Abstract: In the 1940s, organizers in the struggle for Black freedom, eager to distinguish themselves from the pacifist movement, began to introduce “experiments” in desegregation into their activities. Inspired by Gandhi and his interpreters, these actionists (as they called themselves) discovered and implemented the principles and practices of direct action that would later be used on a broad scale

Abstract: Two recent performances, Demian DinéYazhí’s An Infected Sunset (2018) and Karen Finley’s Written in Sand (1992–ongoing), address issues related to HIV/AIDS from the perspective of an ongoing pandemic that is interconnected with other forms of structural negligence and personal mourning. Whereas a growing number of early AIDS crisis revivals and restagings have mythologized the climate of

Abstract: Czechs have animated the inanimate onstage through puppets, objects, and robots (R.U.R.) for centuries. More recently, a generation of theatre-makers has reversed that traditional imaginary, exploring possibilities within human-becoming-object that engage Peter Schumann’s assertion that “[o]bject exists only because we are deceived into being subject.” Through digital and material means,

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: Hamilton: An American Musical by Lin Manuel-Miranda Patricia Herrera HAMILTON: AN AMERICAN MUSICAL. Book, music, and lyrics by Lin Manuel-Miranda. Directed by Thomas Kail. Richard Rodgers Theatre, New York City. Disney Plus, streaming, July 4, 2020. Since its off-Broadway debut at the New York Public Theater in early 2015

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: Good Standing by Matthew Greene Catherine Heiner GOOD STANDING. By Matthew Greene. Directed by Sam Allen. Next Step Theatre Company, Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival, Salt Lake City. August 9, 2020. Is God the only one who can show love? Depending on the individual or the organization asked, this question inspires a multitude

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: Les Blancs by Lorraine Hansberry Dana A. Williams LES BLANCS. By Lorraine Hansberry. Directed by Yael Farber. National Theatre at Home, London. July 8, 2020. For every revival of a canonical play, an original script goes unproduced, and the urgent need to see meaningful dramatizations of the contemporary moment and its challenges

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: Circle Jerk by Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley Trevor Boffone CIRCLE JERK. By Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley. Co-directed by Rory Pelsue and dramaturg Ariel Sibert. Produced by Jeremy O. Harris. Fake Friends, Theater Mitu, Brooklyn, New York. October 21, 2020. If pandemic theatre has had three stages, then Michael Breslin

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: The Amen Corner by James Baldwin Isaiah Matthew Wooden THE AMEN CORNER. By James Baldwin. Directed by Whitney White. Shakespeare Theatre Company, Washington, D.C. February 28, 2020. Often heralded as one of the most formidable and influential American novelists, essayists, and public intellectuals of the twentieth century

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: Godspell by John-Michael Tebelak Dan Venning GODSPELL. Conceived and originally directed by John-Michael Tebelak. Music and new lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. Directed by Alan Filderman. Berkshire Theatre Group, Outside Under a Tent at the Colonial Theatre, Pittsfield, Massachusetts. August 15, 2020. The Berkshire Theatre Group’s

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: Make Me Stop Smoking by Rabih Mroué Matthew Randle-Bent MAKE ME STOP SMOKING. By Rabih Mroué. Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, online performance. May 23, 2020. Lola Arias’s “My Documents,” which started in Buenos Aires in 2012, is a program through which artists produce live performances based upon their personal archives: idiosyncratic

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: Reinar después de morir by Luis Vélez de Guevara Esther Fernández REINAR DESPUÉS DE MORIR. By Luis Vélez de Guevara. Directed by Ignacio García and Pepa Pedroche. Compañía Nacional de Teatro Clásico/Companhia Teatro de Almada, Teatro de la Comedia, Madrid. January 10, 2020. Reference to a corpse queen triggers a call-back

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: One Room: A World Revealed by Andy Bragen et al. Jeanmarie Higgins ONE ROOM: A WORLD REVEALED. By Andy Bragen et al. Directed by Knud Adams et al. Weston Playhouse Theatre Company, Weston, Vermont. Streamed August 7, 2020. In Look at the Walls by Charly Evon Simpson, the tenth of fourteen short, one-person plays that comprise

