The Artist's Roadmap
Are you ready to take control of your career in SHOW business? Whether you're an aspiring actor seeking guidance, a working professional looking to elevate your career or someone searching for direction in pursuing your dreams, The Artist's Roadmap provides the essential guidance you need to succeed in this competitive industry.With over 55 years of experience, Richard Lawson-an actor, teacher and mentor-shares invaluable insights and strategies that have helped countless artists consciously create successful careers. From developing your passion to applying your craft and building a strategic plan, Lawson's method breaks down the steps to thrive in both the artistic and business sides of SHOW business.In this powerful guide, you'll learn: How to harness your passion to fuel progress and stay resilient through challengesThe importance of strategy and clear career goals to keep you on trackHow to build relationships that elevate your career, both professionally and personallyTips for staying true to your artistic vision without compromising your integrityExercises for developing authentic performances and connecting with audiencesIf you're ready to step into your purpose and build a lasting career in SHOW business, The Artist's Roadmap is your ultimate tool for success.
The Woman in Black
The Woman in Black terrified viewers in 1989 and is remembered as one of Britain's scariest horror films. It is justly famous as the combined work of three giants of British drama: Susan Hill, Nigel Kneale and Herbert Wise. This book is the first to study the rich themes and terrifying impact of this film, presenting it as a TV film that is cinematic in its effect and quality.The book traces the adaptation of Susan Hill's novel, paying close attention to the ways in which the celebrated writer Nigel Kneale turned a popular book into a spooky film, and reconstructs the brilliance of veteran director Herbert Wise. It also explores themes ranging from maternal rage and imperial disquiet to eerie soundscapes and landscapes. Archival papers from the Nigel Kneale Archive on the Isle of Man are used to reveal how Kneale transformed the novel into the script, and interviews with production personnel shed light on the remarkable talent and experience of the team who produced this classic film.
Clueless: You're a Total Betty
Let the Dionne to your Cher know just how much of a total Betty they are with this officially licensed fill-in-the-blank book inspired by the iconic '90s film Clueless. Show your bestie--the Clueless way--just how much they mean to you with this unique and customizable fill-in-the-blank book full of fun and feisty expressions of affection and appreciation inspired by your favorite group of friends from Bronson Alcott High. Each prompt is accompanied by a full-color illustration or image from the film. Once completed, it becomes a personalized gift for your favorite Betty or recipient to cherish for years to come. This book is totally not buggin'! Prompts include: Cher learns the most important makeover is the kind that makes over your soul. The most valuable thing you've ever taught me is _____. Cher and Dionne are friends because they both know what it's like to have people be jealous of them, but we're friends because _____. You love _____ as much as Cher loves a trip to the mall. And more!
The Heart of It's a Wonderful Life
"You really had a wonderful life. Don't you see what a mistake it would be to throw it away?" --CLARENCEIn this special book, Jimmy Hawkins helps us focus on the true meaning behind the classic holiday movie. It's not just the message or its many famous lines but rather the motivation behind the creation of the film and director Frank Capra's unrelenting vision for what it should be.As a boy, Jimmy played George Bailey's youngest son, Tommy. And he has spent the eight decades since living out the heart of the story and becoming arguably the world's foremost expert on the movie. Filled with unpublished facts that the author has collected about the cast and crew, this book gives a clearer understanding of what they all brought to the scripted pages.Through excerpts from the screenplay, never-before-seen photos, and a lifetime of friendship with both Frank Capra and the stars of the movie, Hawkins guides us to discover why this story still touches the spirit decades after its release. Because It's a Wonderful Life is not just George Bailey's or Frank Capra's story--it's the story of all of us, and of many generations to come.
Middleton and Time
A great deal has been written about early modern temporality, both by scholars of Renaissance drama and historians of chronometry. Much of the former has focused, unsurprisingly, on Shakespeare. This book seeks to broaden the discussion of temporality and the early modern stage by focusing on "our other Shakespeare" - Thomas Middleton, a writer preoccupied with issues of time, chronometry, and temporality. In this first book length study of Middleton's portrayal of time, his representations of clocks and calendars are explored as a way of understanding early modern time consciousness. Middleton, more than any other playwright of his era, was aware of the alienating qualities of these chronometric devices and showed how the subject's experience of time was influenced by them, while also demonstrating how choices in chronometry were influenced by gender, class and religious identity. As a result, his texts explore the complex intersections between sexuality, economic systems, and temporality in the early modern world.
