Table Of ContentReading Contemporary Performance
As the nature of contemporary performance continues to expand into new forms,
genres and media, it requires an increasingly diverse vocabulary. Reading Contemporary
Performance provides students, critics and creators with a rich understanding of the key
terms and ideas that are central to any discussion of this evolving theatricality.
Specially commissioned entries from a wealth of contributors map out the many and
varied ways of discussing performance in all of its forms – from theatrical and site-specific
performances to live and New Media art. The book is divided into two sections:
• Concepts – key terms and ideas arranged according to the five characteristic elements
of performance art: time, space, action, performer, and audience.
• Methodologies and turning points – the seminal theories and ways of reading
performance, such as postmodernism, epic theatre, feminisms, happenings, and
animal studies.
Entries in both sections are accompanied by short case studies of specific performances
and events, demonstrating creative examples of the ideas and issues in question.
Three different introductory essays provide multiple entry points into the discussion of
contemporary performance, and cross-references for each entry encourage the plotting of
one’s own pathway. Reading Contemporary Performance is an invaluable guide, providing
not just a strong grounding, but an exploration and contextualization of this broad and
vital field.
Meiling Cheng is Associate Professor of Dramatic Arts/Critical Studies and English at
the University of Southern California and Director of Critical Studies at USC School of
Dramatic Arts, USA.
Gabrielle H. Cody is Professor of Drama on the Mary Riepma Ross Chair at Vassar
College., USA. She concentrates her areas of teaching in performance studies,
environmental studies, and performance.
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Reading Contemporary
Performance
Theatricality Across Genres
Edited by
Meiling Cheng and Gabrielle H. Cody
First published 2016
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2016 Meiling Cheng and Gabrielle H. Cody for selection and
editorial matter; individual essays, the contributors
The right of the editors to be identified as the authors of the editorial
material, and of the contributors for their individual essays, has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Reading contemporary performance : theatricality across genres /
edited by Meiling Cheng and Gabrielle Cody.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Performing arts –Philosophy. 2. Performance art – Philosophy.
3. Theater – Philosophy. I. Cheng, Meiling, 1960– editor.
II. Cody, Gabrielle, 1956– editor.
PN1584.R43 2015
791.01-dc23 2015012992
ISBN: 978-0-415-62497-8 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-62498-5 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-10383-8 (ebk)
Typeset in Arno and Interstate
by HWA Text and Data Management, London
To Willa Jane Velasquez Sio-Cody, a.k.a. Mootchie
Right up to the moon and back
To Master Riro, the multicentric ear for my writing
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Contents
List of figures xiv
List of contributors xvi
How to use this book xxxi
Meiling Cheng and Gabrielle H. Cody
Acknowledgments xxxii
PART I
Introductions 1
Reading performance: a physiognomy 3
Meiling Cheng and Gabrielle H. Cody
Theatricality across genres 8
Gabrielle H. Cody and Meiling Cheng
Performing the theatrical matrix 11
Meiling Cheng and Gabrielle H. Cody
Introductory essays bibliography 16
PART II
Concepts and paired case studies 19
Time 21
Communitas 21
Debra Levine
Endurance performance 22
Jennie Klein
Marina Abramovic’s Durational Opus 24
Cynthia Carr
Event 26
Marcela A. Fuentes
viii CONTENTS
Liminality 27
Debra Levine
Post-linearity 29
Sarah Bay-Cheng
Precariousness 30
Eleonora Fabião
Wang Wei’s Temporary Space 31
Philip Tinari
Remains 33
Elise Morrison
Reproduction 34
Sarah Bay-Cheng
Space 36
Environmental Theatre 36
Gwendolyn Alker
Marc Bamuthi Joseph’s red, black, and GREEN: a blues 37
Arden Thomas
Hierarchy 39
Steve Luber
Installation art 40
Rachel Haidu
The Internet 41
Philip Auslander
Landscape theatre 43
Amy Strahler Holzapfel
Mise-en-scène 44
Kimberly Jannarone
Prison culture 46
Kathleen Ryan
Proxemics 47
Gabrielle H. Cody
Fifteen principles of Black Market International 48
Michaël La Chance
Scenography 50
Matthew Smith
Surveillance 51
Elise Morrison
Performing Surveillance Camera Art 53
Pramod K. Nayar
Virtual reality 55
Philip Auslander
Action 57
Appropriation 57
Winnie Wong
Circus 59
Peta Tait
Experimental music 60
Andrew J. Henkes
CONTENTS ix
Grace notes: Meredith Monk’s Songs of Ascension 61
Bonnie Marranca
Extreme performance 63
Meiling Cheng
He Yunchang’s limit acts 65
Meiling Cheng
Happenings 67
Mariellen Sandford
Historicity 68
Jeanne Colleran
Intervention 69
Lissette Olivares
Sisters Of Survival Signal S.O.S. 71
Cheri Gaulke
Mediaturgy 74
Bonnie Marranca
Romeo Castellucci’s Hey Girl! 75
Daniel Sack
Mimicry 77
Jessica Applebaum
Montage 78
T. Nikki Cesare Schotzko
New genre public art 79
Sharon Irish
Excerpts from Prostitution Notes (1974) 80
Suzanne Lacy
Paradox 83
Eleonora Fabião
Paratheatre 84
Lissette Olivares
Feminist blogging as activism and pedagogy 86
Jill Dolan
Propaganda 87
Matthew Smith
Quotation 88
Shawn-Marie Garrett
Reenactment 89
Sarah Bay-Cheng
Heather Cassils’ indeterminate body 90
Amelia Jones
Scenario 93
Diana Taylor
Simulacrum 94
T. Nikki Cesare Schotzko
War 96
Mike Sell
