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Performances of Authorial Presence and Absence: The Author Dies Hard (Adaptation in Theatre and Performance)
by Silvija JestrovicThis book takes Roland Barthes’s famous proclamation of ‘The Death of the Author’ as a starting point to investigate concepts of authorial presence and absence on various levels of text and performance. By offering a new understanding of ‘the author’ as neither a source of unquestioned authority nor an obsolete construct, but rather as a performative figure, the book illuminates wide-ranging aesthetic and political aspects of ‘authorial death’ by asking: how is the author constructed through cultural and political imaginaries and erasures, intertextual and intertheatrical references, re-performances and self-referentiality? And what are the politics and ethics of these constructions?
Performances of Capitalism, Crises and Resistance
by Marilena Zaroulia Philip HagerThis engaging study examines the issue of crisis in European performance since the collapse of global financial markets in 2008. The book's chapters examine diverse performances of crisis primarily in three cities with a loaded past and present for Europe, as idea and geopolitical reality: London, Athens and Berlin. Presenting a range of work – from the National Theatre's repertoire to alternative forms of theatre-making in 'other' spaces; from the Occupy LSX to cultural performance and 'invisible', quotidian performances – Performances of Capitalism, Crises and Resistance presents new approaches to performance as a form 'in crisis' and as reflecting the in-crisis permutation of the 'inside/outside' dichotomy, fundamental in the conception of Europe and the EU. In doing so, this book makes an argument for performance within and against neoliberal promises; as a monolithic factor implicated in the machinery of capitalism or multiple, emergent bodies of resistance.
Performances of Suffering in Latin American Migration: Heroes, Martyrs and Saints
by Ana Elena Puga Víctor M. EspinosaThis book questions the reliance on melodrama and spectacle in social performances and cultural productions by and about migrants from Mexico and Central America to the United States. Focusing on archetypal characters with nineteenth-century roots that recur in the twentieth- and twenty-first centuries – heroic saviors, saintly mothers and struggling fathers, martyred children and rebellious youth – it shows how theater practitioners, filmmakers, visual artists, advocates, activists, journalists, and others who want to help migrants often create migrant melodramas, performances that depict their heroes as virtuous victims at the mercy of evil villains. In order to gain respect for the human rights that are supposedly already theirs on paper and participate in a global market that trades in performances of suffering, migrants themselves sometimes accept the roles into which they are cast, or even cast themselves. Some express their suffering publicly, often on demand. Others find ways to twist, parody, resist, or reject migrant melodrama.
Performances that Change the Americas (Routledge Advances in Theatre & Performance Studies)
by Stuart A. DayThis collection of essays explores activist performances, all connected to theater or performance training, that have changed the Americas—from Canada to the Southern Cone. Through the study of specific examples from numerous countries, the authors of this volume demonstrate a crucial, shared outlook: they affirm that ordinary people change the direction of history through performance. This project offers concrete, compelling cases that emulate the modus operandi of people like historian Howard Zinn. In the same spirit, the chapters treat marginal groups whose stories underscore the potentially unstoppable and transformative power of united, embodied voices. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of theatre, performance, art and politics.
The Performative Ground of Religion and Theatre
by David V. MasonReligious practitioners and theatregoers have much in common. So much, in fact, that we can say that religion is often a theatrical phenomenon, and that theatre can be a religious experience. By examining the phenomenology of religion, we can in turn develop a better understanding of the phenomenology of theatre. That is to say, religion can show us the ways in which theatre is not fake. This study explores the overlap of religion and theatre, especially in the crucial area of experience and personal identity. Reconsidering ideas from ancient Greece, premodern India, modern Europe, and the recent century, it argues that religious adherents and theatre audiences are largely, themselves, the mechanisms of their experiences. By examining the development of the philosophy of theatre alongside theories of religious action, this book shows how we need to adjust our views of both. Featuring attention to influential notions from Plato and Aristotle, from the Natyashastra, from Schleiermacher to Sartre, Bourdieu, and Butler, and considering contemporary theories of performance and ritual, this is vital reading for any scholar in religious studies, theatre and performance studies, theology, or philosophy.
