Shea, Megan

277 Pages·2009·5.35 MB·English

by  Megan Shea

ANTIGONE’S DAUGHTERS:
REVOLUTIONS IN KINSHIP AND PERFORMANCE

A Dissertation
Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School
of Cornell University
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy

by
Megan Leonard Shea
May 2009
© 2009 Megan Leonard Shea
ANTIGONE’S DAUGHTERS:
REVOLUTIONS IN KINSHIP AND PERFORMANCE

Megan Leonard Shea, Ph. D.
Cornell University 2009

This dissertation intertwines performance studies methodologies with classical
historiography across media. I use recent kinship scholarship to argue for an
interdependent connection between kinship and performance wherein the female body
must be sacrificed for kinship relations to be forged. Producing my argument through
past and present examples, I comparatively examine kinship in performances that
focus on the duality of resistance/sacrifice of the female body. Solon’s laws
restricting inheritance and funerary performance inform my reading of the creation of
a capitalist male Athenian theatre. Looking at Sophocles’ Antigone, as well as
Euripides’ Iphigenia at Aulis, Iphigenia Among the Taurians, and Trojan Women, I
position the female character as a vortex of identity whose only option to resist
patriarchal capitalism rests on her ability to choose her own kinship bonds. I note that
resistance’s presence in the play’s narrative does not translate into subversive theatre
and question the ability of the female body to resist within the theatrical form.
Posing this question in terms of contemporary plays and performance, I
examine Judith Malina’s Antigone, Title:Point’s production of Antigone, Suzan-Lori
Park’s Venus, Orlan, Annie Sprinkle, and Anna Nicole Smith. Here I use
photographs, video footage, archived scripts, and interviews to study performative
bodies that both trouble and exemplify the connection between kinship and sacrifice.
Having established the seeds of capitalist performance in the Ancient Greek theatre, I
look to contemporary performance to explicate the connection between Greek theatre
and the permanence of the theatrical form. This project dialogues between classics,
cultural studies, and theatre, addressing areas long neglected by theatre scholars.
Performance studies scholars often leave the study of Ancient Greece to classicists,
and consequently, current trends in performance criticism rarely make their way into
scholarship on Athenian theatre. Performing readings of contemporary and ancient
works, I seek to remedy this discrepancy by parsing the connections between the
“origin” of Occidental theatre and the contemporary visualization of the female body.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Megan Shea is a performance studies scholar with interests in ancient Greek
performance, feminism, and cultural theory. She received her Bachelor of Arts in
Theatre and Dance from Trinity College in 1999, a Master of Arts in Theatre from the
University of Kansas in 2002, and a Master of Arts in Theatre Arts from Cornell
University in 2006. Megan has published articles in The Journal for Dramatic Theory
and Criticism and TheatreForum. Her short entries on “Pornography,” “Censorship,”
and “Obscenity” will be published in Performance Studies: The Key Concepts edited
by Gabrielle Cody and forthcoming from Routledge in 2010.
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For Michael
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A number of individuals influenced to the direction of this project. I am
grateful that I was able to develop this project at Cornell University during a time
when I was encouraged to see the advantages of interdisciplinarity. I would especially
like to thank Timothy Murray for steering me toward intellectual inquiries that
captivate my interest. His brilliant oversight compelled me to keep writing through
theoretical thickets. Sabine Haenni’s advice saw me through the initial stages of
devising a project about ancient Greek and contemporary performance, and I am
indebted to her for guiding me towards cultural theory; her openness fostered my
intellectual inventions. I am grateful to Jeffrey Rusten for his contributions to my
understanding of Athenian culture and for being an incredibly open-minded classics
scholar. David Feldshuh’s flexibility and sage honesty has been a constant source of
encouragement. And I am also indebted to Ellen Gainor and Sara Warner for attending
and responding to the early seeds of this project presented at conference panels.
Special thanks to Paige McGinley for her willingness to listen almost daily to
my intellectual and professional inquiries. Harvey Young also deserves thanks for his
advice at conferences and for his inspiring intellectual contributions to this project.
Several of my fellow graduate students assisted me during my absence from Ithaca. I
am thankful to Anne Beggs for her counsel, hospitality, and willingness to assist with
bureaucracy. Meghan Brodie was a constant source of support throughout the process.
Diana Looser, Lindsay Cummings, and Ryan Platt helped shape my writing in its early
stages. My colleagues at the Performance Studies Focus Group of the Association of
Theatre in Higher Education: Gwendolyn Alker, Peter Civetta, Josh Abrams, Jennifer
Parker-Starbuck, and Jason Farman offered valuable information about the field.
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While I was writing, I was supported through Cornell’s Sage Fellowship and
graduate funding. I would like to thank the staff at the Billy Rose Theatre Archive in
the New York Public Library for their assistance.
I would also like to thank my own “brothers,” Andrew and Christopher Myers
for providing me with the real-life experience of choosing family. My parents Barbara
and Daniel Shea helped mold me into a determined feminist and constantly supported
my decisions to pursue the career path I desired. Finally, I am most grateful to
Michael Guillorn, who tolerated the ups and downs of the project, and helped me to
see my accomplishments. I continue to be amazed by his ability to anticipate and
provide the kind of support I need.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH…………………...…………………………………iii
DEDICATION…………………………………………………………...………..iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………..v
LIST OF FIGURES………………………………………………………………vii
1 THE ROOTS OF KINSHIP AND PERFORMANCE…………………...…….1
2 A LITTLE MORE THAN KIN…...………………………………………….48
3 RESISTANCE……...……………………………………………………….100
4 FORM……….……………………………………………………………....136
5 CORPOREAL TRANSGRESSIONS…………………………………….....185
EPILOGUE: DAUGHTERS……………………………………………………245
WORKS CITED………………………………………….……………………..253

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Title:Point’s Antigone: Chorus with Clock……………………………...120
Figure 2. Title:Point’s Antigone: Kreon and Antigone………………………….…121
Figure 3. Pablo Picasso: Les Demoiselles d’Avignon………………………………202
Figure 4. Orlan: Self-hybridization précolombienne No. 4………………………....203
Figure 5. Annie Sprinkle: Chemo Rockstar………………………………………..225
Figure 6. Annie Sprinkle: Chemo Cocktail………………………………………...227
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