Women, Collective Creation, and Devised Performance the Rise of Women Theatre Artists in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries
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Women, Collective Creation, and Devised Performance The Rise of Women Theatre Artists in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries Edited by Kathryn Mederos Syssoyeva and Scott Proudfit Women, Collective Creation, and Devised Performance Kathryn Mederos Syssoyeva • Scott Proudfi t Editors Women, Collective Creation, and Devised Performance The Rise of Women Theatre Artists in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries Editors Kathryn Mederos Syssoyeva Scott Proudfi t Department of Theatre Department of English Dixie State University Elon University Saint George , Utah , USA Elon , North Carolina , USA ISBN 978-1-137-60327-2 ISBN 978-1-137-55013-2 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-55013-2 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016949421 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifi cally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfi lms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifi c statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the pub- lisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Cover image: Judith Smith and Janet Collard in AXIS Dance Company’s Foregone, choreographed by Kate Weare. Photo © Andrea Basile. Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Nature America Inc. New York For Carl Weber, once again: your infl uence only strengthens with time. (K.M.S.) For Dr. William L. Proudfi t, for your love and wisdom (S.P.) ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Parts of Jessica Silsby Brater’s chapter “Ruth Maleczech, JoAnne Akalaitis, and the Mabou Mines Family Aesthetic” are based on material in Brater’s book Ruth Maleczech at Mabou Mines: Woman’s Work (London: Methuen Drama, 2016). Parts of Julia Listengarten’s chapter “Pussy Riot and Performance as Social Practice: Collectivity, Collaboration, and Communal Bond” origi- nally appeared under the title “Profi le: Performing Punk Prayer: Pussy Riot and National Controversy” in Ecumenica, a Journal of Theatre and Performance , 5, no. 2 (2012). vii CONTENTS Part I First Wave, 1900–1945 1 1 Toward a New History of Women in the Modern Theatre – an Introduction 3 Kathryn Mederos Syssoyeva and Scott Proudfi t 2 Raising the Curtain on Suzanne Bing’s Life in the Theatre 29 Jane Baldwin 3 From Neva Boyd to Viola Spolin: How Social Group Work in 1920s’ Settlement Houses Defi ned Collective Creation in 1960s’ Theatres 51 Scott Proudfi t 4 A Democratic Legacy: Hallie Flanagan and the Vassar Experimental Theatre 67 Elizabeth A. Osborne 5 Alexandra Remizova: An “Actors’ Director” 81 Andrei Malaev-Babel ix x CONTENTS Part II Second Wave, 1945–1985 99 6 Mnouchkine & Co.: Constructing a Collective 101 David Calder 7 Ruth Maleczech, JoAnne Akalaitis, and the Mabou Mines Family Aesthetic 115 Jessica Silsby Brater 8 “Hers and His”: Carolyn Swift, Alan Simpson, and Collective Creation at Dublin’s Pike Theatre 129 Siobhán O’Gorman 9 From the Center to the Heartland: The Collective, Collaborative Conscience of Jo Ann Schmidman, Megan Terry, Sora Kimberlain, and the Omaha Magic Theatre (1968–1998) 145 Anne Fletcher 10 Historiographing a Feminist Utopia: Collective Creation, History, and Feminist Theatre in Canada 161 Michelle MacArthur 11 Monstrous Regiment: The Gendered Politics of Collaboration, Writing, and Authorship in the UK from the 1970s Onwards 177 Sarah Sigal Part III Third Wave, 1985–Present 191 12 Judith Malina and the Living Theatre: Storming the Barricades and Creating Collectively 193 Cindy Rosenthal CONTENTS xi 13 Bryony Lavery: Nerves of Steel and a Forgiving Heart 207 Karen Morash 14 Women, Transmission, and Creative Agency in the Grotowski Diaspora 221 Virginie Magnat 15 The Women of Odin Teatret: Creativity, Challenge, Legacy 237 Adam J. Ledger 16 Doing What Comes Naturally?: Women and Devising in the UK Today 253 Alex Mermikides and Jackie Smart 17 Devising Downtown: Collective Creation and Female Leadership in Contemporary New York 269 Rachel Anderson-Rabern 18 (The Waters) Between Africa and America: Revelations in Process, Theatrical-Jazz, and Sharon Bridgforth’s River See 283 Nia O. Witherspoon 19 Hands like starfi sh/Feet like moons: Disabled Women’s Theatre Collectives 301 Victoria Lewis 20 Pussy Riot and Performance as Social Practice: Collectivity, Collaboration, and