Abstract: Through an analysis of comedian Julio Torres’s streaming special My Favorite Shapes (2019), this paper focuses on how Torres uses comedy to critique the US immigration system and its dehumanization of Central American migrants and explores Torres’s material engagement with shapes. Because the word shapes recalls structures and structural conditions, I turn to shapes to analyze Torres’s phenomenological critique of structural inequities rooted in racism and xenophobia. By drawing on phenomenology’s attention to figure/ground structure, Torres develops a critique of the US by focusing on what and who resides in the background versus the foreground of socio-cultural-political imaginaries. By developing his critiques through comedy, Torres uses the collective, embodied force of laughter to unsettle habitual narratives pertaining to labor and citizenship. Because Torres’s My Favorite Shapes embodies the stakes for being a queer Salvadoran immigrant in the US, I suggest that Torres’s worldmaking project centers queer-immigrant imagination as the site beyond the literal structures that shape and objectify the lives of those who are most vulnerable and who therefore hold the clearest vision of what is possible.
{"title":"Shaping Life, Shaping Work: Julio Torres’s Queer Comic Labor","authors":"Adin Walker","doi":"10.1353/tt.2024.a932206","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tt.2024.a932206","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract: Through an analysis of comedian Julio Torres’s streaming special My Favorite Shapes (2019), this paper focuses on how Torres uses comedy to critique the US immigration system and its dehumanization of Central American migrants and explores Torres’s material engagement with shapes. Because the word shapes recalls structures and structural conditions, I turn to shapes to analyze Torres’s phenomenological critique of structural inequities rooted in racism and xenophobia. By drawing on phenomenology’s attention to figure/ground structure, Torres develops a critique of the US by focusing on what and who resides in the background versus the foreground of socio-cultural-political imaginaries. By developing his critiques through comedy, Torres uses the collective, embodied force of laughter to unsettle habitual narratives pertaining to labor and citizenship. Because Torres’s My Favorite Shapes embodies the stakes for being a queer Salvadoran immigrant in the US, I suggest that Torres’s worldmaking project centers queer-immigrant imagination as the site beyond the literal structures that shape and objectify the lives of those who are most vulnerable and who therefore hold the clearest vision of what is possible.","PeriodicalId":209215,"journal":{"name":"Theatre Topics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141715732","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Inside the Performance Workshop: A Sourcebook for Rasaboxes and Other Exercises ed. by Rachel Bowditch, Paula Murray Cole, and Michele Minnick (review)","authors":"Matthew Leveille","doi":"10.1353/tt.2024.a932214","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tt.2024.a932214","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":209215,"journal":{"name":"Theatre Topics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141700762","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Love Is Love Is Love: Broadway Musicals and LGBTQ Politics, 2010–2020 by Aaron C. Thomas (review)","authors":"Samuel Yates","doi":"10.1353/tt.2024.a932218","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tt.2024.a932218","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":209215,"journal":{"name":"Theatre Topics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141695898","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract: This essay makes a case for studying stand-up comedy with theatre analytical tools by highlighting its performative nature and discussing how body interactivities within its enactment produce meaning and humor beyond what comedians say. It provides an alternate reading of stand-up comedy to the prevalence of linguistic evaluations, which often conflate stand-up art with other comedic traditions that are not performed. I argue that such perspectives often downplay the co-participation of the audience and what comedians do with their bodies. Citing joke samples from three African diasporic comedians—Gina Yashere, Urzila Carlson, and Hoodo Hersi performing in the US, New Zealand, and Canada, respectively—I explore the use of the body, audience involvement, and other performed aspects from which hilarity is derived.
{"title":"What It Is to Perform , Not Tell , Jokes: Toward a Manifesto of Stand-Up Research","authors":"Izuu Nwankwọ","doi":"10.1353/tt.2024.a932205","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tt.2024.a932205","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract: This essay makes a case for studying stand-up comedy with theatre analytical tools by highlighting its performative nature and discussing how body interactivities within its enactment produce meaning and humor beyond what comedians say. It provides an alternate reading of stand-up comedy to the prevalence of linguistic evaluations, which often conflate stand-up art with other comedic traditions that are not performed. I argue that such perspectives often downplay the co-participation of the audience and what comedians do with their bodies. Citing joke samples from three African diasporic comedians—Gina Yashere, Urzila Carlson, and Hoodo Hersi performing in the US, New Zealand, and Canada, respectively—I explore the use of the body, audience involvement, and other performed aspects from which hilarity is derived.","PeriodicalId":209215,"journal":{"name":"Theatre Topics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141712832","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Space, Time and Ways of Seeing: The Performance Culture of Kutiyattam by Mundoli Narayanan (review)","authors":"Vimal C Akhila","doi":"10.1353/tt.2024.a932216","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tt.2024.a932216","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":209215,"journal":{"name":"Theatre Topics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141692441","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract: Centering the corporeal and identitarian distance between racialized and ethnicized actors and adaptations of classics, we contend that these spaces between lived (the actor), performed (the character), and witnessed (the audience member) exist as zones of potential empathetic connection. Recent studies question whether reading literary fiction indeed makes us more empathic, and if empathy can be an effective political tool. We question the efficacy of such adaptations and note how race grounds these plays differently than an updated white setting. However, we are also convinced that the first step toward dialogue requires people being willing to encounter one another and consider another’s point of view.