The Woman in Black
The Woman in Black terrified viewers in 1989 and is remembered as one of Britain's scariest horror films. It is justly famous as the combined work of three giants of British drama: Susan Hill, Nigel Kneale and Herbert Wise. This book is the first to study the rich themes and terrifying impact of this film, presenting it as a TV film that is cinematic in its effect and quality.The book traces the adaptation of Susan Hill's novel, paying close attention to the ways in which the celebrated writer Nigel Kneale turned a popular book into a spooky film, and reconstructs the brilliance of veteran director Herbert Wise. It also explores themes ranging from maternal rage and imperial disquiet to eerie soundscapes and landscapes. Archival papers from the Nigel Kneale Archive on the Isle of Man are used to reveal how Kneale transformed the novel into the script, and interviews with production personnel shed light on the remarkable talent and experience of the team who produced this classic film.
Woman's Hour
For 75 years, Woman's Hour has brought us the most iconic and inspirational women from all over the world, delving into their lives and opinions, desires and lessons to others. Now, their wise words are brought to you each day in this daily guide. Woman's Hour: Daily Meditations from Wise, Witty and Wonderful Women gives you a memorable quote to start your day, from a woman that has made us laugh, made us think and made us act, paired a thoughtful reflection on what that quote is teaching us. Featuring names such as Rosamund Pike, Jacqueline Wilson, Nina Simone, Annie Lennox, Mary Quant, Toni Morrison, Philippa Perry, Sandi Toksvig, Malala Yousafzai, Emma Thompson and many more, the topics range from the workplace to family, friendships to love, ageing to food, and just about everything in between. Start your day with the wisdom of these witty and wonderful women, from over 75 years of Woman's Hour.
La MaMa Experimental Theatre - A Lasting Bridge Between Cultures
Theatrical Genre & Style
A one-of-a-kind guide about style and genre for theatre artisans. Theatrical Genre & Style will appeal to all theatre makers--those in performance as well as design--students, amateurs, and professionals. Traditionally, theatre practitioners receive information about style and genre from sources composed primarily for studio artisans and not theatre artisans. These books are helpful but ultimately fall short because they do not specifically apply the use of style to theatre art and practice. Theatrical Genre & Style gives theatre artists a guidebook to style and genre that is specific and tailored to their needs. Theatrical Genre & Style defines genre and style (and the differences between them), gives relatable examples with helpful exercises, clearly explains the distinctions between artistic style, period style, and literary style, and helps readers understand how to identify, research, and utilize appropriate artistic styles for theatrical productions. Theatrical genres are listed, thoroughly explained, and examples and exercises given that are designed to elucidate. The ways theatrical scenery, costumes, lighting, sound, multi-media, acting, directing, and movement can work together to successfully utilize style is addressed in this text. Theatrical Genre & Style serves as a companion to authors Karen Brewster and Melissa Shafer's Fundamentals of Theatrical Design: A Guide to the Basics of Scenic, Costume, and Lighting Design. The two books complement one another in content, size, scope, purpose, and target audience.
Reclaiming Time
Showing how twenty-first-century Black theater and media arts challenge dominant conceptualizations of timeReclaiming Time: Race, Temporality, and Black Expressive Culture examines works by contemporary Black artists in multiple media--drama, film, performance art, and photography--that trouble dominant conceptualizations and normative configurations of time in relation to race in the twenty-first century. Isaiah Matthew Wooden explores the ways in which an intentional and sometimes ludic engagement with time and temporality has enabled these artists to probe urgent questions and themes concerning the conditions of contemporary Black life. Wooden surveys a diverse array of performance-based and visual texts to explore the rich practices of contemporary Black expressive culture: dramatic works by playwrights Eisa Davis, Tarell Alvin McCraney, and Robert O'Hara; performance art and photography by visual artists Jefferson Pinder and LaToya Ruby Frazier; and feature-length cinema by director-producer Tanya Hamilton. These works expose normative time as specious and evidence the transformative potential in honing practices of Black temporal experimentation and intervention. By putting this cross-disciplinary set of texts in conversation with each other, Wooden sheds new light on the shrewd ways that they each reflect an investment in unbinding time from the exigencies of normativity and teleology, as well as on their shared commitments to reclaiming time to reimagine and represent Blackness in all its multiplicities.
