Engaging Audiences asks what cognitive science can teach scholars of theatre studies about spectator response in the theatre. Bruce McConachie introduces insights from neuroscience and evolutionary theory to examine the dynamics of conscious attention, empathy and memory in theatre goers.

BRUCE McOCNACHIE is Professor and Chair of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies, University of Pittsburgh, USA.

Introduction General Cognition for Theatre Audiences Social Cognition in Spectating Cultural Cognition in History Epilogue: Writing Cognitive Audience Histories