On Being Unreasonable

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Dr. Kirsty Sedgman‘s new book, On Being Unreasonable: Breaking the Rules and Making Things Better, examines our age of division and how we can be unreasonable for the right reasons. Born of a lifetime of studying theatre as a window into larger social questions, Sedgman argues that audience behavior is the canary in the coal mine of greater societal concerns, and the subject of her first book, The Reasonable Audience: Theatre Etiquette, Behavior Policing, and the Live Performance Experience. Sedgman discusses how despite our wishful thinking, we’re not in a post-pandemic landscape; the rise of the relaxed performance movement; the vital importance of carefully navigating sometimes competing truths and wrestling with the complexities of our divided age; and the value of getting into what Congressman John Lewis called “good trouble.” (Length 19:03)

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