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Palgrave Macmillan

Directing Desire

Intimacy Choreography and Consent in the Twenty-First Century

  • Book
  • © 2023

Overview

Authors:
  1. Kari Barclay

    1. Oberlin College, Oberlin, USA

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  • Examines the rise of intimacy directing and consent-based approaches to staging sex and sexuality
  • Builds a theoretical framework for intimacy directing
  • Argues that intimacy choreography intervenes at a more fundamental level than that of legal consent

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Table of contents (7 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiii
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  2. Introduction: Boundary Practice

    • Kari Barclay
    Pages 1-27

  3. Erotic Repetitions: A Brief History of Intimacy Choreography

    • Kari Barclay
    Pages 29-57

  4. Sexual Script Analysis: Sex Positivity and Authorship in Intimate Scenes

    • Kari Barclay
    Pages 59-88

  5. “Intermediate” Pornography Mediating Presence with the Intimacy Kit

    • Kari Barclay
    Pages 89-113

  6. Playing with Trauma: Race, Consent, and Culturally Responsive Intimacy

    • Kari Barclay
    Pages 115-144

  7. Immersive Intimacy: Violation and Transformative Justice in Immersive Performance

    • Kari Barclay
    Pages 145-173

  8. Conclusion: Keep in Touch

    • Kari Barclay
    Pages 175-184

  9. Back Matter

    Pages 185-208
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Keywords

About this book

Directing Desire explores the rise of consent-based and trauma-informed approaches to staging sexually and sensually charged scenes for theater in the contemporary U.S., known as intimacy choreography. From 2015 to 2020, intimacy choreography transformed from a grassroots movement in experimental and regional theaters into a best practice accepted in Hollywood and on Broadway. Today, intimacy choreographers have become a veritable "intimacy industry" in the cultural sphere, sparking attention from Rolling Stone to The New York Times to the sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live. This book analyzes the forces that have led to intimacy choreography’s meteoric rise and asks what implications the field has for theater practice more broadly. Building a theoretical framework for intimacy directing, Directing Desire also strives to reorient the conversation in the field so that artists understand not only best practices in consent but also intersectional frameworks that expandand rework consent.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Oberlin College, Oberlin, USA

    Kari Barclay

About the author

​Kari Barclay (they/them or he/him) is an award-winning writer, director, and researcher who serves as Visiting Assistant Professor of Theater at Oberlin College, USA. Kari’s research interests include gender and sexuality studies, theater directing, consent theory, and asexuality studies. They have created productions regionally and in New York at venues including Art Nova, the San Francisco Mime Troupe, MirrorBox Theater, and Manbites Dog. Their original play CAN I HOLD YOU? was the first full-length piece about asexuality performed in the U.S. and enjoyed a sold-out run in San Francisco and workshop in New York. Their newest play STONEWALLIN’ was the winner of the 2021 Southern Queer Playwriting Festival and opened at Richmond Triangle Players in February 2022.

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