Staging Philosophy: Intersections of Theater, Performance, and Philosophy (Theater: Theory Text Performance)

343 Pages·2006·1.08 MB·English

by  David Krasner

staging philosophy

Staging Philosophy
Intersections of Theater, Performance,
and Philosophy
(cid:1)
edited by
David Krasner and David Z. Saltz
The University of Michigan Press
Ann Arbor
Copyright © by the University of Michigan 2006
All rights reserved
Published in the United States of America by
The University of Michigan Press
Manufactured in the United States of America
cPrinted on acid-free paper
2009 2008 2007 2006 4 3 2 1
No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic, mechanical, or otherwise,
without the written permission of the publisher.
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Krasner, David, 1952–
Staging philosophy : intersections of theater, performance, and
philosophy / edited by David Krasner and David Z. Saltz.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-472-09950-4 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-472-09950-7 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-472-06950-7 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-472-06950-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Performing arts—Social aspects. 2. Performing arts—
Philosophy. I. Saltz, David Z., 1962– II. Title.
PN1590.S6K73 2006
791.01—dc22 2006006237
acknowledgments
We especially wish to thank LeAnn Fields for her commitment to this
project, Rebecca Rostov for her valuable assistance, and Marcia
LaBrenz for her superb copyediting. Our wives, Lynda Krasner and
Lizzie Zucker Saltz, have been steady supporters throughout. We wish
to thank Diane Quinn for permission to use her husband’s essay, and
the Frederick Hilles Fund of Yale University for its support. The con-
tributors deserve special credit; it is their intellectual insights that
enlighten this work.
Portions of Alice Rayner’s “Presenting Objects, Presenting Things”
appears in Ghosts: Death’s Double and the Phenomena of Theatre(Min-
neapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2006).
ISBN13 978-0-472-02514-5 (electronic)
(cid:1)
This book is dedicated to
Michael Quinn and Bernard Williams.

Contents
David Krasner and David Z. Saltz,Introduction 1
PART I: History and Method
one Julia A. Walker,The Text/Performance Split across
the Analytic/Continental Divide 19
two Martin Puchner,Kenneth Burke: Theater,
Philosophy, and the Limits of Performance 41
three Tobin Nellhaus,Critical Realism and
Performance Strategies 57
PART II:Presence
four Philip Auslander, Humanoid Boogie:
Re›ections on Robotic Performance 87
five Noël Carroll,Philosophy and Drama:
Performance, Interpretation, and Intentionality 104
six Suzanne M. Jaeger,Embodiment and Presence:
The Ontology of Presence Reconsidered 122
seven Jon Erickson,Presence 142
eight Robert P. Crease and John Lutterbie,Technique 160
nine Alice Rayner,Presenting Objects, Presenting Things 180
PART III: Reception
ten David Z. Saltz,In‹ction and Out‹ction:
The Role of Fiction in Theatrical Performance 203
eleven James R. Hamilton, Understanding Plays 221
twelve Bence Nanay,Perception, Action, and
Identi‹cation in the Theater 244
thirteen David Krasner,Empathy and Theater 255
fourteen Mike Sell,The Voice of Blackness:
The Black Arts Movement and Logocentrism 278
fifteen Michael L. Quinn,Theatricality, Convention,
and the Principle of Charity 301
Contributors 317
Index 321
Introduction
David Krasner and David Z. Saltz
Why This Book?
T
hough the past ‹fteen years have observed a veritable golden age of per-
formance theory—a lively discourse that draws on anthropology, sociol-
ogy, linguistics, psychoanalysis, political theory, cultural studies, femi-
nism, and queer theory—performance theorists rarely draw on works
emanating from American philosophy departments.1 Similarly, very few
professional philosophers have focused in depth on questions pertaining
to the phenomena of theater or performance.2This situation is especially
surprising given the attention recent philosophers have lavished on other
art forms, such as painting, music, and ‹lm.
The guiding principle of this book is a sustained engagement with phi-
losophy and performance theory. The goal is to raise issues of critical
importance by providing case studies of various philosophical movements
and schools of thought. The book is designed to be accessible to nonspe-
cialists who might be unfamiliar with philosophy of theater and perfor-
mance, yet stimulating to experts in the ‹eld. Each chapter addresses fun-
damental questions about theater and live performance from a
philosophical perspective. The contributors are performance scholars and
philosophers, with one contribution jointly authored by a representative
from each discipline. The chapters encompass a wide range of philosophi-
cal approaches, from analytic philosophy to phenomenology, and from
deconstruction to critical realism. The concepts put forth in this book are
meant to provoke, stimulate, and engage the reader, and ultimately bring
the concept of theater to the foreground of intellectual inquiry. No single
ideology dominates this work; inclusivity, not dogma, guides our entries.