The Queerest Art: Essays on Lesbian and Gay Theater

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Author: Framji Minwalla

ISBN-10: 081479811X

ISBN-13: 9780814798119

Category: General & Miscellaneous Drama

From Shakespeare's gender-bending play -Twelfth Night- to the the critically-acclaimed Broadway hit -Angels in America-, from 17th century kabuki theater of Japan-performed by cross-dressing prostitutes-to the NEA-denounced performance art of Holly Hughes, theater has long been-as co-editor Alisa Solomon terms it-the queerest art.\ The Queerest Art is a pioneering collection of essays by and conversations among a diverse range of leading theater academics and artists. The first anthology to...

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From Shakespeare's gender-bending play Twelfth Night to the the critically-acclaimed Broadway hit Angels in America, from 17th century kabuki theater of Japan—performed by cross-dressing prostitutes—to the NEA-denounced performance art of Holly Hughes, theater has long been—as co-editor Alisa Solomon terms it—the queerest art. The Queerest Art is a pioneering collection of essays by and conversations among a diverse range of leading theater academics and artists. The first anthology to bring scholars and makers of queer theater into direct dialogue, the volume explores such subjects as same-sex desire in Restoration comedy, the racialized impact of colonial Shakespeare, the cuerpo politizado of a performance artist in contemporary Los Angeles, and the nitty-gritty of getting a queer show presented in Peoria. The Queerest Art rereads the history of performance as a celebration and critique of dissident sexualities, exploring the politics of pleasure and the pleasure of politics that drive the theater. Lively and accessible, The Queerest Art will be useful to scholars, students, artists, and theater-goers alike interested in what makes queer theater . . . and what makes theater queer.Contributors include: Jill Dolan, Brian Freeman, Randy Gener, George E. Haggerty, Holly Hughes, Ania Loomba, Tim Miller, José Esteban Muñoz, Deb Parks-Satterfield, Lola Pashalinski, Everett Quinton, David Román, David Savran, Laurence Senelick, Don Shewey, Carmelita Tropicana, Valerie Traub, Paula Vogel, Doric Wilson, and Stacy Wolf.

PrefaceIntroduction: Building a Theatrical Vernacular: Responsibility, Community, Ambivalence, and Queer Theater11Great Sparkles of Lust: Homophobia and the Antitheatrical Tradition92The Queer Root of Theater213"Porno-Tropics": Some Thoughts on Shakespeare, Colonialism, and Sexuality404Setting the Stage behind the Seen: Performing Lesbian History555"The Man I Love": The Erotics of Friendship in Restoration Theater1066"Be True to Yearning": Notes on the Pioneers of Queer Theater1247From the Invisible to the Ridiculous: The Emergence of an Out Theater Aesthetic1358Queer Theater and the Disarticulation of Identity1529Out across America: Playing from P.S. 122 to Peoria16810"Being" a Lesbian: Apple Island and the Performance of Community18311"Preaching to the Converted"20312Queer Theater, Queer Theory: Luis Alfaro's Cuerpo Politizado22713When We Were Warriors24714The Kids Stay in the Picture, or, Toward a New Queer Theater25415Goodnight Irene: An Endnote261Contributors267Index273

\ From the Publisher"This stimulating collection of essays critically examines and celebrates what, for centuries, many have deeply feared and many others have known and cherished to be true-that theatre is, indeed, the queerest art. The special ephermerality and perilousness of queer existence on- and offstage make this volume's excellently rendered project of documentation through performance, writing, and publication not only admirable and necessary but urgent."\ -The Drama Review,\ "A rich and varied collection, featuring the voices both of academics and theatre practitioners."\ -American Theatre,\ "Eclectic array of essays."\ -Theater Journal,\ "The panel discussions...contributes a warm, witty and deliciously rhetorical piece."\ -Lambda Book Report,\ \ \