NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY Authority, Quotation, and Collective Composition in 20th and 21st Century U.S. Theatre and Drama A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS for the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Field of English By Scott Proudfit EVANSTON, ILLINOIS December 2008 2 © Copyright by Scott Proudfit 2008 All Rights Reserved 3 To Kelly, Jack, and Emily 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I must give thanks to Prof. Susan Manning. I could not have wished for a more enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and understanding chair for this project. From my first day at Northwestern, Prof. Manning has encouraged me to pursue (and has modeled for me) the type of interdisciplinary work that many in academia speak of but few practice. She has cultivated (and defended) my interests in theatre, performance, and drama as no one else could have. I also could not have wished for a wiser or more sympathetic committee. Prof. Tracy Davis has been a mentor in my professional work both here at Northwestern and among the fellowship of scholars outside this university. Her work ethic is one I will forever strive to match. Prof. Jeff Masten’s writing on authorship was the inspiration behind this project. In addition, his example as an instructor, and his friendship, has made all the difference to me at Northwestern. Prof. Will West is someone I have been looking up to as an instructor since my days in high school. To have him in the room at my defense, to receive his guidance and suggestions throughout this process, has been a comfort and privilege. As this dissertation argues, meaning is made in communities. The two communities to which I owe the most are my fellow graduate students in Northwestern’s English and Theatre departments. To the members of my English dissertation reading group: I hope I may depend on your insight and support for years to come. To the members of my Theatre dissertation reading group—Oona Kersey, Emily Sahakian, and Rashida Shaw: Thanks for welcoming me across disciplinary lines and challenging my assumptions. Other members of my grad-student cohort who deserve special mention are Anna Fenton-Hathaway, Katie Chiles, Tasha Hawthorne, Janaka Bowman, Chris Clary, and Cole Hutchison in English, Dan Smith and Ann White in Theatre, and particularly Joanne Diaz. The calming voices of these mentors and colleagues have 5 kept me sane and helped me through the sometimes-frustrating maze of graduate-school life. Above all, thank you to Liz McCabe, whose friendship and support of my family and me has been invaluable. At Northwestern, I must also acknowledge Prof. Craig Kinzer, who introduced me to the work of the Living Theatre; Prof. Mary Zimmerman, who let me escape back onto the stage when I needed it most; and Prof. Harvey Young, for whom I first started reconsidering the possibilities of pastiche. The research for this dissertation was made possible by a number of internal fellowships: the Dissertation Year Fellowship, the Graduate Research Grant, and the Virgil Heltzel Dissertation Fellowship. For these grants, I am very grateful to Northwestern University and the English department in particular. I am especially indebted to Prof. Wendy Wall, who has supported me throughout my career here, and the English department administrators Kathy Daniels and Nathan Mead. In terms of my research outside of Northwestern, I must acknowledge the librarians and staff at the Beinecke Library, Yale University; Fales Library, New York University; and the New York Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, for assisting me in my work. And to the members of the various groups for which I have presented papers at the American Society of Theatre Research over the past five years: Thank you for helping me to develop ideas for this project based on what were often very rough outlines of things to come. I am also very grateful to the theatre makers who allowed me to interview them for this project: Tracy Young, Bill Rauch, Peter Howard, Anne Bogart, Megan Wanlass Szalla, Stephen Webber, and Ellen Lauren. Your work on the stage is what fuels my work as a scholar. 6 Above all, this project would never have been possible without my family. I can never repay the past five years of support from my parents, John and Donna Proudfit, and my in-laws, Varley and Ann Smith. This dissertation is the result of their belief (and investment) in me. Most important to me and my work, though, will always be the love and sacrifices of my wife Kelly, my son Jack, and my daughter Emily. They are the reason for everything. 