1st Edition

Imagined Theatres Writing for a Theoretical Stage

Edited By Daniel Sack Copyright 2017
    312 Pages
    by Routledge

    312 Pages
    by Routledge

    Imagined Theatres collects theoretical dramas written by some of the leading scholars and artists of the contemporary stage. These dialogues, prose poems, and microfictions describe imaginary performance events that explore what might be possible and impossible in the theatre.

    Each scenario is mirrored by a brief accompanying reflection, asking what they might mean for our thinking about the theatre. These many possible worlds circle around questions that include:

    • In what way is writing itself a performance?
    • How do we understand the relationship between real performances that engender imaginary reflections and imaginary conceptions that form the basis for real theatrical productions?
    • Are we not always imagining theatres when we read or even when we sit in the theatre, watching whatever event we imagine we are seeing?

    Introduction

    Imagined Theatres


    137 Titles (I)

    Tim Etchells Gloss: Tim Etchells


    137 Titles (II)

    Tim Etchells Gloss: Tim Etchells


    137 Titles (III)

    Tim Etchells Gloss: Tim Etchells


    After Dinner

    Julia Jarcho Gloss: Julia Jarcho


    "All the world's a…"

    Baz Kershaw Gloss: Baz Kershaw


    Ancestor Call—Guerrero

    Cherríe L. Moraga Gloss: Brian Eugenio Herrera


    Ancestor Call—Malinche

    Cherríe L. Moraga Gloss: Helen Paris


    Anecdote of the Stage (after Stevens)

