Robert Motum | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1991 (age 33–34) Oshawa, Ontario |
| Education | PhD, Theatre and Performance Studies, University of Toronto |
| Occupation(s) | Playwright, researcher |
| Known for | Expertise on micronations, site‑specific performance |
| Website | robertmotum.com |
Robert Motum is a Canadian playwright and theatre creator. [1] He is noted for his background in site-specific performance [2] and for his academic research into micronations.
Motum was born in 1991 in Oshawa, Ontario. He attended the University of Waterloo for his BA in Drama [3] and Aberystwyth University for his MA in Practising Performance. [4] He recently completed a PhD in performance studies at the University of Toronto [1] and currently teaches at the Rotman School of Management.
As a site-specific theatre practitioner, Motum has a history of staging new theatrical work outside of purpose-built auditoriums. [2] His 2013 play, Transience, was staged on an active Grand River Transit city bus as it circled its loop of Kitchener-Waterloo. [5] He has since staged work in public parks, [4] [6] in a Queen Street art gallery, [7] inside a vacant Target store, [8] in a castle, [9] throughout the streets of Hamilton, Ontario, [10] and in augmented reality. [11] His work has been supported by the Stratford Festival, the Ellen Ross Stuart Opening Doors Award, [12] Outside the March [13] and others.
His verbatim play, A Community Target, is based on interviews with over 60 former employees of Target Canada and recounts the dramatic collapse of the retailer in the country. Staged inside a vacant Target store in Hamilton, Ontario, the piece garnered national [14] [15] and international media attention. [16]
Motum has written about the ethics of site-specific performance and verbatim theatre for various academic publications including the Canadian Theatre Review and Theatre Research in Canada. [17] He is also a leading academic expert on micronations, having written extensively on their performative enactments of sovereignty and identity. [18] His research—featured in Digital Society, [19] The Routledge Companion to Cultural Texts and the Nation, [20] and The Drama Review —positions micronations as critical interventions in statecraft and citizenship. He has presented at international conferences, including MicroCon, and has appeared in documentaries on the topic. [21]