
Overview
Background
Dr Abbie Victoria Trott is a Lecturer in Drama at the University of Queensland, where she also teaches digital media and communication. She is currently working on a book about how theatre for young people makes sense of young people's immersion in digital culture. Her research is broadly interested in examining how audiences make sense of theatre in light of digital culture. Other research interests include the relationships between generative AI, audiences and performers. Teaching theatre and performance at a tertiary level since 2014, she is an experienced stage and production manager across community theatre, circus, and multimedia performance.
Availability
- Dr Abbie Trott is:
- Not available for supervision
Qualifications
- Bachelor (Honours) of Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies, Queensland University of Technology
- Masters (Research) of Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies, The University of Queensland
- Doctor of Philosophy of Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies, University of Melbourne
- Board Member, Australasian Association for Theatre, Drama and Performance Studies, Australasian Association for Theatre, Drama and Performance Studies
- Member, International Federation of Theatre Research, International Federation of Theatre Research
Research interests
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Young people, theatre and digital culture
This research investigates how young people's engagement with digital culture translates to their experience of theatre.
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Generative AI, performers and audiences
This research in investigating how AI chatbots are embodied as actants in new medial performance through their relationships with performers and audiences.
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Audience diversity
This research is interested if how to collect and represent data about audience diversity.
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Action research and participatory enquiry
This research is interested in using multimodal, participatory enquiry in theatre and performance.
Research impacts
Abbie's research into how young theatre audiences make sense of their immersion in digital culture offers strategies as we grapple as a society with digital saturation. Her research into the relationship between generative AI, audiences and performers offers different perspectives on generative AI.
Using a multimodal approach, Abbie's research methodology is iterative, reflective and engages with the nuances of digital culture and performance.
Works
Search Professor Abbie Trott’s works on UQ eSpace
2025
Journal Article
Centring the audience: attitudes and behaviours in Australian arts organisations
Johanson, Katya, Trott, Abbie, Taylor, Mark, Kershaw, Anne, Glow, Hilary and Margieson, Tracy (2025). Centring the audience: attitudes and behaviours in Australian arts organisations. International Journal of Cultural Policy. doi: 10.1080/10286632.2025.2458571
2025
Conference Publication
Pigeon Fool’s Turing test: the relationship between the audience, the live AI bot, and the recorded human performer
Trott, Abbie Victoria (2025). Pigeon Fool’s Turing test: the relationship between the audience, the live AI bot, and the recorded human performer. International Federation of Theatre Research, Cologne, Germany, 9 - 13 May 2025.
2024
Journal Article
Review of Deserted devices and wasted fences: everyday technologies in extreme circumstances, by Dani Ploeger
Trott, Abbie (2024). Review of Deserted devices and wasted fences: everyday technologies in extreme circumstances, by Dani Ploeger. International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media, 20 (2), 1-2. doi: 10.1080/14794713.2024.2391202
2024
Conference Publication
Pigeon fool: hybrid assemblages and the relationship between the live AI bot and the recorded human performer
Trott, Abbie Victoria (2024). Pigeon fool: hybrid assemblages and the relationship between the live AI bot and the recorded human performer. Artificial Visionaries: Exploring the Intersections of Machine Vision, Computation, and our Aural and Visual Cultures Symposium, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 27 - 28 November 2024.
2024
Conference Publication
Intermediality and community circus: Vulcana Circus and disrupting tragedy
Trott, Abbie Victoria (2024). Intermediality and community circus: Vulcana Circus and disrupting tragedy. International Federation of Theatre Research, Manila, Philipines, 15 - 19 July 2024.
2023
Journal Article
“I don’t know why I cried, but I did.” Diversity and the dramaturgy of impact in Australian theatre for young people
Rae, Paul and Trott, Abbie Victoria (2023). “I don’t know why I cried, but I did.” Diversity and the dramaturgy of impact in Australian theatre for young people. Critical Stages, 28, 1-17.
2023
Journal Article
Review of Mediatized dramaturgy: the evolution of plays in the media age : by Seda Ilter, London: Methuen Drama, ISBN: 978-1-3500-3115-9 978-0-7456-8131-3
Trott, Abbie (2023). Review of Mediatized dramaturgy: the evolution of plays in the media age : by Seda Ilter, London: Methuen Drama, ISBN: 978-1-3500-3115-9 978-0-7456-8131-3. International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media, 19 (1), 139-140. doi: 10.1080/14794713.2023.2170626
2023
Conference Publication
An argument for a living archive: audience diversity and the relationship between data collection and programming
Johanson, Katya and Trott, Abbie Victoria (2023). An argument for a living archive: audience diversity and the relationship between data collection and programming. Australasian Association for Theatre, Drama & Performance Studies (ADSA), Adelaide, SA, Australia, 27 November - 1 December 2023.
2022
Journal Article
‘She might find out the truth:’ Action researching with young theatre audiences
Trott, Abbie Victoria (2022). ‘She might find out the truth:’ Action researching with young theatre audiences. Action Learning, Action Research Journal, 28 (1), 72-98.
2022
Other Outputs
A ‘standard’ topic?: theatre, young people and the everyday postdigital
Trott, Abbie Victoria (2022). A ‘standard’ topic?: theatre, young people and the everyday postdigital. PhD Thesis, School of Culture and Communication, University of Melbourne.
2021
Journal Article
What are the ties that hold us together?: The smartphone networks in As If No One is Watching and Body of Knowledge
Trott, Abbie Victoria (2021). What are the ties that hold us together?: The smartphone networks in As If No One is Watching and Body of Knowledge. Australasian Drama Studies (78), 224-252.
2021
Journal Article
'It was a cracker': Listening in to youth audiences, regional and urban, with show reports
Trott, Abbie Victoria (2021). 'It was a cracker': Listening in to youth audiences, regional and urban, with show reports. Australasian Drama Studies Journal, 77 (January) 13, 244-272.
2016
Other Outputs
“Being With:” establishing co-presence between multimedia images and performers in multimedia performance
Trott, Abbie Victoria (2016). “Being With:” establishing co-presence between multimedia images and performers in multimedia performance. MPhil Thesis, School of Communication and Arts, The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/uql.2016.92
Media
Enquiries
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