    John F. Muse Gloss: John F. Muse


    Animal Friendship: A Docudrama

    Minou Arjomand Gloss: Broderick D.V. Chow


    The Art of Forgetting

    Daniel Sack Gloss: Daniel Sack


    Astigmatisms

    Isaiah Matthew Wooden Gloss: Natalie Alvarez


    Candle Tears

    Meiling Cheng Gloss: Meiling Cheng


    Casting, Four Ways

    Brian Eugenio Herrera Gloss: Brian Eugenio Herrera


    A Chinese Actor's Late Style

    Broderick D.V. Chow Gloss: Broderick D.V. Chow


    Cities of Refuge

    Dominika Laster Gloss: Yelena Gluzman


    The Classroom

    Lin Hixson Gloss: Matthew Goulish


    Clockfire

    Jonathan Ball Gloss: Jonathan Ball


    , Colon;zations and Exclamations!: A Set Piece Staged for the Page

    Jennifer DeVere Brody Gloss: Jennifer DeVere Brody


    The Copper Thieves

    Irma Mayorga Gloss: Irma Mayorga


    Court Theatre

    Petra Kuppers Gloss: VK Preston


    Crow Takes Hat

    Erik Ehn Gloss: Irma Mayorga


    Crowds with the Shape of Reason Missing

    Alan Read Gloss: Alan Read


    Dance for Baghdad

    Pavol Liska Gloss: Nicholas Ridout


    dat Black Mermaid Man Lady/Home

    Sharon Bridgforth Gloss: Nia Witherspoon


    Dealing

    W.B. Worthen Gloss: Aaron C. Thomas


    Disappearing Act

    Fintan Walsh Gloss: Aaron C. Thomas


    A Displacement

    Patrick Anderson Gloss: Rajni Shah


    Dreams on Screen

    Rachel Joseph Gloss: Rachel Joseph


    Earthly

    Joe Kelleher Gloss: Joe Kelleher


    Eavesdropping in on a Cyclical Conversation

    Carl Hancock Rux Gloss: Jennifer DeVere Brody


    Enema of the People

    Stephen Bottoms Gloss: Stephen Bottoms


    esprit de corps

    Kimberly Jannarone Gloss: Joshua Abrams


    Extremely poor children

    Romeo Castellucci Gloss: Joe Kelleher


    FADE TO BLACK: Notes toward a re-performance of gestures that never occurred

    Ricardo Dominguez Gloss: Ricardo Dominguez


    Feminist Theory Theatre

    Yelena Gluzman Gloss: Yelena Gluzman


    The Fort

    Yvette Nolan Gloss: Minou Arjomand


    Friedrichshain

    Nicholas Ridout Gloss: Kimberly Jannarone


    A Garden Party Hamlet

    Rachel Joseph Gloss: Kyle Gillette


    Ghost Light, an Animal Congress

    Jennifer Parker-Starbuck Gloss: Jennifer Parker-Starbuck


    Ghost Practice

    Sara Jane Bailes Gloss: Andrew Sofer


    Give, Take, and Shake

    Rodrigo Toscano Gloss: Carla Harryman


    The Greatest Show on Earth

    Darren O'Donnell Gloss: Darren O'Donnell


    Gun

    Jonathan Ball Gloss: John H. Muse


    Gut Body

    Petra Kuppers Gloss: Petra Kuppers


    A Happy Life

    Aaron C. Thomas Gloss: Aaron C. Thomas


    Heaven's Stenographer Shines the Guiding Light

    Nick Salvato Gloss: Brian Eugenio Herrera


    Holding Time

    Helen Paris Gloss: Sara Jane Bailes


    How Does it Go Again?

    Rebecca Schneider Gloss: Rebecca Schneider


    Human Too

    Una Chaudhuri Gloss: Petra Kuppers


    I can't breathe…

    Thomas F. DeFrantz Gloss: Thomas F. DeFrantz


    I, Marjorie

    Jen Harvie Gloss: Jen Harvie


    Imagined Cities (after Calvino)

    Kyle Gillette Gloss: Daniel Sack


    The Impossible Magic Show

    Augusto Corrieri Gloss: Augusto Corrieri


    In Character

    Harvey Young Gloss: Harvey Young


    IRL

    Joshua Chambers-Letson & Josh Rains Gloss: Chambers-Letson & Rains


    it comes back together

    Karen Christopher Gloss: Andy Field


    It could be a forest

    Ralph Lemon Gloss: Ralph Lemon


    It was a large rubble space

    Claire MacDonald Gloss: Ant Hampton


    LAST RESORT [No One Can Stop You Now]

    Sylvan Oswald Gloss: Jen Harvie


    The Last Wor(l)d

    VK Preston Gloss: Kyle Gillette


    The Lost Notebooks of the Painter's Wife

    Diane Glancy Gloss: Diane Glancy


    The Means of Production

    Jen Harvie Gloss: Patrick Anderson


    A Meta-theatre

    Bush Moukarzel Gloss: Claudia La Rocco


    The monster when she opened her wings

    Claudia La Rocco Gloss: Claudia La Rocco


    Motion Capture

    Christopher Grobe Gloss: Sarah Bay-Cheng


    Music for Charlie Morel

    Aaron C. Thomas Gloss: Joseph Cermatori


    The Night Everything Happened

    Augusto Corrieri Gloss: Isaiah Matthew Wooden


    No Subject

    Wendy Houstoun Gloss: Wendy Houstoun


    NOT I (not)

    Ant Hampton Gloss: Peggy Phelan


    Ocean Oration

    Una Chaudhuri Gloss: Una Chaudhuri


    Oh, Have I Died, Then?

    Howard Barker Gloss: Daniel Sack


    On Location & Context

    Ricardo A. Bracho Gloss: Ricardo A. Bracho


    On Scale

    Joshua Abrams Gloss: Kimberly Jannarone


    Onboard Entertainment

    Joe Kelleher Gloss: Kyle Gillette


    or, The Whale (for Tess)

    Laura Cull Ó Maoilearca Gloss: Laura Cull Ó Maoilearca


    An Orogeny

    Caden Manson & Jemma Nelson Gloss: Karen Christopher


    Otto's Self Board Meeting

    Pablo Helguera Gloss: Fintan Walsh


    Passenger Pigeons

    Yvette Nolan Gloss: Una Chaudhuri


    Plant Life (excerpt from a play in three acts)

