Radical Street Performance: An International AnthologyJan Cohen-Cruz Street performance has long been a staple of radical and visionary political movements. Typically, theater transports an audience to a reality apart from the everyday. Radical street performance strives to transport everyday reality to something more ideal. Because the spectators are not necessarily predisposed to theater-going, it takes place in public spaces and is usually free of charge. Potentially, street performance creates a bridge between imagined and real actions, often facilitated by staging the event at the very sites of power the performers seek to transform. Radical Street Performance is the first volume to collect the fascinating array of writings by activists, directors, performers, critics, scholars and journalists who have documented political performance in streets around the world. These essays look at performance in Europe, Africa, China, India and both of the Americas, and describe engagements with issues as diverse as abortion, colonialism, the environment and homophobia, to name only a sampling. Including coverage of the highly performative political activities of organizations such as ACT-UP and Greenpeace, the public spectacle of Abbie Hoffman's political radicalism, and the writings of Tolstoy, this is truly a new kind of primer for the study of politics and performance. Radical Street Performance is an inspirational testimony to this international performance tradition, and a valuable record of a form of theater that continues to flourish in an increasingly apolitical and televisual age [Publisher description]. |
Contents
Peter Handke Germany | 7 |
INTRODUCTION | 13 |
Edgar Snow China | 26 |
Yolanda BroylesGonzález MexicoUS | 30 |
Suzanne Lacy and Leslie Labowitz | 38 |
Dubravka Kneževic Belgrade | 52 |
INTRODUCTION | 65 |
Diana Taylor Argentina | 74 |
Alice Cook and Gwyn Kirk England | 160 |
INTRODUCTION | 167 |
JeanJacques Lebel France | 179 |
Eugenio Barba DenmarkItaly | 185 |
Richard Schechner China | 196 |
Baz Kershaw England | 208 |
INTRODUCTION | 219 |
Ngũgĩ wa Thiongo Kenya | 238 |
Jan CohenCruz | 90 |
Sudipto Chatterjee India | 103 |
INTRODUCTION | 119 |
Lauren Berlant and Elizabeth Freeman | 133 |
Cindy Rosenthal | 150 |
Joi Barrios Philippines | 255 |
John Bell | 271 |
Index | 289 |
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action activists activities actors African artists audience Augusto Boal Ban Vinai banners Belgrade Boal Bread and Puppet Brecht called Cantinflas carnival carpa celebration Church Ladies community theatre costumes creative cultural Dah Teatar dance demonstrations drama essay festival flags front gallery Greenpeace Hitler Hmong ideological Kamîrîîthũ Kanoria lesbians living MALINA mass Mother Clean movement Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o oppressed organized parade participation party people's person play Plaza de Mayo police political popular theatre propaganda protest Queer Nation radical street rallies refugee camp regime revolution REZNIKOV ritual role ROSENTHAL Serbian sexual social songs spectacle spectators stage street performance street theatre Suman Chatterjee symbolic talk Teatro Campesino Theatre For Development theatrical Tiananmen Square tion took town hall traditional Triumph des Willens University village witness Women in Black workers York