Performative Polemic: Anti-Absolutist Pamphlets and their Readers in Late Seventeenth-Century France (The Early Modern Exchange)
by Kathrina Ann LaPortaPerformative Polemic is the first literary historical study to analyze the “war of words” unleashed in the pamphlets denouncing Louis XIV’s absolute monarchy between 1667 and 1715. As conflict erupted between the French ruler and his political enemies, pamphlet writers across Europe penned scathing assaults on the his bellicose impulses and expansionist policies. This book investigates how pamphlet writers challenged the monarchy’s monopoly over the performance of sovereignty by contesting the very mechanisms through which the crown legitimized its authority at home and abroad. Author Kathrina LaPorta offers a new conceptual framework for reading pamphlets as political interventions, asserting that an analysis of the pamphlet’s form is crucial to understanding how pamphleteers seduced readers by capitalizing on existing markets in literature, legal writing, and journalism. Pamphlet writers appealed to the theater-going public that would have been attending plays by Molière and Racine, as well as to readers of historical novels and periodicals. Pamphleteers entertained readers as they attacked the performative circuitry behind the curtain of monarchy.
The Performative Power of Vocality (Routledge Voice Studies)
by Virginie MagnatThe Performative Power of Vocality offers a fresh perspective on voice as a subject of critical inquiry by employing an interdisciplinary and cross-cultural approach. Conventional treatment of voice in theatre and performance studies too often regards it as a subcategory of actor training, associated with the established methods that have shaped voice pedagogy within Western theatre schools, conservatories, and universities. This monograph significantly deviates from these dominant models through its investigation of the non-discursive, material, and affective efficacy of vocality, with a focus on orally transmitted vocal traditions. Drawing from her performance training, research collaborations, and commitment to cultural diversity, Magnat proposes a dialogical approach to vocality. Inclusive of established, current, and emerging research perspectives, this approach sheds light on the role of vocality as a vital source of embodied knowledge, creativity, and well-being grounded in process, practice, and place, as well as a form of social and political agency. An excellent resource for qualitative researchers, artist-scholars, and activists committed to decolonization, cultural revitalization, and social justice, this book opens up new avenues of understanding across Indigenous and Western philosophy, performance studies, musicology, ethnomusicology, sound and voice studies, anthropology, sociology, phenomenology, cognitive science, physics, ecology, and biomedicine.
Performativity and Event in 1960s Japan: City, Body, Memory
by Peter EckersallTaking performance as a key word, this book explores important Japanese artists and art works in the 1960s in relation to the formation of postwar Japan. In response to the social upheavals of the 1960s, Eckersall shows how art interacted with society in unique and transformational ways. He includes case studies of rarely discussed artists and performances by Zero Jigen, Ichiyanagi Toshi, Iimura Takahiko and the contemporary group Port B, as well as dynamic cultural events such as the 1964 Olympic Games, mass protests and the 1970 Osaka Expo. A unique aspect of Eckersall's study is his interdisciplinary approach, which draws on Japanese writing on the 1960s in tandem with performance theory. By interweaving arguments about the critical role of performance as an artistic medium and as a social dramaturgy, this book will be of interest to scholars and students of contemporary Japanese society and culture, cultural historians and people interested in theatre and performance studies.
Performativity of Villainy and Evil in Anglophone Literature and Media
by Nizar ZouidiPerformativity of Villainy and Evil in Anglophone Literature and Media studies the performative nature of evil characters, acts and emotions across intersecting genres, disciplines and historical eras. This collection brings together scholars and artists with different institutional standings, cultural backgrounds and (inter)disciplinary interests with the aim of energizing the ongoing discussion of the generic and thematic issues related to the representation of villainy and evil in literature and media. The volume covers medieval literature to contemporary literature and also examines important aspects of evil in literature such as social and political identity, the gothic and systemic evil practices. In addition to literature, the book considers examples of villainy in film, TV and media, revealing that performance, performative control and maneuverability are the common characteristics of villains across the different literary and filmic genres and eras studied in the volume.