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: The Inheritance by Matthew Lopez Eric Jorgensen THE INHERITANCE. By Matthew Lopez. Directed by Stephen Daldry. Ethel Barrymore Theatre, New York City. January 8, 2020. One may as well begin with waiting in line to enter the theatre. Volunteers for the Buttigieg campaign seeking signatures of New York voters to ensure Mayor

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: Eraser Mountain by Toshiki Okada Sarah Lucie ERASER MOUNTAIN. Written and directed by Toshiki Okada. Scenography by Teppei Kaneuji. Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, in association with chelfitsch, New York City. February 28, 2020. Eraser Mountain does not make for a fun or pleasurable night at the theatre, nor does

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: The Under Presents by Samantha Gorman and Danny Cannizzaro Devon Baur THE UNDER PRESENTS. Directed by Samantha Gorman and Danny Cannizzaro. Tender Claws/Piehole, virtual reality. Reviewer viewed various performances, February–July 2020. During the COVID-19 quarantine, audiences were looking for ways to gather and The Under

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: Show Me a Good Time by Sean Patten et al. Daniel Larlham SHOW ME A GOOD TIME. Devised and performed by Sean Patten et al. A Gob Squad production, presented by the Hebbel am Ufer Theatre and the La Jolla Playhouse, livestreamed from Berlin. June 20, 2020. “Everybody needs a good time. That’s what all the songs tell us. Nobody

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: Visual Experiences in Cinquecento Theatrical Spaces by Javier Berzal de Dios Robert Henke VISUAL EXPERIENCES IN CINQUECENTO THEATRICAL SPACES. By Javier Berzal de Dios. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2019; pp. 216. Javier Berzal de Dios’s excellent Visual Experiences in Cinquecento Theatrical Spaces persuasively rebuts

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: Shakespeare and Queer Theory by Melissa E. Sanchez Daniel Juan Gil SHAKESPEARE AND QUEER THEORY. By Melissa E. Sanchez. Arden Shakespeare and Theory series. London: Bloomsbury Arden Shakespeare, 2019; pp. 228. This book is beautifully written and a pleasure to read. Although, like other books in the Arden Shakespeare and Theory

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: David Garrick and the Mediation of Celebrity by Leslie Ritchie Julia H. Fawcett DAVID GARRICK AND THE MEDIATION OF CELEBRITY. By Leslie Ritchie. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019; pp. 314. In the mid-1960s, the publication of The London Stage—a listing of every performance known to have been produced by a licensed

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: Deborah and Her Sisters: How One Nineteenth-Century Melodrama and a Host of Celebrated Actresses Put Judaism on the World Stage by Jonathan M. Hess Meri-Jane Rochelson DEBORAH AND HER SISTERS: HOW ONE NINETEENTH-CENTURY MELODRAMA AND A HOST OF CELEBRATED ACTRESSES PUT JUDAISM ON THE WORLD STAGE. By Jonathan M. Hess. Jewish

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: Spectral Characters: Genre and Materiality on The Modern Stage by Sarah Balkin Katherine Biers SPECTRAL CHARACTERS: GENRE AND MATERIALITY ON THE MODERN STAGE. By Sarah Balkin. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2019; pp. 198. The word “character” can describe a person, a room, or an article of clothing. As Sarah Balkin

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: Unlimited Action: The Performance of Extremity in the 1970s by Dominic Johnson Ivan Bujan UNLIMITED ACTION: THE PERFORMANCE OF EXTREMITY IN THE 1970s. By Dominic Johnson. Theatre: Theory–Practice–Performance series. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2019; pp. 232. The bodies we inhabit are contested sites of inquiry

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: The Oxford Handbook of Musical Theatre Screen Adaptations ed. by Dominic McHugh Jeff Godsey THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF MUSICAL THEATRE SCREEN ADAPTATIONS. Edited by Dominic McHugh. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019; pp. 674. Although the film version of Cats arrived too late for consideration in The Oxford Handbook of Musical

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: Performing Architectures: Projects, Practices, Pedagogies ed. by Andrew Filmer and Juliet Rufford David Calder PERFORMING ARCHITECTURES: PROJECTS, PRACTICES, PEDAGOGIES. Edited by Andrew Filmer and Juliet Rufford. Methuen Drama Engage series. London: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2018; pp. 256. Performing Architectures stages

