Who I am

I am a theatre archaeologist. What does that mean? Much as archaeologists reconstruct the story of a society from the artifacts they excavate, I build theatrical stories from the artifacts I uncover in my life. These might be a rug that lay in front of my grandfather’s fireplace, the process of LASIK eye surgery, or the artwork of Keith Haring. In my science communication work, the artifacts are the scientists I am collaborating with, their research, and my own emotional connection to their work. From these I try to create visceral performance pieces that capture, think creatively, and communicate aspects of the scientists' research.
Currently I am an Assistant Professor of Applied and Emerging Theatre at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville as well as a Senior Faculty Fellow in the Center for Communicating Science at Virginia Tech. In my work with the Center, I've taught workshops to scientists across the country on how to use theatrical skills to more effectively communicate their research. Additionally I've collaborated with a number of scientists on projects that use performance to communicate scientific research. 

Coming soon! New book!

The Art of Communicating Science:
Presence, Storytelling, and Building Bridges

By Patty Raun, Carrie Kroehler, and Daniel Bird Tobin
This book documents our approach to working with researchers on how to more effectively communicate their work to the public.
It will be published by Routledge and is expected in February 2027. 

Science Collaborations

These performance pieces are collaborations with scientists or scientific material that creatively share that research with the public. 

"Laser" - 2017
Pisa Drop - 2017
Four Tuesdays - 2017
Flooding the Beach - 2018
Think Like an Aspen - 2022
Flatland - in progress

Each written and performed by
Daniel Bird Tobin

Media Coverage

My work has been featured in Yale Climate Connections and the Warm Regards Podcast.

See below for more details on some of my performance pieces.

Think Like an Aspen
In this piece, I collaborated with Dr. Sweta Baniya, an expert in transnational disaster studies at Virginia Tech. It was part of a series of SciArt Projects funded by the Center for Communicating Science at Virginia Tech.

Coastal Collab
In this transdisciplinary project I helmed a collaboration between the Center for Communicating Science and the Coastal@VT research consortium at Virginia Tech. We paired theatre makers with geographers, engineers, biologists, and more to create evocative performances that captured aspects of the scientists research. The resulting pieces were initially presented at the Advancing the Human Condition Symposium in  2018. It was in this show that my piece Flooding the Beach first premiered.

Flooding the Beach was a collaboration with Peter Sforza, the Director of the Center for Geospatial Information Technology at Virginia Tech. Since it's premiere, it has also been presented as part of my Keynote Address at the Virginia Tech Research Symposium and at the Moss Arts Center.

Feel free to take a moment and listen and/or watch.

"Laser"
This piece was built in collaboration with Dr. Scott Sayres, a chemist at Arizona State University. It reflects on how Scott and I each think about place and direction on both minute and massive scales.

"Laser" was originally produced as part of the Science Exposed show directed by Liz Lerman at Arizona State University in conjunction with the ASU Biodesign Institute. Since then, I have also presented it as part of my Keynote Address at the Virginia Tech Research Symposium, at the CESTEMER Conference in New York, and at the Moss Arts Center.

These are two clips from the original performance.

Science Exposed

This was a project I was part of at Arizona State University, directed by Liz Lerman. It was in this show that "Laser" and Pisa Drop both premiered. This video was put together to explain more of the project.

Science Communication Workshops

With the Center for Communicating Science at Virginia Tech, I have taught workshops to the following groups on how to use theatrical tools to communicate their research more effectively: 
  • Nutshell Talks - February 2025
  • CTech­2 - July 2024
  • Office of Undergraduate Research - July 2024
  • National Institutes of Health BUILD PODER (Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity Promoting Opportunities for Diversity in Education and Research) at California State Northridge - January – March 2024
  • Nutshell Talks - August 2023
  • The American Chestnut Foundation - November 2022
  • German Fulbright Program - July – August 2021, 2022, & 2023
  • Office of Undergraduate Research - June – July 2021 & 2022
  • SciArt Collaboration - May 2021
  • Office of Undergraduate Research - May – July 2020
  • Preparing the Future Professoriate - February 2020
  • Nature Conservancy – NatureNet Science Fellows Program - October 2019                     
  • Veterinary Medicine Program - September 2019
  • Collaboration Incubator - August 2019        
  • German Fulbright Program - August 2019
  • Office of Undergraduate Research - May – July 2019
  • Masters of Public Health - April 2019
  • Preparing the Future Professoriate - September 2018          
  • APEX Global Challenge - August 2018
  • Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry - May 2018
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