Performer Training: Developments Across Cultures (Contemporary Theatre Studies #Vol. 38)
by Ian WatsonPerformer Training is an examination of how actors are trained in different cultures. Beginning with studies of mainstream training in countries such as Poland, Australia, Germany, and the United States, subsequent studies survey: · Some of Asia's traditional training methods and recent experiments in performer training · Eugenio Barba's training methods · Jerzy Grotowski's most recent investigations · The Japanese American NOHO companies attempts at integrating Kyogen into the works of Samuel Beckett · Descriptions of the training methods developed by Tadashi Suzuki and Anne Bogart at their Saratoga International Theatre Institute · Recent efforts to re-examine the role and scope of training, like Britain's International Workshop Festival and the European League of Institutes of Arts masterclasses · The reformulation of the use of emotions in performer training known as Alba Emoting.
Performer Training and Technology: Preparing Our Selves (Perspectives on Performer Training)
by Maria KapsaliPerformer Training and Technology employs philosophical approaches to technology, including postphenomenology and Heidegger’s thinking, to examine the way technology manifests, influences and becomes used in performer training discourse and practice. The book offers in-depth discussions of present and past performer training practices through a lens that has never been applied before; considers the employment of key digital artefacts; and develops a series of analytical tools that can be useful in scholarly and practical explorations. An array of intriguing subjects are covered including the role of electric lights in Stanislavsky’s work on concentration; the use of handheld tools, such as sticks in Zarrilli’s psychophysical training and Meyerhold’s Biomechanics; the emergence of new forms of training in relation to motion capture technology; and the way the mobile phone complicates notions and practices of attention in learning and training contexts. This book is of vital relevance to performer training scholars and practitioners; theatre, performance, and dance scholars and students; and especially those interested in philosophies of technology.
Performers and Their Arts: Folk, Popular and Classical Genres in a Changing India
by Simon CharsleyIntroduction Part I: Caste, Community and performance A ritual performance of Kerala, Vayala Vasudevan PillaiThe Patuas of Bengal, Makbul IslamBards and goddesses: The Pombalas in Tirupati, Anand AkundyExplorations in the art forms of the Cindu madigas in Andhra, Y A Sudhakar Reddy and R R HarischandraCaste identity and performance in a fisher-village of Assam, Kishore BhattacharjeePart II: Performance Beyond CasteTelugu pady natakam in Andhra: Performance dynamics, P SubbacharyModernising tradition: The yaksagana in Karnataka, Guru Rao BapatKalarippayatt as aesthetics and the politics of invisibility in Kerala, P K SasidharanIndia People’s Theatre Association in colonial Andhra, V RamakrishnaGaddar and the politics and pain of singing, D Venkat RaoReviving moghal tamsa in Orissa, Sachi MohantyPart III: Classical Dance and its SuccessorsNew directions in Indian dance, Sunil KothariTranspositions in kuchipudi dance, Aruna BhikshuThe impact of commercialization in dance, K Subadra MurthyArt addressing social problems, Ananda Shankar Jayant
Performing Age in Modern Drama
by Valerie Barnes Barnes LipscombThis book is the first to examine age across the modern and contemporary dramatic canon, from Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams to Paula Vogel and Doug Wright. All ages across the life course are interpreted as performance and performative both on page and on stage, including professional productions and senior-theatre groups. The common admonition "act your age" provides the springboard for this study, which rests on the premise that age is performative in nature, and that issues of age and performance crystallize in the theatre. Dramatic conventions include characters who change ages from one moment to the next, overtly demonstrating on stage the reiterated actions that create a performative illusion of stable age. Moreover, directors regularly cast actors in these plays against their chronological ages. Lipscomb contends that while the plays reflect varying attitudes toward performing age, as a whole they reveal a longing for an ageless self, a desire to present a consistent, unified identity. The works mirror prevailing social perceptions of the aging process as well as the tension between chronological age, physiological age, and cultural constructions of age.
