Unpacking A Box of Memories: Using documentary music theatre to transform perspectives of dementia

Documentary music theatre (DMT) is an emerging hybridized theatrical form that fosters transformative experiences for audiences, using music to enhance emotional resonance and championing marginalized voices through authentic storytelling. This article presents notes from the field by Erin and Duncan McKellar, the creative duo of A Box of Memories , a one-act, three-hander musical telling a story about the impact of dementia as a cause of disability based on lived experience. As co-creators, they are a daughter–father team, with Erin as composer and Duncan as librettist, but with a collaborative process across artistic choices. The work was created to transform perspectives and promote empathetic responses to people with dementia. Audience evaluation indicated the musical was effective in these objectives and provided evidence of the potential for DMT to support other practitioners seeking to tell similar stories. This article proposes a DMT framework to guide future practitioners to pursue DMT.