{"title":"Race and the Classics: An Argument for Empathy","authors":"Carla Della Gatta, Harvey Young","doi":"10.1353/tt.2024.a932200","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tt.2024.a932200","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract: Centering the corporeal and identitarian distance between racialized and ethnicized actors and adaptations of classics, we contend that these spaces between lived (the actor), performed (the character), and witnessed (the audience member) exist as zones of potential empathetic connection. Recent studies question whether reading literary fiction indeed makes us more empathic, and if empathy can be an effective political tool. We question the efficacy of such adaptations and note how race grounds these plays differently than an updated white setting. However, we are also convinced that the first step toward dialogue requires people being willing to encounter one another and consider another’s point of view.","PeriodicalId":209215,"journal":{"name":"Theatre Topics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141716901","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract: This article takes up Leslie Jones’s 2014 debut performance on Saturday Night Live’s “Weekend Update,” in which she introduced her “#1 Slave Draft Pick” joke. Within the framework of Black Feminist Comedic Performance (BFCP), I analyze Jones’s performance to introduce the concept of “Extraness,” a strategic mode of Black feminist comedic embodiment. I schematize Extraness as performing excessive acts of self-expression, subverting stereotypes, and articulating an affective and phenomenological outsideness. The concept extends beyond mere excess, evolving into a strategic technique for self-actualization and embodied critique as it confounds linear conceptions of time and progress. The article posits Extraness as the reclaiming of the unruliness assigned to Black women’s bodies across time and space. I explore the dynamic relationship between the joke and audience perception, shedding light on the role of Extraness in shaping spectatorship, and highlight the complexity of Extraness, which may agitate some viewers’ sensibilities while fostering a sense of community among others. I contend that Extraness, though challenging for some audiences, remains an essential tool for Black women comedians to confront and reshape narratives about their experiences.
{"title":"Embodying Extraness: Leslie Jones’s Black Feminist Comedic Strategy","authors":"Amani Starnes","doi":"10.1353/tt.2024.a932203","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tt.2024.a932203","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract: This article takes up Leslie Jones’s 2014 debut performance on Saturday Night Live’s “Weekend Update,” in which she introduced her “#1 Slave Draft Pick” joke. Within the framework of Black Feminist Comedic Performance (BFCP), I analyze Jones’s performance to introduce the concept of “Extraness,” a strategic mode of Black feminist comedic embodiment. I schematize Extraness as performing excessive acts of self-expression, subverting stereotypes, and articulating an affective and phenomenological outsideness. The concept extends beyond mere excess, evolving into a strategic technique for self-actualization and embodied critique as it confounds linear conceptions of time and progress. The article posits Extraness as the reclaiming of the unruliness assigned to Black women’s bodies across time and space. I explore the dynamic relationship between the joke and audience perception, shedding light on the role of Extraness in shaping spectatorship, and highlight the complexity of Extraness, which may agitate some viewers’ sensibilities while fostering a sense of community among others. I contend that Extraness, though challenging for some audiences, remains an essential tool for Black women comedians to confront and reshape narratives about their experiences.","PeriodicalId":209215,"journal":{"name":"Theatre Topics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141715388","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract: The Wellness, Community, and Aging (WCA) Focus Group has flourished over the past five years at the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE). In this article, we recount the history of this focus group, document its transformation, and look to future directions.
{"title":"Wellness, Community, and Aging: Refocused and Renewed","authors":"Andrew Gaines, Erika Hughes, Georgia Grace Bowers","doi":"10.1353/tt.2024.a920476","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tt.2024.a920476","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract: The Wellness, Community, and Aging (WCA) Focus Group has flourished over the past five years at the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE). In this article, we recount the history of this focus group, document its transformation, and look to future directions.","PeriodicalId":209215,"journal":{"name":"Theatre Topics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140085589","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract: Despite a lifetime of embodied knowledge that has been acquired through theatre, dance, and athletics, I discovered a contrast between the value and trust placed on the body in performance versus the value of embodied knowledge in medical care. In analyzing experiences of Long COVID as a theatre practitioner and scholar, I illustrate how foundational awareness of the body is often dismissed when seeking medical care for this new chronic illness, which is a radically different experience from how we highly prioritize the body and awareness of it in performance technique and training. This essay explains how Long COVID has reshaped how I teach, practice theatre, advocate for Long COVID and COVID-19 mitigations, and live.
摘要：尽管我一生都在通过戏剧、舞蹈和体育获得身体知识，但我发现表演中对身体的重视和信任与医疗护理中对身体知识的重视形成了鲜明对比。作为一名戏剧从业者和学者，在分析 Long COVID 的经历时，我说明了在为这种新型慢性疾病寻求医疗服务时，对身体的基本认识是如何经常被忽视的，这与我们在表演技巧和训练中如何高度重视身体和对身体的认识截然不同。这篇文章解释了长COVID如何重塑了我的教学、戏剧实践、倡导长COVID和COVID-19缓解以及生活方式。
{"title":"The Imposed Limits of Embodied Knowledge","authors":"Jeanne Tiehen","doi":"10.1353/tt.2024.a920472","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tt.2024.a920472","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract: Despite a lifetime of embodied knowledge that has been acquired through theatre, dance, and athletics, I discovered a contrast between the value and trust placed on the body in performance versus the value of embodied knowledge in medical care. In analyzing experiences of Long COVID as a theatre practitioner and scholar, I illustrate how foundational awareness of the body is often dismissed when seeking medical care for this new chronic illness, which is a radically different experience from how we highly prioritize the body and awareness of it in performance technique and training. This essay explains how Long COVID has reshaped how I teach, practice theatre, advocate for Long COVID and COVID-19 mitigations, and live.","PeriodicalId":209215,"journal":{"name":"Theatre Topics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140088172","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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