Prime the Pump; Catholicism, Arts Policy and the Post-war Irish Amateur Drama Movement 1949 to 1969
For over seventy years, An Chomhairle Eala穩on/the Arts Council of Ireland has played a critical role in Irish cultural development. The interface between Arts Council policy, Catholicism, and amateur drama, which this book examines, provides an access point for understanding how people responded to the socio-economic crisis facing post-war Irish society. Exploring the cultural impact of amateur drama on the modernization of Irish society, the book argues that the movement challenged resistance to change from more traditional aspects of Irish social, political and theological life. The book analyses a cross-section of plays performed at the All-Ireland, Western, Clare, North Cork and other drama festivals between 1953 and 1969, which highlighted and challenged social issues, including emigration, poverty, housing, and the institutionalization of vulnerable women and children. Matters of national importance that continue to impact contemporary Irish society.
How Did All This Happen?
If you're a man of a certain age you'll know there comes a point in life when getting a sports car and over-analysing your contribution to society sounds like a really good idea. With a good job in sales and marketing and a nice house in Manchester that he shared with his wife and kids, John Bishop was no different when he turned the dreaded 4-0. But instead of spanking a load of cash on a car that would have made him look like a senior stylist at Vidal Sassoon, he stumbled onto a pathway that ultimately lead him to become one of the nation's best loved comedians. It was a gamble, but boy, did it pay off. How Did All This Happen? is the story of how a boy who, growing up on a council estate dreaming of ousting Kenny Dalglish from Liverpool FC's starting line-up, suddenly found himself on stage in front of thousands of people nationwide, at an age when he should have known better. In his own inimitable style, John guides us through his life from leaving the estate and travelling the globe on a shoe string, to marriage, kids and the split that led him to being on a stage complaining to strangers one night - the night that changed his life and started his journey to stardom. Wonderfully entertaining and packed with colourful reminiscences and comical anecdotes, this is a heart-warming, life-affirming and ultimately very, very funny memoir from one of the nation's greatest comedians.
Infinite Audition
Part poetry book, part theatre audition resource, Infinite Audition reflects a transmasculine and disabled experience of the world in a voice that is funny, humane and rooted in deep authenticity.Infinite Audition is a work that explores all spoken word poetry can be. The sections range from solo performance, to musical, dance and puppetry collaborations, to monologues and audition pieces for trans and non-binary actors from Petch's theatrical and operatic works. Each poem is its own little world: sometimes it is the voice of a hotel, a closet, Medusa's serpent, or surgically removed body parts out for a night on the town. Expect only the unexpected.
Black Playwrights and Heightened Text
Black Playwrights and Heightened Text: When Shakespeare Ain't Enuf breaks down the misconception that heightened text sits only within a white tradition and brings the work of Black playwrights from across history to the forefront by highlighting the use of heightened dramatic text in their work.Interrogating the use of linguistic techniques often seen in heightened text, such as: enjambment, assonance, and consonance, author Jacqueline Springfield looks at the ways in which these techniques allow the text itself to have a kind of permanence in audiences' minds and works to reinforce a character's objective within the play. The book presents examples of works from a plethora of Black playwrights, including Langston Hughes, Lorraine Hansberry, Amiri Baraka, August Wilson, Katori Hall, Marcus Gardley, Tarell Alvin McCraney, and many more, as well as providing the context in which they're writing. Theatre artists who read, teach, direct and perform the work of Black playwrights answer key questions in their own words in interviews with the author. Interviewees include Dominique Morisseau, Ron OJ Parson, Mfoniso Udofia, Zora Howard and many other theatre practitioners. Taking a chronological approach, the book examines the history of heightened text in the works of Black playwrights and re-defines the ways in which theatre students and scholars can understand the techniques of heightened texts outside of a purely Eurocentric and white perspective.Ideal for students of theatre history, acting, playwriting, and text analysis, as well as researchers of African American theatre.