7 ABSTRACT Authority, Quotation, and Collective Composition in 20th and 21st Century U.S. Theatre and Drama Scott Proudfit My dissertation argues that certain continuities among U.S. theatre collectives in the 20th and 21st centuries have gone unnoticed largely because the aesthetics and politics of these companies are seemingly so unrelated. These continuities, which connect the 1960s’ anarcho- pacifist spectacles of the Living Theatre to the contemporary “community” theatre of Cornerstone Theater Company and the 1990s’ anti-narrative performance art of SITI Company to the 21st century pop-culture commedia of the Actors’ Gang, are revealed only when the collectively written drama texts of these theatres are analyzed alongside the companies’ rehearsal processes, performances, and organizational histories. Through the application of an interdisciplinary methodology (part history, part performance analysis, part textual reading), it is made apparent that these collectives all challenge hierarchical authority within their creative processes while at the same time specifically challenging the concept of authorship as a necessary assumption behind any work of art. These challenges to authority, my dissertation argues, are made possible through these theatres’ creative methods of quotation which not only allow for a democratic writing process (in which no member of the collective is required to act as playwright) but also model, on the pages of the drama text and in performance, types of collectivity that are then shared with the communities attending these productions. However, as each of these case studies reveals, quotation proves as problematic for these collectives in terms of challenging “author-ity” (both authorship and authority) as it appears initially liberating. Quotation evokes and invokes the 8 authority of those being quoted even if the quotations are being used ironically or to opposite ends as the words traditionally have been read. Quotation—particularly the technique of pastiche—can also prove problematic to theatre collectives attempting to distance themselves from those figures of authority depicted in their productions. Unlike parody, which holds that which is quoted at arm’s length, enabling criticism, pastiche draws those quoting closer to those texts, and therefore those authorities, quoted. Broadening this argument beyond collectives, my last chapter looks back at Eugene O’Neill’s use of quotation in his composition of Long Day’s Journey Into Night (1941). This reading re-imagines U.S. drama in general as, from this traditional “beginning,” a category best defined by its dedication to collective creation. 9 TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION . 12 Establishing Continuity Among Collectives Critical Neglect of the Collectively Written Drama Particular Types of Quotation Complicating “Intertextuality” Methodology and Evidence Authorship, Authority, and Capitalism Chapter Breakdown 2. THE LIVING THEATRE, THE DYING AUTHOR: QUOTATION AND IMPROVISATION IN FRANKENSTEIN . 52 Poetry and Economics The Artaud Problem Building Frankenstein Synopsis and Third Act Problems Authority and Quotation in Frankenstein’s Endings To Quote or Not To Quote Reviving Dead Language Collectivity and Leviathan 3. THE POLITICS OF CLOSENESS: QUOTATION AND CONTAMINATION IN SITI COMPANY’S CULTURE OF DESIRE . 160 A Definition of “Pastiche” Collective Writing and Its Place Within SITI Company’s Composition Work 10 Composition’s Lineage in Other Art Forms “Midway on Our Life’s Journey, I Found Myself in Dark Woods…”: Collective in Crisis Warhol’s Story as SITI Company Told It A Is for Author, B Is for ?: How Warhol and SITI Company Challenged Author-ity Sharing Words in Culture of Desire and Sharing Work With the Audience Good Repetition, Bad Repetition Contaminating “Desire” “Cultural” Difference: A Valid Distinction Between SITI Company and Warhol What Matter Who’s Analyzing 4. MODELING COLLECTIVITY: QUOTATION AND COMMUNITY IN 21ST CENTURY LOS ANGELES THEATRE . 273 Challenging Their Own Authority Medea/Macbeth/Cinderella and Los Angeles Theatre A Brief History of the Actors’ Gang DreamPlay Synopsis and Structure Shaping Quotations for Clarification The Style: Conflict as Creative Method Letting the Audience Have the Last Word Reconciling With Authority Getting Closer to Falater Bridge-Building Collectivity Human-Relations Experientials as Intertexts 11 Problems With Authority Longer-Lasting Collectivity 5. BEGIN AGAIN: QUOTATION AND AUTHORSHIP IN LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT . 383 “Father” and “Son”: Long Day’s Journey Into Night and O’Neill’s Ascendance The Provincetown Players and the Limits of Collaboration O’Neill’s Commitment to Collaboration Missing “the Movement” More Than a Family Plot No Battle of the Bookcases Quotation as Collaboration WORKS CITED . 464 12 Chapter 1: Introduction This dissertation makes an intervention in literary and theatre studies. Accordingly, my approach integrates methods from both fields.