Radical Street Performance: An International Anthology

by Cohen-Cruz,Jan; Cohen-Cruz,Jan

• ISBN13: 9780415152303
• ISBN10: 0415152305
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-06-26
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

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. Contributors: Eugenio Barba, Augusto Boal, Dwight Conquergood, Abbie Hoffman, Baz Kershaw, Nellie Richard, Richard Schechner, Diana Taylor, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, David Welch.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	ix	(2)
Acknowledgements	xi	(6)
List of Contributors	xvii
Jan Cohen-Cruz
GENERAL INTRODUCTION	1	(6)
Peter Handke, Germany
1 THEATER-IN-THE-STREET AND THEATER-IN-THEATERS	7	(6)
PART ONE Agit-prop	13	(52)
INTRODUCTION	13	(2)
Vladimir Tolstoy, Russia
2 Documents edited with Irina Bibikova and Catherine Cooke from INTRODUCTION TO STREET ART OF THE REVOLUTION	15	(11)
Edgar Snow, China
3 from RED THEATER	26	(5)
Safdar Hashmi, India
4 from THE RIGHT TO PERFORM	31	(7)
Suzanne Lacy
Leslie Labowitz, US
5 from FEMINIST MEDIA STRATEGIES FOR POLITICAL PERFORMANCE	38	(4)
Alisa Solomon, US
6 AIDS CRUSADERS ACT UP A STORM	42	(10)
Dubravka Knezevic, Belgrade
7 MARKED WITH RED INK	52	(13)
PART TWO Witness	65	(54)
INTRODUCTION	65	(2)
Steven Durland, International
8 WITNESS: THE GUERRILLA THEATER OF GREENPEACE	67	(7)
Diana Taylor, Argentina
9 MAKING A SPECTACLE: THE MOTHERS OF THE PLAZA DE MAYO	74	(12)
Marguerite Waller, Mexico/US Border
10 from BORDER BODA OR DIVORCE FRONTERIZO?	86	(4)
Jan Cohen-Cruz, US
11 AT CROSS-PURPOSES: THE CHURCH LADIES FOR CHOICE	90	(10)
Dan Sullivan, US
12 THEATER IN EAST HARLEM: THE OUTDOOR AUDIENCE GETS INTO THE ACT	100	(3)
Sudipto Chatterjee, India
13 STAGING STREET, STREETING STAGE: SUMAN CHATTERJEE AND THE NEW BENGALI SONG	103	(8)
Hollis Giammatteo, US
14 from ON THE LINE, A MEMOIR	111	(8)
PART THREE Integration	119	(48)
INTRODUCTION	119	(2)
Augusto Boal, Brazil
15 INVISIBLE THEATER	121	(4)
Adrian Piper, US
16 from XENOPHOBIA AND THE INDEXICAL PRESENT II: LECTURE	125	(8)
Lauren Berlant
Elizabeth Freeman, US
17 from QUEER NATIONALITY	133	(10)
Nelly Richard, Chile
18 from THE DIMENSION OF SOCIAL EXTERIORITY IN THE PRODUCTION OF ART	143	(7)
Cindy Rosenthal, US
19 LIVING ON THE STREET: CONVERSATIONS WITH JUDITH MALINA AND HANON REZNIKHOV, CO-DIRECTORS OF THE LIVING THEATRE	150	(10)
Alice Cook
Gwyn Kirk, England
20 from TAKING DIRECT ACTION	160	(7)
PART FOUR Utopia	167	(52)
INTRODUCTION	167	(2)
David Welch, Germany
21 from TRIUMPH DES WILLENS (TRIUMPH OF THE WILL, 1935)	169	(10)
Jean-Jacques Lebel, France
22 NOTES ON POLITICAL STREET THEATER, PARIS: 1968, 1969	179	(6)
Eugenio Barba, Denmark/Italy
23 from LETTER FROM THE SOUTH OF ITALY	185	(5)
Abbie Hoffman, US
24 AMERICA HAS MORE TELEVISION SETS THAN TOILETS	190	(6)
Richard Schechner, China
25 from THE STREET IS THE STAGE	196	(12)
Baz Kershaw, England
26 from THE CELEBRATORY PERFORMANCE OF JOHN FOX AND WELFARE STATE INTERNATIONAL	208	(11)
PART FIVE Tradition	219	(70)
INTRODUCTION	219	(1)
Dwight Conquergood, Thailand
27 HEALTH THEATRE IN A HMONG REFUGEE CAMP: PERFORMANCE, COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE	220	(10)
L. Dale Byam, Africa
28 COMMUNAL SPACE AND PERFORMANCE IN AFRICA	230	(8)
Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Kenya
29 from THE LANGUAGE OF AFRICAN THEATRE	238	(7)
Yolanda Broyles-Gonzalez, Mexico/US
30 from EL TEATRO CAMPESINO AND THE MEXICAN POPULAR PERFORMANCE TRADITION	245	(10)
Joi Barrios, Philippines
31 THE TAUMBAYAN AS EPIC HERO, THE AUDIENCE AS COMMUNITY	255	(7)
Mark Sussman, US
32 A QUEER CIRCUS: AMOK IN NEW YORK	262	(9)
John Bell, US
33 LOUDER THAN TRAFFIC: BREAD AND PUPPET PARADES	271	(11)
Jan Cohen-Cruz, South Africa
34 NOTES TOWARD AN UNWRITTEN HISTORY OF ANTI-APARTHEID STREET PERFORMANCE	282	(7)
Index	289