feeding a loved one who is sick and maintaining one’s food intake as a caregiver, to aid in recognition that these challenges are to be expected owing to disruptions in eating and feeding rituals, routines, roles, responsibilities, and shared meanings, and widely experienced and although one may feel alone going through them, and to encourage community supports for caregivers
