Acts of intervention : performance, gay culture, and AIDS

Author(s)

• Román, David

Bibliographic Information

Acts of intervention : performance, gay culture, and AIDS

David Román

（Unnatural acts）

Indiana University Press, c1998

• cl : alk. paper
• pbk. : alk. paper

Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. 319-333) and index

Description and Table of Contents

Volume

pbk. : alk. paper ISBN 9780253211682

Description

From cabarets and candlelight vigils to full-scale Broadway productions such as Angels in America and Rent, over the past 15 years public performances and dramatic texts have shaped, and been shaped by, the history of AIDS. Author David Roman examines the ways that gay men have used alternative, activist, and mainstream theater and performance to intervene in the AIDS crisis. He considers solo performance, community-based projects, mixed-media events, activist demonstrations, and AIDS educational theater initiatives.Roman shows how performance and theater have participated in the cultural politics of race, sexuality, citizenship, and AIDS in the United States. Not only has the theater provided a forum for gay male response to the epidemic, Roman contends, but it has also determined the degree to which those responses have shaped the ideological formulation of AIDS. Acts of Intervention provides a new method for discussing the relation between AIDS and representation, combining ideas from performance theory, gay and lesbian studies, critical race discourse, and cultural studies.

Table of Contents

"Acts of Intervention skilfully intertwines performance theory, social criticism, queer theory, and history to prove that in order to understand fully the social and political relevance of AIDS, it is necessary to look at artistic productions and performances." -- New York Blade News"This is a fascinating book ... Roman has done an excellent job in bringing a wealth of information about performance, gay culture, and AIDS to the reader. A highly recommended book for all libraries." -- AIDS Book Review Journal" ... a profound and unique book, with a personal voice and public importance." -- Michael Warner" ... among the best there is to offer in gay/lesbian theatre and performance studies." -- Jill Dolan

Volume

cl : alk. paper ISBN 9780253333704

Description

"Acts of Intervention" examines the ways that gay men have used theatre and performance to intervene in the AIDS crisis. It discusses dramatic texts and public performances - from cabarets and candlelight vigils to full-scale Broadway productions such as "Angels in America" and "Rent" that have shaped, and been shaped by, the history of AIDS in national, regional, and local contexts. Roman examines mainstream as well as alternative and activist forms of theatre, including solo performance, community-based projects, mixed-media events, activist demonstrations, and AIDS educational theatre initiatives. "Acts of Intervention" traces the ways in which performance and theatre have participated in and informed the larger cultural politics of race, sexuality, citizenship, and AIDS in the United States during the last fifteen years. The book discusses not only how the theatre has provided a forum for gay male response to the epidemic but also the degree to which those responses have in turn shaped the ideological formulation of AIDS. Roman offers a new method for mapping the relation between AIDS and representation by combining interpretative strategies from performance theory, gay and lesbian studies, critical race discourse, and cultural studies. This book is dedicated to writing the history of theatrical interventions in the AIDS epidemic, including performances whose official history has been largely neglected or forgotten. Because many early performances about AIDS left little or no documentation, the task of constructing an AIDS theatre historiography confronts immediate problems and limitations. "Acts of Intervention" argues that the history of AIDS performance is located at the juncture of memory and disappearance, of mourning and survival, of representation and its impossibility in the context of epidemic loss.

Table of Contents

"Acts of Intervention skilfully intertwines performance theory, social criticism, queer theory, and history to prove that in order to understand fully the social and political relevance of AIDS, it is necessary to look at artistic productions and performances." -- New York Blade News "This is a fascinating book ... Roman has done an excellent job in bringing a wealth of information about performance, gay culture, and AIDS to the reader. A highly recommended book for all libraries." -- AIDS Book Review Journal " ... a profound and unique book, with a personal voice and public importance." -- Michael Warner " ... among the best there is to offer in gay/lesbian theatre and performance studies." -- Jill Dolan

by "Nielsen BookData"

• NCID: BA37615323
• ISBN:
  • 0253333709
  • 0253211689
• LCCN: 97035808
• Country Code: us
• Title Language Code: eng
• Text Language Code: eng
• Place of Publication: Bloomington
• Pages/Volumes: xxxiii, 344 p.
• Size: 24 cm
• Classification:
  • LCC : PN2266
  • DC21 : 792/.086/640973
• Subject Headings:
  • LCSH : Theater -- United States -- History -- 20th century
  • LCSH : American drama -- 20th century -- History and criticism
  • LCSH : Gay actors -- United States -- Biography
  • LCSH : AIDS (Disease) in literature
• Parent Bibliography ID:
  • BA2821120X