Communal Bond 317 Julia Listengarten Suggested Works 331 Index 337 NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS Rachel Anderson-Rabern is a scholar, director, and performer researching within the fi elds of collective creation and contemporary performance. Through theory and practice, she investigates aesthetics emerging from collaborative processes. Her writings have appeared in Theatre Journal , TDR: The Drama Review , and Collective Creation in Contemporary Performance (ed. Kathryn Syssoyeva and Scott Proudfi t, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). She has created performance with Miracle Theatre, Stanford Summer Theatre, Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, and for multiple colleges and universities. She is Assistant Professor of Theatre at Franklin and Marshall College, USA, and co-founder of Wee Keep Company, an interdisciplinary laboratory for thinking and theatre-making. Jane Baldwin is an actress, critic, and academic. Her publications include: Michel Saint-Denis and the Shaping of the Modern Actor ; The Rediscovery of Style and Other Writings , which she edited; and Vies et morts de la création collective , co-edited with Christiane Page and Jean-Marc Larrue. Her essay “Michel Saint-Denis: Training the Complete Actor” appears in Actor Training , edited by Alison Hodge. Her chapter “The Accidental Rebirth of Collective Creation, Jacques Copeau, Michel Saint-Denis, Léon Chancerel and Improvised Theatre” is published in A History of Collective Creation , edited by Kathryn Syssoyeva and Scott Proudfi t. Her latest work, “Jean Gascon’s Theatricalist Approach to Molière and Shakespeare,” appears in The Oxford Handbook of Dance and Theater . Jessica Silsby Brater is a visiting assistant professor and the Theater Program Director at the University of New Haven, USA, where she teaches courses in con- temporary performance, theatre history, directing, and theatre for community impact. She also serves as an Assistant Dean of the UNH College of Arts and Sciences. Her book Ruth Maleczech at Mabou Mines: Woman’s Work is forthcom- xiii xiv NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS ing in 2016. Her writing has appeared in Theatre Journal , Samuel Beckett Today/ Aujourd’hui , and the Journal of Beckett Studies . Brater is the founding Artistic Director of Polybe + Seats, a Brooklyn-based theatre company. She holds a BA from Barnard College, Columbia University, and a PhD in Theatre Studies from CUNY Graduate Center. David Calder is Lecturer in Drama at the University of Manchester, UK. He completed his PhD in Theatre and Drama at Northwestern University in 2014. His essays on French theatre and performance have appeared in TDR: The Drama Review and in the anthologies Shakespeare Beyond English: A Global Experiment (2013) and A History of Collective Creation (2013). He is preparing a manuscript on street theatre and the production of postindustrial space. Anne Fletcher is Professor of Theatre at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, IL. She is the author of Rediscovering Mordecai Gorelik: Scene Design and the American Theatre (2009) and co-author (with Scott R. Irelan and Julie Felise Dubiner) of The Process of Dramaturgy: A Handbook (2010), Experiencing Theatre with Scott R. Irelan (2015), and a forthcoming volume on American playwrights of the 1930s. Fletcher’s work has appeared in journals including Theatre Symposium , The Eugene O’Neill Review , and Theatre History Studies . She has chapters in books including Thornton Wilder: New Perspectives ; Blackwell Companion to American Drama ; Brecht, Broadway, and United States Theatre ; Bloomsbury Anthology on American Tragedy (forthcoming); and Experiments in Democracy (forthcoming). Adam J. Ledger is Senior Lecturer in Drama and Theatre Arts at the University of Birmingham, UK. He taught previously at University College Cork and the University of Hull, and has directed projects internationally. His research centers on contemporary performance practice: books include Odin Teatret: Theatre in a New Century (2012) and The Director and Directing: Craft, Process and Aesthetic in Contemporary Theatre (forthcoming) as well as numerous articles and chapters on theatre practice and practitioners. He is joint artistic director of The Bone Ensemble: productions include Again , Caravania! and The Igloo Project. Victoria Lewis’s verbatim documentary play, On the Road: A Reenactment of the First Congressional Hearings on the ADA, September 27, 1988 , was