Performing Animals: History, Agency, Theater (Animalibus: Of Animals and Cultures #11)
by Karen Raber Monica MattfeldFrom bears on the Renaissance stage to the equine pageantry of the nineteenth-century hunt, animals have been used in human-orchestrated entertainments throughout history. The essays in this volume present an array of case studies that inspire new ways of interpreting animal performance and the role of animal agency in the performing relationship.In exploring the human-animal relationship from the early modern period to the nineteenth century, Performing Animals questions what it means for an animal to “perform,” examines how conceptions or this relationship have evolved over time, and explores whether and how human understanding of performance is changed by an animal’s presence. The contributors discuss the role of animals in venues as varied as medieval plays, natural histories, dissections, and banquets, and they raise provocative questions about animals’ agency. In so doing, they demonstrate the innovative potential of thinking beyond the boundaries of the present in order to dismantle the barriers that have traditionally divided human from animal.From fleas to warhorses to animals that “perform” even after death, this delightfully varied volume brings together examples of animals made to “act” in ways that challenge obvious notions of performance. The result is an eye-opening exploration of human-animal relationships and identity that will appeal greatly to scholars and students of animal studies, performance studies, and posthuman studies.In addition to the editors, the contributors are Todd Andrew Borlik, Pia F. Cuneo, Kim Marra, Richard Nash, Sarah E. Parker, Rob Wakeman, Kari Weil, and Jessica Wolfe.
Performing Animals: History, Agency, Theater (Animalibus)
by Karen Raber Monica MattfeldFrom bears on the Renaissance stage to the equine pageantry of the nineteenth-century hunt, animals have been used in human-orchestrated entertainments throughout history. The essays in this volume present an array of case studies that inspire new ways of interpreting animal performance and the role of animal agency in the performing relationship.In exploring the human-animal relationship from the early modern period to the nineteenth century, Performing Animals questions what it means for an animal to “perform,” examines how conceptions of this relationship have evolved over time, and explores whether and how human understanding of performance is changed by an animal’s presence. The contributors discuss the role of animals in venues as varied as medieval plays, natural histories, dissections, and banquets, and they raise provocative questions about animals’ agency. In so doing, they demonstrate the innovative potential of thinking beyond the boundaries of the present in order to dismantle the barriers that have traditionally divided human from animal.From fleas to warhorses to animals that “perform” even after death, this delightfully varied volume brings together examples of animals made to “act” in ways that challenge obvious notions of performance. The result is an eye-opening exploration of human-animal relationships and identity that will appeal greatly to scholars and students of animal studies, performance studies, and posthuman studies.In addition to the editors, the contributors are Todd Andrew Borlik, Pia F. Cuneo, Kim Marra, Richard Nash, Sarah E. Parker, Rob Wakeman, Kari Weil, and Jessica Wolfe.
Performing Antagonism
by Tony Fisher Eve KatsourakiThis book combines performance analysis with contemporary political philosophy to advance new ways of understanding both political performance and the performativity of the politics of the street. Our times are pre-eminently political times and have drawn radical responses from many theatre and performance practitioners. However, a decade of conflict in the Middle East and Afghanistan, the eruption of new social movements around the world, the growth of anti-capitalist and anti-globalisation struggles, the upsurge of protests against the blockades of neoliberalism, and the rising tide of dissent and anger against corporate power, with its exorbitant social costs, have left theatre and performance scholarship confronting something of a dilemma: how to theorize the political antagonisms of our day? Drawing on the resources of 'post-Marxist' political thinkers such as Chantal Mouffe and Jacques Rancière, the book explores how new theoretical horizons have been made available for performance analysis.
Performing Arts and Digital Humanities: From Traces to Data
by Clarisse BardiotDigital traces, whether digitized (programs, notebooks, drawings, etc.) or born digital (emails, websites, video recordings, etc.), constitute a major challenge for the memory of the ephemeral performing arts.Digital technology transforms traces into data and, in doing so, opens them up to manipulation. This paradigm shift calls for a renewal of methodologies for writing the history of theater today, analyzing works and their creative process, and preserving performances. At the crossroads of performing arts studies, the history, digital humanities, conservation and archiving, these methodologies allow us to take into account what is generally dismissed, namely, digital traces that are considered too complex, too numerous, too fragile, of dubious authenticity, etc.With the analysis of Merce Cunningham’s digital traces as a guideline, and through many other examples, this book is intended for researchers and archivists, as well as artists and cultural institutions.
