The Twentieth Century Performance Reader

Description

The Twentieth-Century Performance Reader has been the key introductory text to all types of performance for over fifteen years. Extracts from over fifty practitioners, critics and theorists from the fields of dance, drama, music, theatre and live art form an essential sourcebook for students, researchers and practitioners. This carefully revised third edition offers focus on contributions from the world of music, and also privileges the voices of practitioners themselves ahead of more theoretical writing. A bestseller since its original publication in 1996, this new edition has been expanded to include contributions from: Bobby Baker; Joseph Beuys; Rustom Bharucha; Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker; Hanns Eisler; Karen Finley; Philip Glass; Guillermo Gómez-Peña; Matthew Goulish; Martha Graham; Wassily Kandinsky; Jacques Lecoq; Hans-Thies Lehmann; George Maciunas; Ariane Mnouchkine; Meredith Monk; Lloyd Newson; Carolee Schneemann; Gertrude Stein; Bill Viola. Each extract is fully supplemented by a contextual summary, a biography of the writer, and suggestions for further reading. The volume’s alphabetical structure invites the reader to compare and cross-reference major writings on all types of performance outside of the constraints and simplifications of genre, encouraging cross-disciplinary understandings. All who engage with live, innovative performance, and the interplay of radical ideas, will find this collection invaluable. Cover Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Acknowledgements How to Use This Book INTRODUCTION: A CANON OF TWENTIETH-CENTURY PERFORMANCE 1 INTERVIEW 2 THE SPEED OF CHANGE 3 ACTOR, SPACE, LIGHT, PAINTING 4 THEATRE AND CRUELTY 5 DIARY ENTRIES 6 WORDS OR PRESENCE 7 NOT HOW PEOPLE MOVE BUT WHAT MOVES THEM 8 ACTING EXERCISES 9 WHAT IS EPIC THEATER? 10 SPEECH UPON RECEIVING AN HONORARY DOCTORATE DEGREE FROM THE NOVA SCOTIA COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN, HALIFAX 1976 11 NOTES ON THE INVENTION OF TRADITION 12 THE THEATER AS DISCOURSE 13 SHORT DESCRIPTION OF A NEW TECHNIQUE OF ACTING WHICH PRODUCES AN ALIENATION EFFECT 14 THE DEADLY THEATRE 15 TRISHA BROWN: AN INTERVIEW 16 FOUR STATEMENTS ON THE DANCE 17 CURRENT TRENDS/THE DIRECTOR AS PARTLY ACTOR 18 THE ACTOR AND THE ÜBER-MARIONETTE 19 YOU HAVE TO LOVE DANCING TO STICK TO IT 20 INTERVIEW 21 THE DANCER OF THE FUTURE 22 SOME REMARKS ON THE SITUATION OF THE MODERN COMPOSER 23 ON PERFORMANCE WRITING 24 HELLO MOTHER/IT'S MY BODY 25 HOW TO WRITE A PLAY 26 NOTES ON EINSTEIN ON THE BEACH 27 PERFORMANCE ART FROM FUTURISM TO THE PRESENT 28 THE ART OF CAMOUFLAGE 29 THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON 30 GRAHAM 1937 31 STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES 32 MAN, ONCE DEAD, CRAWL BACK! 33 OF THE FUTILITY OF THE 'THEATRICAL' IN THEATER 34 ON STAGE COMPOSITION 35 THE THEATRE OF DEATH: A MANIFESTO 36 ASSEMBLAGES, ENVIRONMENTS AND HAPPENINGS 37 INTERVIEW 38 THE THEATRE OF GESTURE AND IMAGE 39 PROLOGUE TO POSTDRAMATIC THEATRE 40 ROBERT LEPAGE IN DISCUSSION 41 EXPANDED FLUXUS DIAGRAM 42 THE FOUNDING AND MANIFESTO OF FUTURISM 43 FIRST ATTEMPTS AT A STYLIZED THEATRE 44 BUILDING UP THE MUSCLE OF THE IMAGINATION 45 PROCESS NOTES ON ATLAS, 1989 46 19 ANSWERS BY HEINER MÜLLER 47 CONVERSATION WITH JO BUTTERWORTH 48 EPIC SATIRE 49 A QUASI SURVEY OF SOME 'MINIMALIST' TENDENCIES IN THE QUANTITATIVELY MINIMAL DANCE ACTIVITY MIDST THE PLETHORA, OR AN ANALYSIS OF TRIO A 50 HOW DID DADA BEGIN? 51 THE FIVE AVANT-GARDES OR . . . OR NONE? 52 MAN AND ART FIGURE 53 MEAT JOY 54 THEATRE IN AFRICAN TRADITIONAL CULTURES: SURVIVAL PATTERNS 55 INTONATIONS AND PAUSES 56 COMPOSITION AS EXPLANATION 57 INTERVIEW WITH NICHOLAS ZURBRUGG 58 THE VISIONARY LANDSCAPE OF PERCEPTION 59 INTERVIEW A Chronology of Texts Index