Of models and mechanisms: towards an understanding of how theatre-making works as an ‘intervention’ in individual health and wellness

Growing from a multi-year and multidisciplinary research and applied arts investigative team based in North America, this essay presents a model of how performative engagements contribute to individual behavioural change in wellness practices. To be even more specific, this essay analyses and theorises the mechanisms involved in the application of one particular art form to one particular pre-condition for health. The art form: applied theatre. The pre-condition: attitudes, behaviours and beliefs about healthy eating. The co-authors ask not ‘what can theatre-making do to have a positive effect on health-related attitudes and behaviors?’ but rather ‘how does it do that?’ and offer a model towards answering that question that might satisfy the needs of researchers in both applied theatre and health science.