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: Shakespeare in the Theatre: Trevor Nunn by Russell Jackson Cary M. Mazer SHAKESPEARE IN THE THEATRE: TREVOR NUNN. By Russell Jackson. Shakespeare in the Theatre series. London: Bloomsbury Arden Shakespeare, 2018; pp. 264. In a series of concise and thoroughly documented chapters, Russell Jackson, in his book on Trevor Nunn’s

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: The Theatre and Films of Conor McPherson: Conspicuous Communities by Eamonn Jordan Susan Cannon Harris THE THEATRE AND FILMS OF CONOR McPHERSON: CONSPICUOUS COMMUNITIES. By Eamonn Jordan. Critical Companions series. London: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2019; pp. 248. What exactly does one want from a “critical companion”? That

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Editorial Comment:The Global South? E.J. Westlake Originally, I had envisioned that this issue would take up the concept of the Global South, to showcase a sample of current scholarship centered on theatre and performance in the Global South, but also to interrogate the term and its widespread use. I was thrilled to have a few very fine

Abstract: This essay delves into the materialities of infection through an exploration of two dance/theatre works created by Congolese theatre artist and choreographer Faustin Linyekula and his company Studios Kabako: Dinozord: The Dialogue Series IIII (2006) and In Search of Dinozord (2012). The Dinozord series serves as a multifaceted homage to Linyekula's childhood friend and fellow artist Richard

Abstract: This essay explores the history of a form of theatrical performance in Senegal used to transmit the founding story of the Senegalese Sufi order known as the Muridiyya. Although absent from the extensive scholarship on Murid cultural and expressive forms, this innovative performance practice proves remarkable in its staged manifestation of the baraka, or spiritual essence, of the order's founding

Abstract: This essay traces how the transoceanic traffics of early blackface minstrelsy forged entanglements among the early blackface figure "Jim Crow," the US American racial formation of "Jim Crow," and the Anglophone imperial formations of the Global South. Although blackface minstrel scholarship has taken the form to be axiomatically US American and national in origin, the essay maps the popularity

Abstract: This essay uses the concept of g/locality to refine the overbroad application of the Global South to explore links between performance in Chicago, whose racial segregation prompted anti-apartheid South African exiles in the 1980s to call the city "Johannesburg by the Lake," and Johannesburg, whose combination of innovation and lawlessness has inspired writers from the 1950s to the present

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Festivalizing Down Under:Unsettling the Contact Zone Ric Knowles (bio) Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand are key contact zones between the Global North and South. Geographically located in the Southern Hemisphere, their dominant, settler populations are culturally of the North, and their major theatre festivals have been struggling with

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: It's True, It's True, It's True: Artemisia on Trialby Breach Theatre Ellen Mackay IT'S TRUE, IT'S TRUE, IT'S TRUE: ARTEMISIA ON TRIAL. By Breach Theatre(Billy Barret, Dorothy Allen-Pickard, Ellice Stevens). Directed by Billy Barrett. Streaming version commissioned by The Space and staged by Billy Barrett and Rhodri Huw. Accessed

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: Eating Shakespeare: Cultural Anthropophagy as Global Methodology ed. by Anne Sophie Refskou, Marcel Alvaro de Amorim, and Vinicius Mariano de Carvalho Lisa Ulevich EATING SHAKESPEARE: CULTURAL ANTHROPOPHAGY AS GLOBAL METHODOLOGY. Edited by Anne Sophie Refskou, Marcel Alvaro de Amorim, and Vinicius Mariano de Carvalho. Global

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: Theatres of Contagion: Transmitting Early Modern to Contemporary Performance ed. by Fintan Walsh Regina Buccola THEATRES OF CONTAGION: TRANSMITTING EARLY MODERN TO CONTEMPORARY PERFORMANCE. Edited by Fintan Walsh. Methuen Drama Engage series. London: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2019; pp. 232. Even had COVID-19 not rendered the

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: Acting Egyptian: Theatre, Identity, and Political Culture in Cairo, 1869–1930 by Carmen M. K. Gitre Faisal Adel Hamadah ACTING EGYPTIAN: THEATRE, IDENTITY, AND POLITICAL CULTURE IN CAIRO, 1869–1930. By Carmen M. K. Gitre. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2019; pp. 192. To write about Arabic theatre and performance, whether

