Theatre Journal

Abstract:

An intriguing, previously uncommented upon detail from the theatre archives suggests that US vaudeville star Josephine Gassman may have had New Zealand children performing in her “pickaninny chorus” in 1912: a description of the child performers as “New Zealanders.” Could these be Māori children? If not, why include such a detail? What are the cultural and performance studies implications of the potential inclusion of Māori in this uniquely American genre? This essay probes such questions, unpacking what little is known of Gassman’s chorus, before examining the cultural and imperialist significances embedded in the racialized and maternal dramaturgy of these acts, as well as the particular meaning that may accrue from the possibility that Gassman’s performance included two forms of masquerade with both the white woman and Māori children performing as African American. Firm conclusions remain elusive, but the questions raised by this innocuous phrase not only open up a line of future inquiry, but also highlight the mobilization of familial tropes in the symbolic performance of white US imperialism, the framing of Māori as the ideal colonial subject, and the development of a performative colonial alliance between the United States and New Zealand in the early twentieth century.