Performing Arts and Therapeutic Implications
by Tanvi Bajaj Swasti Shrimali VohraPresenting an alternative perspective, this book proposes that performing arts forge an emotional bond between the performer and the audience, making the act of performance a therapeutic and restorative experience, and not merely recreational. Studying the life-experiences of six artists, and their unique engagement with three art forms — music, drama and dance — the book highlights the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual effects of performing arts both on the performers and the audience. More importantly, it takes the current understanding of the therapeutic role of arts beyond a deficit model of health that focuses on their use in curing illnesses, disabilities and imbalances, towards a more positive growth-centric model that relates them to promoting holistic mental health, well-being and happiness. It thus bridges the gap between the theoretical understanding of creative arts therapy and the practical experience of performing arts in non-therapeutic settings. Further, it assumes increasing relevance with respect to fast-changing lifestyles to which stress and ill-health are often attributed. The book will appeal to artists, educators and researchers of performing arts, applied psychology, counselling and therapy, and cultural studies, as well as interested general readers.
Performing Arts Center Management (Routledge Research in the Creative and Cultural Industries)
by Patricia Dewey Lambert Robyn WilliamsPerforming arts centers (PACs) are an integral part of the cultural and creative industries, significantly influencing the cultural, social, and economic vitality of communities around the world. Virtually all PACs are community-based and serve the public interest, whether structured as a public, nonprofit, for-profit, or hybrid entity. However, there is a lack of knowledge about the important community role of performing arts centers, especially those that mainly host and present work produced by other arts organizations. This gap is startling, given the ubiquitous presence of PACs in urban centers, small communities, as well as colleges and universities. This co-edited reference book provides valuable information at the intersection of theory and practice in the professional field of executive leadership of performing arts centers. Drawing on the expertise of leading academics, consultants, and executives, this book focuses on institutions and practices in the United States, and is contextualized within additional fields such as cultural planning, urban revitalization, and economic development. Performing Arts Center Management aims to provide valuable theoretical, conceptual, empirical, and practice-based information to current and future leaders in creative and cultural industries management. It serves as a unique reference for researchers, university students, civic leaders, urban planners, public venue managers, and arts administrators aspiring to improve or advance their work in successfully managing performing arts centers.
Performing Arts in Transition: Moving between Media (Routledge Advances in Theatre & Performance Studies)
by Susanne Foellmer Maria Katharina Schmidt Cornelia SchmitzArtists especially from dance and performance art as well as opera are involved to an increasing degree in the transfer between different media, not only in their productions but also the events, materials, and documents that surround them. At the same time, the focus on that which remains has become central to any discussion of performance. Performing Arts in Transition explores what takes place in the moments of transition from one medium to another, and from the live performance to that which "survives" it. Case studies from a broad range of interdisciplinary scholars address phenomena such as: The dynamics of transfer between the performing and visual arts. The philosophy and terminologies of transitioning between media. Narratives and counternarratives in historical re-creations. The status of chronology and the document in art scholarship. This is an essential contribution to a vibrant, multidisciplinary and international field of research emerging at the intersections of performance, visual arts, and media studies.
Performing Arts Management (Second Edition): A Handbook of Professional Practices
by Tobie S. Stein Jessica Rae Bathurst Renee LasherDo you know what it takes to manage a performing arts organization today? In this revised second edition of the comprehensive guide, more than 100 managers of top nonprofit and commercial venues share their winning strategies.From theater to classical music, from opera to dance, every type of organization is included, with information on how each one is structured, key managerial figures, its best-practices for financial management, how it handles labor relations, and more.Kennedy Center, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Lincoln Center, the Mark Morris Dance Company, the New Victory Theater, the Roundabout Theater, the Guthrie Theater, Steppenwolf Theater Company, and many other top groups are represented.Learn to manage a performing arts group successfully in today&’s rapidly changing cultural environment with Performing Arts Management.
