Narrative and identity: Constructing oppositional identities in performance communities

This paper explores the relationship between narrative and identity as an active learning site for adolescents to construct public identities. Through research with About Face Youth Theatre, I explore the process of transforming personal narratives into public performance pieces by focusing on how identities change over time between the original telling and the subsequent public performance. This paper focuses on the case of one youth, Cari and her story, the "AFYT Groupie". An in depth, narrative analysis of her story reveals how the oppositional identity Cari has constructed for herself over time is incorporated into the public performance of her story; at the same time her story becomes more generic as the most reportable events of her life are left out. As a result, Cari constructs a new strong oppositional identity that allows her to reassert her positive identity claim as anti-establishment.