Mattering Spiritualities
Mattering Spiritualities brings together an array of international scholars and practitioners to explore spirituality in embodiment through the lens of performance, performative writing, and performance studies.The book concerns spirituality and takes the body as the site of whatever it is we call spirituality. The methodological assumption is that the opposition of body and spirit is a false binary that calls for re-examination and revision. It stems from the argument that people can deliberately shift their boundaries of perception and knowing through practice, technologies and performative techniques that can alter the way in which they perceive the ecologies in which they are embedded. This approach understands that careful attention to which bodies are performing in any given scenario is crucial, as is a sensitivity to the ramifications of any body's race, gender, class, and biological ability. Performance can therefore be regarded as anything through which individuals and collectives experiment with bodies as technologies. Each chapter engages with such experiments to explore how bodies experience and relate to other bodies, human and other-than-human, but also how, by mobilizing bodies and changing relationships between them, practitioners can transform people, spaces and places, objects, ecologies large and small, and shift the borders-of-the-known. Such experiments can also reveal intersectional dynamics within given social, political, and biological borders offering new perspectives and angles of analysis.This collection intends to serve transdisciplinary studies and to support varied learning and teaching environments for undergraduate, postgraduate, and PhD students.
The Real Jaws
Explores the 1916 New Jersey shark attacks, their impact on shark fear, and how media shaped harmful misconceptions.In the Summer of 1916, a series of shark attacks along the New Jersey shore would send shockwaves across its otherwise peaceful beach towns. Spanning a terrifying two weeks, including the deaths of nearly five people, these attacks would officially cement an innate fear of sharks that humans have felt since the beginning of time.Although initially kept under wraps by the tourism industry, these attacks would ultimately plaster the front pages of newspapers across the United States and even overseas. As the news spread, the line between fact and fiction blurred, reshaping our cultural and scientific understanding of the beasts of the ocean. It was the 1916 shark attacks that would establish our modern-day misconstrued perception of sharks as evil, man-eating monsters, and would later inspire the film Jaws, which would perpetuate the same harmful narrative.The Real Jaws takes an in-depth look at each one of the attacks and how they instilled a centuries-long fear of the ocean's apex predator. It explores the various theories explaining why these attacks may have occurred and the probability of something like this happening again. And finally, it analyses the way the harmful misconceptions derived from films like Jaws have redefined humanity's relationship with sharks, leading humans to become the predators and sharks to become the prey.
Performer Training for Actors and Athletes
What goes on in the body and mind of an endurance athlete at the limits of performance? How do they relate to the world around and prepare for the task ahead? Offering a refreshing perspective on training in the cross-lighting of aesthetic and athletic processes, this book focuses on the learning, mastery and creative adaptation of technique in performance. From traditional and physical actors to runners, boxers and other sports practitioners, it is about performers: their bodies, trainings and experiences. It interrogates what it means to prepare and train as a performer in the early 21st century.Writing from extensive experience in physical theatre and long-distance running, the author combines insights from both disciplines along with theatre history, sports science and perspectives like embodied cognition and affective science. From the kind of thoughts that go through the mind of an actor or a runner, to the economy and aesthetic of their movement and to how they feel about it, this book sheds light on the performing body and its capacities for action.Topics covered include attentional focus and distraction, affordances and equipment, 'choking' and stage fright, physiological regulation and effort perception, pacing and play, optimal flow and creative improvisation, and intentionality and automaticity in expert performance. The volume presents an informative and thought-provoking account accessible to readers interested in theatre, dance, performance, running, athletics, and sport.
It Chapters One and Two
Drawing on critical analysis of film, the horror genre, the Gothic, and Stephen King scholarship, this book considers Andy Muschietti's IT Chapter One (2017) and IT Chapter Two (2019) on multiple levels: as film (both as individual films and through their interconnected narrative), as adaptation, and as a barometer of the horror film's popularity among fans. Key points of consideration include the significance of the fictional town of Derry as a traditionally Gothic "bad place," the role of 1980s nostalgia in these two films, the complex navigation of memory and trauma, gender representation, queer representation, and the return of the repressed. The terrifying figure of Pennywise the clown is central to this analysis, including consideration of performance, costuming, and significance within the larger landscape of the "scary clown" popular culture trope, and through comparison to Tim Curry's iconic performance in Tommy Lee Wallace's 1990 miniseries. This Devil's Advocate contextualizes Muschietti's films within the larger landscape of King's literary and popular culture influence, as well as the debate surrounding "elevated" horror and the "horror boom" of the late 2010s.
