The Information Behavior of Theatre Performers: Embodiment, Precarity, and Body Capital

ABSTRACT Performance artists, specifically theatre artists, are an under‐researched community within library and information science (LIS). This study ties the extant research on theatre performers’ information behavior to theories within and outside of the LIS canon, specifically theories of information embodiment, body capital, and precarious work. These theories were selected as analytical frames due to their critical relevance and suitability due to the emotive and physical nature of performance. This initial investigation concludes and contends that theatrical performance communities are embodying and encoding information behavior in unique ways that are of increasing interest for interdisciplinary LIS study. The information behavior of performance artists is affected by both their training as embodied and expressive workers, and their status as visible precarious laborers subjected to western ideals of appearance. New LIS research pathways and perspectives are elucidated via an examination of the information behavior within the performing arts.