Healing the Civic Body: Darren O’Donnell’s Social Acupuncture

Darren O’Donnell (b. 1965) is a writer, director, actor, playwright, and designer, and the artistic director of the highly decorated Mammalian Diving Reflex. My study is focused on his work in social acupuncture, outlined in his Social Acupuncture: A guide to suicide, performance, and utopia (2006). Social acupuncture is a style of theatre/performance art that “blurs the line between art and life,”impelling people to come together in unusual ways and tap into the power of the social sphere. With social acupuncture, O’Donnell and Mammalian Diving Reflex are striving to create an aesthetic of civic engagement: an avenue through which social edifices like public space, schools, and the media can be used as the armature for the mounting of work that “takes modest glances at simple power dynamics and, for a moment, provides a glimpse of other possibilities.” Mammalian Diving Reflex began their exploration of the form in the summer of 2003 with The Talking Creature, and since then have devised and performed almost two‐ dozen similar “needles” worldwide.Social acupuncture warrants examination not only from a socio‐ political perspective, but through a theatrical lens, as well. It probes the relationship between audience and performer, raises questions about theatre’s ability to keep up with other media in the digital age, and offers tremendous insight into the potential for positive, fruitful intersections between art and civil society. My project will include theoretical examination of O’Donnell’s work, as well as practical exploration of the form’s potential.