Gladiator II: The Art and Making of the Ridley Scott Film
The official behind-the-scenes companion to Sir Ridley Scott's highly anticipated sequel to Gladiator This definitive volume takes readers deep into the extraordinary production of Gladiator II. Exploring the revolutionary special effects and breathtaking artistry that went into re-creating the grandeur of ancient Rome on a truly epic scale, Gladiator II: The Art and Making of the Ridley Scott Film features storyboards, unit photography, concept art, character and costume sketches, and an array of props and ephemera, offering a comprehensive look at the creative process behind one of the most eagerly awaited sequels of our time. With a foreword by Sir Ridley Scott and exclusive interviews with the cast--including Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Connie Nielsen, and more--as well as insights from production designers, armorers, and the visual effects team, the book grants an insider's look at this cinematic epic and is an essential companion to the film.
Mayhem at Camp Marigold
Kat was led to believe that she was heading to space camp (which is totally cool), but when a snafu in registration occurs, she's off to craft camp instead (which is totally lame). Between pottery classes, crochet lessons, and overly perky counselors, Kat is sure that this is going to be the worst week ever. But when a storm blows in and campers go missing, Kat and her cohorts are going to need every crafty skill they've got to survive the night. Cast Kat, she/her/hers, 10-15 Emily, she/her/hers, 20s-40s Mrs. Marigold, she/her/hers, 20s-50s Peter, he/him/his, 20s-30s Viola, she/her/hers, 20s-30s Jenny, she/her/hers, 10-15 Tucker, he/him/his, 10-15 Dalia, she/her/hers, 8-10 Mike, he/him/his, 8-15 Ava, she/her/hers, 8-15 Luis, he/him/his, 8-15 Hannah, she/her/hers, 8-12 Yara, she/her/hers, 8-15 Zoe, she/her/hers, 8-15
Exit Stage Riley
The Tammy Awards. Every drama student dreams of attending. But to win a Tammy Award, is the ultimate goal. The coveted GOAT Acting Award comes with a full scholarship and eternal glory. All eyes are on the elusive and charismatic Riley Thane to win for her one-woman show Thane's the Thing. Meanwhile, the devastatingly shy Janet has a big secret: she is Riley Thane. To accept the GOAT Award would mean her college career is set, but it also risks exposing her true identity. Add to the mix an aspiring playwright, desperate to meet Riley, a couple of senior divas, two drama coaches battling it out for domination, and more! Can Janet and her cohorts keep her secret safe? Find out in this over-the-top farcical romp.
Summers in Prague
While visiting Prague, Mara decides to do something crazy and hire a male sex-worker. Enter Valcav. Over the course of many years, Mara continues to visit Vaclav and an unorthodox friendship blossoms.
Customer Service
While awaiting news about his ailing wife, Sol Green gets a visit from a most unexpected visitor.From Customer Service: Sol: Yes. I learned how to reason and to think logically . . . to have faith in myself. If others want to believe in . . . in their mythologies, well that's their prerogative, but I'm not buying into them. And why should I? If G-d ever existed, he's certainly dead now. He's been dead for a long time.Sol: (Angry, Iam touched a nerve.) I most certainly am not. To suggest I could believe in some fairy tale about, about an old man with a long gray beard who looks down on us, who gives a damn about us, who cares if we live or die, if we feel joy or pain is . . . I'd sooner believe in the tooth fairy.Iam: Even when you were a child he sensed your cynicism. When you got older, you made no attempt to hide it. He knew you didn't like him, didn't respect him, and that he embarrassed you. Right Sol? You couldn't understand how, why, a hunchback--a physically broken man--could, should receive the respect he was given, let alone your mother's love. He was, how did you put it, Sol, "nothing more than a snake oil salesman whose only stock and trade was lies and superstition."
