Performing Dream Homes
Theater and the Spatial Politics of the Domestic Sphere
Jill Stevenson editor Jennifer-Scott Mobley editor Emily Klein editor
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Springer Nature Switzerland AG
Published:5th Feb '19
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
This anthology explores how theatre and performance use home as the prism through which we reconcile shifts in national, cultural, and personal identity. Whether examining parlor dramas and kitchen sink realism, site-specific theatre, travelling tent shows, domestic labor, border performances, fences, or front yards, these essays demonstrate how dreams of home are enmeshed with notions of neighborhood, community, politics, and memory. Recognizing the family home as a symbolic space that extends far beyond its walls, the nine contributors to this collection study diverse English-language performances from the US, Ireland, and Canada. These scholars of theatre history, dramaturgy, performance, cultural studies, feminist and gender studies, and critical race studies also consider the value of home at a time increasingly defined by crises of homelessness — a moment when major cities face affordable housing shortages, when debates about homeland and citizenship have dominated internationalelections, and when conflicts and natural disasters have displaced millions. Global struggles over immigration, sanctuary, refugee status and migrant labor make the stakes of home and homelessness ever more urgent and visible, as this timely collection reveals.
“The essays are informative and varied, and in the aggregate, they function as a kind of conversation on which eavesdropping is a very engaging and, in the best chapters, thought provoking use of one’s time. … this one is an invitation to further scholarly and critical conversation. In the large arena of theatre representing homes—whether palaces, bourgeois houses, hovels, tenements, or squats under bridges—there remains much room for discussion, analysis, and innovation in production.” (Dorothy Chansky, Theatre Journal, Vol. 73 (2), June, 2021)
“Performing Dream Homes is a useful text for practitioners who want to more deeply consider their own stagings of home and for students seeking examples ofpraxis and practical critical analysis. Individual essays within the volume will also appeal to theatre scholars based on their shared interests with the contributors’ examples and/or approaches.” (Janet Werther, Theatre Topics, Vol. 31 (1), March, 2021)
“Performing Dream Homes is an extremely useful collection that will benefit both scholars and theatre practitioners. It will especially be of interest to feminists, performance studies scholars, theatre artists, and material culture scholars. The essays are relatively short and very readable, making the collection easily accessible for students and non-scholars, while still presenting theoretical insights that professional scholars will value. The book admirably engages a theoretically rich, complex set of ideas.” (Phillip Zapkin, Etudes, Vol. 5 (1), December, 2019)
ISBN: 9783030015800
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
238 pages
1st ed. 2019