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: South Africa's Shakespeare and the Drama of Language and Identity By Adele Seeff Gibson Alessandro Cima SOUTH AFRICA'S SHAKESPEARE AND THE DRAMA OF LANGUAGE AND IDENTITY. By Adele Seeff. Global Shakespeares series. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing, 2018; pp. 242. "Can Shakespeare be dis-invented and re-invented

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: Choreographies of the Living: Bio-Aesthetics in Literature, Art, and Performance by Carrie Rohman Kari Weil CHOREOGRAPHIES OF THE LIVING: BIO-AESTHETICS IN LITERATURE, ART, AND PERFORMANCE. By Carrie Rohman. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018; pp. 198. Is it because dance is considered the most "animal" art form that

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: Building Character: The Art and Science of Casting by Amy Cook Jim Williams BUILDING CHARACTER: THE ART AND SCIENCE OF CASTING. By Amy Cook. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2018; pp. 198. In theatre, the ultimate dilemma for any director at the beginning of the creative process is the casting. How is it possible to

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: Theatre and Cartographies of Power: Repositioning the Latina/O Americas ed. by Jimmy A. Noriega and Analola Santana Eric Mayer-García THEATRE AND CARTOGRAPHIES OF POWER: REPOSITIONING THE LATINA/O AMERICAS. Edited by Jimmy A. Noriega and Analola Santana. Theater in the Americas series. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: Performing Utopia ed. by Rachel Bowditch and Pegge Vissicaro Kareem Khubchandani PERFORMING UTOPIA. Edited by Rachel Bowditch and Pegge Vissicaro. Enactments series. Chicago: Seagull Books, 2018; pp. 288. In the edited volume Performing Utopia, readers are offered utopia and its corollaries, dystopia and heterotopia, as optics

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: Performing Statelessness In Europe by S.E. Wilmer Susan Tenneriello PERFORMING STATELESSNESS IN EUROPE. By S.E. Wilmer. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing, 2018; pp. 246. Performing Statelessness in Europe is a timely addition to the study of how performance intervenes into the politics of migration, the

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: Showing Off, Showing Up: Studies of Hype, Heightened Performance, and Cultural Power ed. by Laurie Frederik, Kim Marra, and Catherine Schuler Tom Robson SHOWING OFF, SHOWING UP: STUDIES OF HYPE, HEIGHTENED PERFORMANCE, AND CULTURAL POWER. Edited by Laurie Frederik, Kim Marra, and Catherine Schuler. Ann Arbor: University of

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: Ricanness: Enduring Time in Anti-Colonial Performance by Sandra Ruiz Leticia Alvarado RICANNESS: ENDURING TIME IN ANTI-COLONIAL PERFORMANCE. By Sandra Ruiz. New York: New York University Press, 2019; pp. 256. Amid institutional moves to remote learning in the face of COVID-19, my Twitter feed kept me up at night, replete with

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Envisioning South Asian Theatre in New Zealand:An Interview with Amit Ohdedar and Jacob Rajan Kimberly M. Jew (bio) New Zealand (Aotearoa) offers one of the most famous and geologically active landscapes in the Global South. From the fantastic images of The Lord of the Rings film trilogy to the Christchurch earthquake and the recent White

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: South Africa and the Future of Post-Apartheid Theatre:An Interview with Mark Dornford-May, Artistic Director of Isango Ensemble Carla Neuss (bio) Born in Chester, England, director Mark Dornford-May worked in London theatre for twenty years prior to founding Isango Ensemble, a Cape Town–based lyric theatre company in 2000. Helming the

In a New York Times article from May 21, 2020, poet and essayist Cathy Park Hong lamented the "nine productions of works by playwrights of Asian descent that were cut short or canceled in New York City because of Covid-19 "1 Of course, the pandemic resulted in cancelations or postponements of productions all over the world, including two major theatre conferences and festivals that would have centered

Nuremberg, a documentary play by the East German playwright Rolf Schneider. In the East German production of his play, Schneider, like Brecht, found a way to satisfy SED censors while simultaneously allowing for a reading that criticized abuses of power. The production at the Burgtheater in Vienna, however, featured several changes that ultimately blunted its critical message for audiences. Nevertheless