    Peggy Phelan Gloss: Una Chaudhuri


    Poolside

    Claudia La Rocco Gloss: Joe Kelleher


    Precipitation

    Karen Christopher Gloss: Helen Paris


    The Previous Cry

    Timothy McCain Gloss: Matthew Goulish


    Private Language Argument I

    Andrew Sofer Gloss: Nick Salvato


    Private Language Argument II

    Andrew Sofer Gloss: Andrew Sofer


    Questions for Women in Prison

    Rhodessa Jones Gloss: Rhodessa Jones


    Realism

    Kyle Gillette Gloss: Joshua Abrams


    Remains

    Andy Field Gloss: Aaron C. Thomas


    Rock Performance

    Nick Salvato Gloss: Nick Salvato


    SHE

    Nia Witherspoon Gloss: Irma Mayorga


    Spiked

    Claire MacDonald Gloss: Augusto Corrieri


    Stress Melody

    Christopher Grobe Gloss: Christopher Grobe


    Surveillance

    Jonathan Ball Gloss: Rachel Joseph


    TALES

    Natalie Alvarez Gloss: Ju Yon Kim


    Tectum Theatre

    Suk-Young Kim Gloss: Suk-Young Kim


    Th'Eater

    Joshua Abrams Gloss: Joshua Abrams


    Theatre of the Blind (or: Description)

    Patrick Anderson Gloss: Thomas F. DeFrantz


    The Theatre at Calpurnia

    Nadine George-Graves Gloss: Nadine George-Graves


    Theatre generated by a probabilistic language model, with grammatical artifacts retained

    Caden Manson & Jemma Nelson Gloss: W.B. Worthen


    Theatre of Intimacy and Abandon

    Casey Llewellyn & Claudia Rankine Gloss: Peggy Phelan


    The Theatre of the Town

    Joe Kelleher Gloss: Erin Manning


    Theatre/Duty

    Ju Yon Kim Gloss: Ju Yon Kim


    A Theatrical Revenge Melodrama with Ring-Tones

    Sarah Bay-Cheng Gloss: Jennifer Parker-Starbuck


    Thee Thy Thou Thine (a fragment)

    Rose English Gloss: Wendy Houstoun


    Then a Cunning Voice and A Night We Spend Gazing at Stars

    Emily Johnson Gloss: Emily Johnson


    Three dramaturgical miniatures (after Nietzsche)

    Joseph Cermatori Gloss: Daniel Sack


    Thresholding

    Erin Manning Gloss: Erin Manning


    Touching Touches

    Isaiah Matthew Wooden Gloss: Isaiah Matthew Wooden


    Triptych

    Kyle Gillette Gloss: Patrick Anderson


    Two Dances

    Susan Leigh Foster Gloss: Susan Leigh Foster


    TwoDoor Drama

    Rebecca Schneider Gloss: Daniel Sack


    Universal Theatre Machine (for Leibniz, Turing, Brecht, and Boal)

    Annie Dorsen Gloss: Christopher Grobe


    Unstill Lifes

    Bonnie Marranca Gloss: Bonnie Marranca


    Untitled (Imaginary Theatre #1)

    André Lepecki Gloss: Rebecca Schneider


    Untitled (Imaginary Theatre #2)

    André Lepecki Gloss: Matthew Goulish


    Variations (I-III)

    Deirdre Heddon Gloss: Deirdre Heddon


    Vocabulary

    VK Preston Gloss: VK Preston


    The Waiting Room

    Michael McMillan Gloss: Michael McMillan


    Wanderspiele

    Natalie Alvarez Gloss: Deirdre Heddon


    What to, where (A Poets Theatre)

    Carla Harryman Gloss: Carla Harryman


    Women & Children & an Old Man Godot

    Richard Schechner Gloss: Richard Schechner

    Rajni Shah Gloss: Rajni Shah

    Biography

    Daniel Sack is Assistant Professor of English and Commonwealth Honors College at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.