Dr. Yasmine Kandil

Areas of Research & Creative Activity

Applied Theatre, Theatre for Development, Testimonial Theatre, Applied Theatre in post-revolution Egypt, Theatre with immigrants and refugees, Celebratory Theatre, Applied Theatre with at-risk populations, Theatre for Social Change.

Courses

Biography

Dr. Yasmine Kandil began her journey in Cairo, Egypt, where she studied Theatre at the American University in Cairo. Once she completed her B.A. degree, Dr. Kandil began working in community-based settings using theatre for social awareness and change. She worked with young children in the slums of Cairo (who worked in the trash trade), and youth at-risk in different regions of the country.

When Dr. Kandil arrived to Canada in 2003 to do her M.F.A in Theatre Directing and Ph.D. in Applied Theatre, she started working with the immigrant and refugee community in Victoria, through organizations like the Intercultural Association of Greater Victoria and the Victoria Immigrant and Refugee Centre Society.

Upon completing her degree Dr. Kandil moved to Saint Catharines in Ontario to accept a post with Brock University. There, she worked with a variety of local communities: people who are homeless, elderly populations, immigrants and refugees, and police officers in training.

Her research has centered around using theatre as a tool for self-expression with communities that are disenfranchised.   Most recently she has gravitated towards using celebratory theatre to find deeper connections between students undertaking applied theatre initiatives, and community groups. Her most recent devised performance, Return to the Nile: Tales of Migration, was a funded research project that looked at the ways in which communities wish to be represented in applied theatre initiatives.   This project involved six undergraduate students from Brock’s Dramatic Arts program, and six members of the immigrant and refugee community.

Dr. Kandil is a co-applicant (with Drs. Natalie Alvarez and Jennifer Lavoie) on a SSHRC Insight Grant project to develop a training curriculum for police officers using scenarios to learn de-escalate techniques for engaging with people in mental health crisis.

Dr. Kandil’s publications have appeared in the Applied Theatre Research journal, Research in Drama Education journal, Theatre Research in Canada Journal, and the Canadian Theatre Research journal.

Selected Publications

Articles Published in Peer-reviewed Journals

• Kandil, Yasmine and Hannah te Bokkel. "Celebratory Theatre: A Response to Neo-Liberalism in the Arts." Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre & Performance, vol. 24, no. 5, 2019, pp. 376-382.
• Kandil, Yasmine and Michelle MacArthur. "What Zombie Feminist Bouffons Can Offer
  Applied Theatre: Seduction & Provocation in Death Married My Daughter." Theatre Research in Canada, vol. 39, no. 2, 2018, pp. 156-173.
• Kandil, Yasmine. "Personal Stories in Applied Theatre Contexts: Redefining the Blurred
  Lines." Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre & Performance, vol. 21, no. 2, 2016, pp. 201-213.
• Kandil, Yasmine. "Theatre for Development in the Slums of Cairo: The Impact on a Disempowered Community." Applied Theatre Research, vol. 3, no. 2, 2015, pp. 237-250.

Book Chapters

• Norris, Joe et al. "Surrender, Impossibility, Ambiguity, Pedagogy and Research: Cats @ Play." Drama Research Methods: Provocations for Practice, edited by Peter Duffy et al., Brill Sense, 2019, pp. 97-115.
• Kandil, Yasmine. "Immigrant Theatre & Celebration: Hope in the Face of Adversity." Performing Canadian Frontiers: Theatre and (Im)Migration, edited by Yana Meerzon, Playrights Canada Press, 2019.
• Kandil, Yasmine. "Participatory Theatre." Encyclopedia of Action Research, edited by David Coghlan and Mary Brydon-Miller, Sage Publications, 2014, pp. 608-610.