The Journalism of Hanging Out: Thoughts from Dan Hoyle, the Creator of "Takes All Kinds"

Actor, writer, journalist and deep listener Dan Hoyle brings his show "Takes All Kinds" to Actors’ Theatre on Friday and Saturday, September 5 and 6 at 7:30 pm.

Hoyle’s signature style of theater-making has been called by different names—documentary theater, theatrical journalism and immersion research theater—but no matter what you call it, Hoyle’s shows take his audience on a journey through the minds and hearts of diverse characters drawn from real-life people who illuminate our shared humanity despite political and cultural divides.

“I seek to hear people’s stories and lived experiences on their terms, on their turf. I develop relationships steeped in trust, permission, genuine curiosity, empathy, and joy,”

Hoyle explains that he then takes all these experiences and crafts monologues and narratives based on those conversations to tell the story of what he learned to theater audiences. He strives to present people and stories with specificity, nuance, respect, complexity, and compassion. He shares that the words the audience hears are a mixture of what people told him and his own writing in service of the larger theme and emotional truth of his experiences. He then must turn from journalist/writer to actor in order to embody and inhabit these characters on stage.

Hoyle usually starts with a place, and then does background reading and research. Then he simply goes there and starts talking to people. He is transparent about what he is doing—gathering material for what will become a play—and always gets permission to tell someone’s story. As to how people respond, he notes:

“People are usually excited. ‘Oh, you want to hear what I have to say? You want to hear my story?’ They are excited that their story is going to be told because most people don’t feel listened to or understood on a deep level. And a lot of the people I’m talking to and the communities I’m hanging out in are underheard. Also, they can tell that I’m serious, that I really value their story and the opportunity to connect with them, to learn, to be invited in. I feel a huge responsibility to do it well.”

Hoyle’s work has been praised for the way it subverts stereotypes, humanizes, and endows every story with dignity and respect. He notes that the relationships formed during his research often turn into lifelong friendships, and he often holds fundraisers for and spotlights the communities and organizations that helped him in his research.

For his latest show, Takes All Kinds, Hoyle traveled the country in search of a range of perspectives on our political moment. The monologues and characters are based on immersive reporting from school board showdowns in Florida, grassroots organizers in Atlanta, barbershops in Las Vegas, deprogrammers of violent extremists in Missouri, and more. Hoyle captures their stories and then channels these powerful, funny and complex people caught in the social and political currents roiling society. He says that he created the show to explore whether people and societies can change and hopes his tender portraits of everyday Americans turned unlikely changemakers can illuminate ways forward in these tumultuous times.

“I believe that sharing these stories in this way allows us to see each other in one another. The radical empathy of this work shines through and inspires others to pursue connection, understanding, and joy in their work and everyday lives. I believe art needs to be simultaneously celebrating the diversity and specificity of who we are as unique, complex, many-sided individuals, while also illuminating our shared core humanity.”

"Takes All Kinds" plays at Actors’ Theatre for two shows only: Friday and Saturday, September 5 and 6, @ 7:30 pm. Get tickets HERE.