Performing Asian Transnationalisms: Theatre, Identity, and the Geographies of Performance (Routledge Advances in Theatre & Performance Studies)
by Amanda RogersThis book makes a significant contribution to interdisciplinary engagements between Theatre Studies and Cultural Geography in its analysis of how theatre articulates transnational geographies of Asian culture and identity. Deploying a geographical approach to transnational culture, Rogers analyses the cross-border relationships that exist within and between Asian American, British East Asian, and South East Asian theatres, investigating the effect of transnationalism on the construction of identity, the development of creative praxis, and the reception of works in different social fields. This book therefore examines how practitioners engage with one another across borders, and details the cross-cultural performances, creative opportunities, and political alliances that result. By viewing ethnic minority theatres as part of global — rather than simply national — cultural fields, Rogers argues that transnational relationships take multiple forms and have varying impetuses that cannot always be equated to diasporic longing for a homeland or as strategically motivated for economic gain. This argument is developed through a series of chapters that examine how different transnational spatialities are produced and re-worked through the practice of theatre making, drawing upon an analysis of rehearsals, performances, festivals, and semi-structured interviews with practitioners. The book extends existing discussions of performance and globalization, particularly through its focus on the multiplicity of transnational spatiality and the networks between English-language Asian theatres. Its analysis of spatially extensive relations also contributes to an emerging body of research on creative geographies by situating theatrical praxis in relation to cross-border flows. Performing Asian Transnationalisms demonstrates how performances reflect and rework conventional transnational geographies in imaginative and innovative ways.
Performing Authorship in the Nineteenth-Century Transatlantic Lecture Tour (Ashgate Series in Nineteenth-Century Transatlantic Studies)
by Amanda AdamsExpanding our understanding of what it meant to be a nineteenth-century author, Amanda Adams takes up the concept of performative, embodied authorship in relationship to the transatlantic lecture tour. Adams argues that these tours were a central aspect of nineteenth-century authorship, at a time when authors were becoming celebrities and celebrities were international. Spanning the years from 1834 to 1904, Adams’s book examines the British lecture tours of American authors such as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Mark Twain, and the American lecture tours of British writers that include Harriet Martineau, Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde, and Matthew Arnold. Adams concludes her study with a discussion of Henry James, whose American lecture tour took place after a decades-long absence. In highlighting the wide range of authors who participated in this phenomenon, Adams makes a case for the lecture tour as a microcosm for nineteenth-century authorship in all its contradictions and complexity.
Performing Autobiography
by Jennifer StephensonIn Performing Autobiography, Jenn Stephenson presents an innovative new approach to autobiography studies that links the growing field of research to drama. Stephenson's analysis engages with performance histories to demonstrate the extent to which the dramatic form, which recasts autobiography as ambiguously fictive, ensures that the experience of the plays remains open to revision, alteration, and interpretation. As such, Performing Autobiography understands this form not to be the impossible documentation of the backward-looking narrative of one's life, but rather an evolving process of self-creation and transformation.Stephenson explores the autobiographical form by analysing seven works by Canadian playwrights written and performed between 1999 and 2009, including Judith Thompson's Perfect Pie, Daniel MacIvor's In On It, and Timothy Findley's Shadows. Her analysis encourages us to see autobiography as a uniquely political act, one that, where enacted on stage, illustrates the variety of ways that self-reflection and interpretation has an expanding role in contemporary culture.
Performing Beauty in Participatory Art and Culture (Routledge Advances in Art and Visual Studies)
by Falk HeinrichThis book investigates the notion of beauty in participatory art, an interdisciplinary form that necessitates the audience’s agential participation and that is often seen in interactive art and technology-driven media installations. After considering established theories of beauty, for example, Plato, Alison, Hume, Kant, Gadamer and Santayana through to McMahon and Sartwell, Heinrich argues that the experience of beauty in participatory art demands a revised notion of beauty; a conception that accounts for the performative and ludic turn within various art forms and which is, in a broader sense, a notion of beauty suited to a participatory and technology-saturated culture. Through case studies of participatory art, he provides an art-theoretical approach to the concept of performative beauty; an approach that is then applied to the wider context of media and design artefacts.