Since its first publication in 2004, The Performance Studies Reader has become the leading anthology of key writings on performance studies. Now in its fourth edition, it continues to offer an unparalleled selection of work by the foremost scholars in this continually evolving field, offering a stimulating introduction to the crucial debates of Performance Studies.
These critical and theoretical contributions are joined in this edition by 26 new chapters, bringing the collection up to date with current discourse and ideas, and significantly expanding the range of subjects and authors represented. Each essay includes contextual headnotes from the editors, to introduce students to the writer and their impact on the field. Newly added to this edition are contributions from Swati Arora; Sara Ahmed; Sarah Bay-Cheng; Claire Bishop; Felipe Cervera, Theron Schmidt, and Hannah Schwadron; Anita E. Cherian and Gargi Bharadwaj; Thomas F. DeFrantz/SLIPPAGE; Soyica Diggs Colbert; Tracy C. Davis; Saidiya V. Hartman; Travis Jackson; Branislav Jakovljević; Ailton Krenak; André Lepecki; Fred Moten; José Esteban Muñoz; Tavia Nyong'o; Tamara Searle; Stephanie Nohelani Teves; and McKenzie Wark.
This new edition of The Performance Studies Reader provides an overview of the full range of performance theory for undergraduates at all levels, and beginning graduate students in Performance Studies, theatre, performing arts, and cultural studies.
Edited by:
Henry Bial (University of Kansas USA),
Sara Brady
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Edition: 4th edition
Dimensions:
Height: 246mm,
Width: 174mm,
Weight: 860g
ISBN: 9781032253961
ISBN 10: 1032253967
Pages: 468
Publication Date: 31 January 2025
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Introduction Henry Bial and Sara Brady Part 1: Reading Performance 1. Performances: Belief in the Part One is Playing Erving Goffman 2. Blurred Genres: The Refiguration of Social Thought Clifford Geertz 3. From “Restoration of Behavior” Richard Schechner 4. From “The Ontology of Performance” Peggy Phelan 5. Performance Studies: Interventions and Radical Research Dwight Conquergood 6. From The Archive and the Repertoire Diana Taylor 7. From Stages of Emergency Tracy C. Davis 8. Professing Performance: Disciplinary Genealogies Shannon Jackson 9. Social Performance Studies: Discipline vs. Freedom Faye C. Fei and William H. Sun 10. Magic of Objects Fred Moten 11. The Theorist and the Theorized: Indigenous Critiques of Performance Studies Stephanie Nohelani Teves Part 2: Play and Ritual 12. The Nature and Significance of Play as a Cultural Phenomenon Johan Huizinga 13. Liminality and Communitas Victor Turner 14. “Performance” and Other Analogies Catherine Bell 15. Just Doing Allan Kaprow 16. The Ambiguity of Play Brian Sutton-Smith 17. From “Jazz Performance as Ritual” Travis Jackson 18. Performative Commemoratives, the Personal, and the Public: Spontaneous Shrines, Emergent Ritual Jack Santino 19. From Gamer Theory Mckenzie Wark 20. Reenactment and Relative Pain Rebecca Schneider 21. Burning the Bull: the Changing Meanings of a Harvest Ritual in the Anthropocene Tamara Searle 22. Cliodynamics: An Evolutionary Approach to Rituals and Performance History Bruce McConachie Part 3: Performativity and the Social 23. How to do things with words: Lecture II J.l. Austin 24. From “Signature Event Context” Jacques Derrida 25. Performative Acts and Gender Constitution Judith Butler 26. Destination Museum Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett 27. From Disidentifications José Esteban Muñoz 28. Shattered Back wall: Performative Utterance of a Doll's House Branislav Jakovljević 29. From “Shame Before Others” Sara Ahmed 30. Utopian Performatives Jill Dolan 31. Addenda, Phenomenology, Embodiment: Cyborgs and Disability Performance Petra Kuppers 32. The Social Turn: Collaboration and its Discontents Claire Bishop 33. Unburdening Representation Tavia Nyong'o 34. God, the Pilot, and the Bugsplat: Performance and the Drone Effect Sara Brady Part 4: Repetition and Resistance 35. A Dialogue about Acting Bertolt Brecht 36. The Actor’s Technique Jerzy Grotowski 37. The Oral Artist: Training and Preparation Isidore Okpewho 38. Of Mimicry and Man Homi K. Bhabha 39. From Rainbow of Desire Augusto Boal 40. From Cities of the Dead Joseph Roach 41. The Centrality of Practice Saidiya V. Hartman 42. From The Emancipated Spectator Jacques Rancière 43. Choreopolice and Choreopolitics: or, the Task of the Dancer André Lepecki 44. Reconstruction, Fugitive Intimacy, and Holding History Soyica Diggs Colbert 45. Constructing Genealogies of Disobedient Performance: Disappearance by/in the Media Anita E. Cherian and Gargi Bharadwaj Part 5: Futurity and Possibility 46. The Archaeology of Performance Mary Zimmerman 47. From Postdramatic Theatre Hans-Thies Lehmann 48. Interweaving Cultures in Performance: Different States of Being In-Between Erika Fischer-Lichte 49. Temporality Sarah Bay-Cheng 50. Hemispheric America in Deep Time Jill Lane 51. Orature and Cyberture Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o 52. Performance Studies 3.0 Henry Bial 53. The Future Has Always Been Black: a dancing word manifesto Thomas F. Defrantz/SLIPPAGE 54. From Ideas to Postpone the End of the World Ailton Krenak 55. A Manifesto to Decentre Theatre and Performance Studies Swati Arora 56. Towards Planetary Performance Pedagogy: Digital Companions in Multipolar Classrooms Felipe Cervera, Theron Schmidt, and Hannah Schwadron
Henry Bial is Professor and Chair of the Department of Theatre & Dance at the University of Kansas, USA. He is the author of Acting Jewish: Negotiating Ethnicity on the American Stage and Screen (2005) and Playing God: The Bible on the Broadway Stage (2015). Sara Brady is Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences at Bronx Community College and Theatre and Performance at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, USA, and Managing Editor of TDR. She is the author of Performance, Politics and the War on Terror (2012) and coeditor with Lindsey Mantoan of Performance in a Militarized Culture (2018).
