Theatrical Intervention in the AIDS Crisis: Performance, Politics, and Social Change
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Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1992 Theatrical Intervention in the AIDS Crisis: Performance, Politics, and Social Change. Cindy J. Kistenberg Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Kistenberg, Cindy J., "Theatrical Intervention in the AIDS Crisis: Performance, Politics, and Social Change." (1992). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 5444. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/5444 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. 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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. THEATRICAL INTERVENTION IN THE AIDS CRISIS: PERFORMANCE, POLITICS, AND SOCIAL CHANGE A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Speech Communication by Cindy J. Kistenberg B.A., The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1986 M.A., The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1988 December 1992 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Acknowledgments A project of this magnitude could not have been completed without the support, encouragement, and occasional prodding of a number of friends. For providing these services, which I could not have done without, I wish to thank Ruth Laurion Bowman, Jonny Gray, Ken Mihalik, Karen Mitchell, Lawrence Rosenfeld, and Jim Taylor. I also wish to thank Ann Chisholm, Kirk Fuoss, and Randy Hill who, because they were in the proverbial "same boat," were most able to empathize with me and help take my mind off my intellectual woes. Ruth Laurion Bowman receives additional thanks for her constant reminder that "The dissertation is your friend." Finally, a special thanks goes to Charla Markham Shaw for always being there. The members of my committee provided insightful ideas and enormous encouragement from the outset of this project. Their belief in the importance of this project and my ability to complete it helped sustain my motivation during the most trying times. For serving in this capacity, I wish to thank Dr. William Clark, Dr. Renee Edwards, Dr. Mary Frances HopKins, Dr. Andrew King, and Dr. Kenneth Zagacki. I would also like to thank the members of my family— my mother, father, and brother— not only for their love and understanding, but also for their continuous interest and assistance with this project. Each of them spent the last ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. year clipping articles about AIDS, many of which have been included in this study. Finally, I wish to thank my advisor, Dr. Michael Bowman. Providing him with a lifetime supply of coffee would not begin to thank him for all his time and dedication. He is the greatest dissertation director, mentor, and friend a person could wish for. He taught me to believe in myself, my intelligence, and my ability. I only hope some day I will have as great an impact on someone's life as he has had on mine. iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Table of Contents page. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................... ii ABSTRACT .............................................. v CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ............................... 1 2 CONTEXTUALIZING PERFORMANCE: PERSPECTIVES ON ARTISTIC INTERVENTION..... ........................ 47 3 CONVENTIONAL THEATRE: AS IS AND THE NORMAL HEART ............. 100 4 PERFORMANCE ART: KAREN FINLEY'S WE KEEP OUR VICTIMS READY AND TIM MILLER'S STRETCH MARKS.... ........................ 153 5 BEYOND THE THEATRE: THE AIDS MEMORIAL QUILT, "CONDOM DAY," AND "STOP THE CHURCH" ................... 216 6 CONCLUSION ................................. 273 WORKS CITED ........................................... 284 VITA ................................................... 298 iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Abstract This purpose of this study is to assess the efficacy of performance as a means of social change by focusing on performances that have arisen out of the AIDS crisis. Working from a cultural studies perspective, I attempt to delineate both the possibilities and limitations for this perspective on social change. By comparing the various forms these performances have taken, I offer an explanation as to how these forms inhibit or enhance the ability of a performance to challenge the dominant discourse on AIDS, and create and mobilize communities that can act in the fight against AIDS. I begin by presenting a history of the AIDS crisis, focusing particularly on how AIDS has been linguistically constructed by various institutions as "a gay disease," a "sexually transmitted disease," an affliction of intravenous drug users, and a scientific/medical problem. Next I provide a context for understanding AIDS performances by addressing issues specifically related to using art as a means of intervention, including the relationship between culture and society, and the politics of textuality. I conclude this discussion by explaining why performance is emerging as an important political tool in the contemporary or "postmodern" world. The study presents examples of three forms these performances have taken: plays (or conventional theatre), v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. performance art, and demonstrations. Plays by William Hoffman (As Is) and Larry Kramer (The Normal Heart) represent the traditional theatre form. Performance art by Karen Finley (We Keep Our Victims Ready) and Tim Miller (Stretch Marks) exemplify performances based on avant-garde experiments that challenge the traditional theatrical form. Finally, the Names Project (the AIDS Memorial Quilt) and two demonstrations by ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) are representative of performances that expand traditional notions of the performance event. Each chapter includes a summary of the texts, the critical responses found in the mass media, comparisons between texts that are of the same form, and concludes by discussing their efficacy for intervening in the AIDS crisis. In the final chapter, some conclusions are drawn regarding the efficacy of these performances for social change. vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Chapter 1 Introduction An utterance is legitimated or disregarded according to its place of production and so, in large part, the history of political struggle has been the history of the attempts made to control significant sites of assembly and spaces of discourse. (Stallybrass and White 80) It is the morning of July 3, 1981. A group of men is gathered on the porch of a beach house in New York City. One of the men is reading to his friends an article in the New York Times entitled "Rare Cancer Seen in 41 Homosexuals." One jokingly replies, "It's probably