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  • © 2021

Performance Activism

Precursors and Contemporary Pioneers

Palgrave Macmillan

Authors:

  • Focuses on the transformative power of performance outside the theatre as a way of engaging social problems

  • Documents the broad range of the performance activist movement and its major variants around the world

  • Combines an historical study of the processes

  • 3408 Accesses

Buying options

eBook USD 89.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • ISBN: 978-3-030-80591-3
  • Instant PDF download
  • Readable on all devices
  • Own it forever
  • Exclusive offer for individuals only
  • Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout
Softcover Book USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
Hardcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)

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Table of contents (19 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-x
  2. By Way of Introduction

    • Dan Friedman
    Pages 1-6
  3. Performance Leaves the Theatre and Joins the Revolution

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 7-7
    2. Ritual, Theatre, Activism

      • Dan Friedman
      Pages 9-15
    3. Agit-Prop

      • Dan Friedman
      Pages 17-34
    4. Improvisation

      • Dan Friedman
      Pages 35-45
    5. Psychodrama and Sociodrama

      • Dan Friedman
      Pages 47-58
    6. Happenings, Be-Ins, and Flash Mobs

      • Dan Friedman
      Pages 59-66
    7. Performance Art

      • Dan Friedman
      Pages 67-73
    8. Avant-Garde Theatre

      • Dan Friedman
      Pages 75-93
    9. Performativity and the Sixties

      • Dan Friedman
      Pages 95-139
  4. (Some of) What Performance Activism Does

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 141-144
    2. Educating

      • Dan Friedman
      Pages 145-161
    3. Politicizing

      • Dan Friedman
      Pages 163-175
    4. Building Bridges

      • Dan Friedman
      Pages 177-183
    5. Creating Community Conversations

      • Dan Friedman
      Pages 185-194
    6. Healing Trauma

      • Dan Friedman
      Pages 195-204
    7. Reinitiating Creativity

      • Dan Friedman
      Pages 205-210
    8. Building Community

      • Dan Friedman
      Pages 211-234
  5. Re-performing the World

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 235-235

About this book

This is the first book length study of performance activism. While Performance Studies recognizes the universality of human performance in daily life, what is specifically under investigation here is performance as an activity intentionally entered into as a means of engaging social issues and conflicts, that is, as an ensemble activity by which we re-construct/transform social reality.  Performance Activism: Precursors and Contemporary Pioneers provides a global overview of the growing interface of performance with education, therapy, conflict resolution, civic engagement, community development and social justice activism. It combines an historical study of the processes by which, over the course of the 20th Century, performance has been loosened from the institutional constraints of the theatre with a mosaic-like overview of the diverse work/play of contemporary performance activists around the world.

 

 

Performance Activism will be of interest to theatre and cultural historians, performance practitioners and researchers, psychologists and sociologists, educators and youth workers, community organizers and political activists.

Keywords

  • Civic engagement
  • Political activism
  • Community creativity
  • Community education
  • Psychology
  • Performance studies
  • Theatre in Education

Authors and Affiliations

  • East Side Institute, New York, USA

    Dan Friedman

About the author

Dan Friedman is the Artistic Director Emeritus of the Castillo Theatre in New York City, a lead organizer of the bi-annual Performing the World Conference, and is on the faculty of the East Side Institute, USA.  

 

Bibliographic Information

Buying options

eBook USD 89.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • ISBN: 978-3-030-80591-3
  • Instant PDF download
  • Readable on all devices
  • Own it forever
  • Exclusive offer for individuals only
  • Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout
Softcover Book USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
Hardcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)