When I conceived of the Theatre Journal special issue on Minor Asias, artist Kristina Wong came immediately to mind because of work she had done in Uganda and her embodied political performance as an elected official in Los Angeles Then COVID-19 and the latest wave of Black Lives Matter protests delayed the interview, and in the interim Wong started the Auntie Sewing Squad, which sewed thousands of

Abstract:This essay explores the history, political significance, and artistic legacy of The Carmen-Suite, a ballet based on Prosper Mérimée's novella, choreographed and staged by Maya Plisetskaya and Alberto Alonso in 1967. This ballet initially premiered as part of the commemorative ceremonies marking fifty years of Soviet rule, but rather than contribute to the celebration of Soviet ballet aesthetics

Abstract:Jesuit Brother Rick Curry founded the National Theatre Workshop of the Handicapped (NTWH) in 1977 with the mission of training blind and physically disabled people to work as actors. This essay examines the relationship between the NTWH’s dual commitments to Stanislavskian actor training and professionalizing people with disabilities as theatrical laborers. That such commitments would be mutually

Abstract:This essay analyzes gymnastic displays of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Czechs and Germans through the lens of mass performance. Modern gymnastics arose, first in Germany then across Europe, within the context of widespread social and political fragmentation in the nineteenth century. The essay argues that gymnastic training and performance techniques parallel shifts in the sociopolitical

Due to recent demonstrations held in Spain to protest sexual violence and the inefficacy of the legal system, staging the play El burlador de Sevilla in 2018 was a delicate and controversial act. At the same time, Josep Maria Mestres’s production proved necessary for raising awareness and promoting reflection on the patriarchal values embedded in the country. Both Mestres, the play’s director, and

This is the sixty-seventh annual report of dissertations in progress in theatre arts in the United States. The entries contained in this report were gathered from those institutions offering a doctoral degree in theatre or related fields. The accuracy of the report depends largely on the cooperation of those faculty members who submitted complete and timely information. By compiling this data, we seek

If you took classes in jazz dance in the American Midwest from the mid-1960s through the new millennium, you almost certainly encountered the work of Gus Giordano whether you knew it or not. Maybe one of his LPs was the score for your barre or for crossing the floor. Maybe you used his syllabus and barre exercises. Maybe your teacher had a battered, beloved copy of one of his books, perhaps Anthology

After Tsar Alexander III abolished the state’s monopoly on staging theatrical productions in 1882, private Russian theatres and “laboratory” environments quickly embraced the spirit of experimentation that was sweeping across Europe. In the decades preceding the emergence of Russia’s theatrical avant-garde during the 1910s and ’20s, the innovations of Richard Wagner, Friedrich Nietzsche, Georg Fuchs

Despite the city’s rather significant number of female led/women-centric theatres, issues of gender parity remain throughout the thriving theatre community in and around our nation’s capital. To combat the inequality, the Women’s Voices Theater Festival, now in its second iteration, offered twenty-four plays throughout the D.C. area during the first few months of 2018. I was fortunate to witness thirteen

In 1972, Singapore’s then Foreign Minister Sinnathamby Rajaratnam used (and likely coined) the term “global city” to describe the Southeast Asian city-state. “The sea is all highway,” he announced in the same speech. Rajaratnam’s metaphor reveals both the importance of the sea to the making of a global city, and the ways in which the very discourse of globality would seek to deny the sea’s materiality

In Latinx Theater in the Times of Neoliberalism, Patricia Ybarra engages Latinx theatre of the past three decades that stages embodied and affective experiences of neoliberal violence, including forced migration, femicide, state-sponsored terror, and transnational business practices. With a specific focus on Latinx theatre about Cuba and Mexico, the book argues that these works make visible and audible

In “(Re-)Documenting the Black Body in America,” my printed “provocation” in Theatre Journal’s December 2018 special issue on Post-Fact Performance, I reflect on raising my black son in America. There, I investigate the (un)documentation of black bodies in America and discuss the duty to find solutions as to how to address systemic racism on black bodies in a post-fact society. As part of this solution-finding