Readings in performance and ecology

244 Pages·2012·3.725 MB·English

by  Wendy Arons, Theresa J. May (eds.)

Readings in
Performance
and Ecology

Edited by
Wendy Arons Theresa J. May
and
Previous Publications by the Editors
Wendy Arons
Performance and Femininity in Eighteenth-Century German Women’s
Writing: The Impossible Act (2006)
Theresa J. May
Greening Up Our Houses: A Guide to an Ecologically Sound Theatre ,
with Larry Fried (1994)
Dragon Island (1993)
WHAT IS THEATRE?
Edited by Ann C. Hall
Given the changing nature of audiences, entertainment, and media, the role of the-
atre in twenty-first century culture is changing. The W HAT IS THEATRE? series
brings new and innovative work in literary, cultural, and dramatic criticism into
conversation with established theatre texts and trends, in order to offer fresh inter-
pretation and highlight new or undervalued artists, works, and trends.
ANN C. HALL h as published widely in the area of theatre and film studies, is presi-
dent of the Harold Pinter Society, and is an active member in the Modern Language
Association. In addition to her book A Kind of Alaska: Women in the Plays of O’Neill,
Pinter, and Shepard , she has edited a collection of essays, M aking the Stage: Essays on
Theatre, Drama, and Performance and a book on the various stage, film, print, and
television versions of Gaston Leroux’s Phantom of the Opera .
Published by Palgrave Macmillan:
Theatre, Communication, Critical Realism
By Tobin Nellhaus
Staging Modern American Life: Popular Culture in the Experimental Theatre of Millay,
Cummings, and Dos Passos
By Thomas Fahy
Authoring Performance: The Director in Contemporary Theatre
By Avra Sidiropoulou
Readings in Performance and Ecology
Edited by Wendy Arons and Theresa J. May
Theatre and War: Theatrical Responses since 1991 (forthcoming)
By Jeanne Colleran
Readings in Performance
and Ecology
E
DITED BY
W A
ENDY RONS

AND
T J. M
HERESA AY
READINGS IN PERFORMANCE AND ECOLOGY
Copyright © Wendy Arons and Theresa J. May, 2012
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2012 978-0-230-33728-2
All rights reserved.
First published in 2012 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States— a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world,
this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-34077-4 ISBN 978-1-137-01169-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137011695
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Readings in performance and ecology / Wendy Arons and
Theresa J. May, editors.
pages cm —(What is theatre?)
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Drama—History and criticism. 2. Environmental protection
in literature. 3. Ecology in literature. 4. Nature in literature.
5. Ecocriticism. I. Arons, Wendy, 1964– II. May, Theresa J.
PN1650.E26R43 2012
792—dc23 2011048607
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: May 2012
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents

List of Figures ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 3
Wendy Arons and Theresa J. May
I Ecocriticism and Dramatic Literature
1. Theater, Environment, and the Thirties 13
Barry Witham
2. Bringing Blood to Ghosts: English Canadian Drama and
the Ecopolitics of Place 23
Nelson Gray
3. Other Others: Dramatis Animalia in Some
Alternative American Drama 33
Robert Baker-White
II Animals and/in Performance
4. The Silence of the Polar Bears: Performing (Climate)
Change in the Theater of Species 45
Una Chaudhuri
5. Dancing with Monkeys? On Performance Commons and
Scientific Experiments 59
Baz Kershaw
6. Everything à la Giraffe : Science, Performance, and
a Spectacular Body in Nineteenth-Century Vienna 77
Derek Lee Barton
vi Contents
III Theorizing Ecoperformance
7. Ethics, Evolution, Ecology, and Performance 91
Bruce McConachie
8. Natural Disaster, Cultural Memory: Montserrat Adrift in
the Black and Green Atlantic 101
Kathleen M. Gough
9. Stillness in Nature: Eeo Stubblefield’s Still Dance with
Anna Halprin 113
Arden Thomas
IV Ecoactivism and Performance
10. British Alternative Companies and Antinuclear Plays:
Eco-conscious Theater in Thatcher’s Britain 127
Sara Freeman
11. Bikes, Choices, Action! Embodied Performances of
Sustainability by a Traveling Theater Group 137
Meg O’Shea
12. Earth First!’s “Crack the Dam” and the Aesthetics of
Ecoactivist Performance 147
Sarah Ann Standing
V Case Studies in Green Theater
13. Ecodirecting Canonical Plays 159
Downing Cless
14. Devising Green Piece : A Holistic Pedagogy for Artists
and Educators 169
Anne Justine D’Zmura
15. Sound Ecology in the Woods: Red Riding Hood Takes an
Audio Walk 181
Cornelia Hoogland
16. The Labor of Greening Love’s Labour’s Lost 191
Justin A. Miller
17. Theatrical Production’s Carbon Footprint 201
Ian Garrett
Contents vii
Epilogue: Thinking Forward . . . 211
Wallace Heim
Bibliography 217
Notes on Contributors 231
Index 235
Figures
4.1 Somerset, from the project nanoq: fl at out and bluesome,
Snæbjörnsdóttir/Wilson 47
4.2 Bristol, (Nina), from n anoq: fl at out and bluesome 48
4.3 Worcester, from the project n anoq: fl at out and bluesome 49
4.4 nanoq: fl at out and bluesome, installation of ten
taxidermic polar bears, Spike Island, Bristol, 2004 49
4.5 Still image from the animation work Th e Poster Children
by Marina Zurkow 51
4.6 Still image from Deke Weaver’s performance of Polar Bear God 53
4.7 Statue of the fi rst Lord Somerleyton, Sir Savile Crossley, as a
boy, in front of one of two polar bear specimens shot by him
in 1897 56
5.1 Zoo visitors arriving 62
5.2 Zookeepers at play 63
5.3 Primatologists observing 63
5.4 Feral human hanging 64
5.5 Spider monkey gesturing on rope 66
5.6 Spider monkey at glass 66
5.7 Plan of Gorilla House 70
5.8 Standing gaze at performer: Salome silhouetted 71
5.9 Experimental puzzle boxes 72
5.10 On Gorilla Island: Maya Cockburn and Alastair Ganley 74
5.11 On Gorilla Island: Romona with Namoki, suckling aged
2 months 76
6.1 “Th e Rubbernecks” (Sciobary and the Giraff e with curious
visitors in the Imperial Menagerie), 1828, by J. Danhauser 79
6.2 “Th e Giraff e in the Giraff e House” 1828, by E. Gurk 81
8.1 Emerald Shamiroles Masquerade Dancers performing at the
Calabash Festival, Montserrat, July 2007 105
8.2 Trashcan giving the new address of residents who left
Montserrat 106
x Figures
9.1 Still Dance with Anna Halprin , Driftwood Series #12 1 15
9.2 Still Dance with Anna Halprin , Underworld Series #27 1 16
9.3 Still Dance with Anna Halprin , Log Series #22 1 21
14.1 “Faith Tale.” Production photo from G reen Piece at CSULB 1 75
14.2 “Amrita Devi.” Production photo from G reen Piece 1 76
14.3 “Little Bird.” Production photo from G reen Piece 1 78
16.1 Love’s Labour’s Lost , directed by Christina Traister at
Michigan State University, Pasant Th eatre, 2008 1 91