Gesammelte Trag繹dien
Aischylos (525 v.Chr./456 v. Chr.) ist vor Sophokles und Euripides der 瓣lteste der drei gro?en griechischen Trag繹diendichter. Von seinen sieben erhaltenen St羹cken werden vor allem die Perser und die Orestie weltweit gespielt. Zur Inhalt: Agamemnon: "Agamemnon" opferte seine Tochter Iphigenie. Die Mutter von Iphigenie, Klytaimnestra, t繹tet deshalb ihren Mann Agamemnon nach dessen R羹ckkehr aus dem Trojanischen Krieg, und ebenso dessen Geliebte Kassandra. Der Sohn Orestes t繹tet daraufhin seine Mutter Klytaimnestra und deren Geliebten Aigisthos. Orestes - und das ist neu - wird daf羹r nicht mit dem Tod bestraft; die Rachegeister (Erinyen) k繹nnen in einem Gerichtsverfahren bes瓣nftigt werden. G繹ttin Athene spricht bei Stimmengleichheit das Urteil (Freispruch). Der Fluch der Familie wird durchbrochen. "Die Perser" sind eine der gro?en Trag繹dien des griechischen Dichters Aischylos. Das St羹ck gilt als das 瓣lteste erhaltene Drama der Welt. Die Perser behandeln den Untergang der persischen Flotte in der Seeschlacht von Salamis aus der fiktiven Sicht des persischen K繹nigshofes. Das St羹ck beginnt mit einem Monolog des Chorf羹hrers, der als Vertreter der persischen Edelleute ausf羹hrlich erz瓣hlt, wie sich das gewaltige Heer des Perserk繹nigs Xerxes I. auf den Weg nach Griechenland macht, um die Niederlage seines Vaters Darius I. bei Marathon zu s羹hnen und die griechischen St瓣dte seinem Reich anzuschlie?en. Darauf f瓣llt der restliche Chor ein und f羹hrt die Erz瓣hlung weiter, berichtet dabei nicht nur von ersten Siegen, sondern auch von der Unterjochung des Meeres selbst - gemeint ist der Bau einer Br羹cke 羹ber den Hellespont, der die Erdteile Asien und Europa voneinander trennt."
Horror's New Wave
Celebrate legendary horror studio Blumhouse's legacy with this lavishly illustrated visual compendium that takes you behind the scenes of the films that have reshaped the horror genre, from The Exorcist to the Paranormal Activity and Halloween franchises. With Blumhouse celebrating its 15th anniversary throughout 2025, Horror's New Wave captures the company's journey to become a powerhouse in the horror and thriller film genres--taking you through the process of conception to premiere for films like Five Nights at Freddy's, Sinister, Split, Get Out, M3GAN, now-classic franchises like The Purge, and so much more. This definitive "Blumhouse book" delves into the behind-the-scenes processes that shaped Blumhouse's iconic films and is perfect for cinephiles, pop culture enthusiasts, and lovers of horror. Featuring an introduction from CEO and founder Jason Blum, it also includes interviews with key filmmakers and writers like M. Night Shyamalan, Leigh Whannell, James Wan, and Mike Flanagan; actors, such as Allison Williams, Ethan Hawke, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Octavia Spencer; and Blumhouse executives like head of film Couper Samuelson and head of casting Terri Taylor. These interviews explore how each project came together, offering stories and insights into the creative process, such as directing, musical score, makeup, acting, cinematography, and more. You will get a birds-eye view at the triumphs and challenges of some of the most beloved and iconic horror films of all time. This book also includes film stills, on-set photographs, storyboards, creative briefs, and title treatments--giving you a true backstage pass to the making of your favorite films.
Reclaiming Time
Showing how twenty-first-century Black theater and media arts challenge dominant conceptualizations of timeReclaiming Time: Race, Temporality, and Black Expressive Culture examines works by contemporary Black artists in multiple media--drama, film, performance art, and photography--that trouble dominant conceptualizations and normative configurations of time in relation to race in the twenty-first century. Isaiah Matthew Wooden explores the ways in which an intentional and sometimes ludic engagement with time and temporality has enabled these artists to probe urgent questions and themes concerning the conditions of contemporary Black life. Wooden surveys a diverse array of performance-based and visual texts to explore the rich practices of contemporary Black expressive culture: dramatic works by playwrights Eisa Davis, Tarell Alvin McCraney, and Robert O'Hara; performance art and photography by visual artists Jefferson Pinder and LaToya Ruby Frazier; and feature-length cinema by director-producer Tanya Hamilton. These works expose normative time as specious and evidence the transformative potential in honing practices of Black temporal experimentation and intervention. By putting this cross-disciplinary set of texts in conversation with each other, Wooden sheds new light on the shrewd ways that they each reflect an investment in unbinding time from the exigencies of normativity and teleology, as well as on their shared commitments to reclaiming time to reimagine and represent Blackness in all its multiplicities.
Unsettling Acts
Analyzing contemporary theater and performance works about Korean transnational adoption, Jieun Lee's Unsettling Acts: Performing Transnational Adoption challenges longstanding ideas about adoption. Lee contends that in staging adoptees' birth family searches and reunions, theater and performance artists unsettle dominant discourses that have essentialized adoptees through ethnonationalist, gendered, and postwar humanitarian narratives in both birth and adoptive cultures. In doing so, Lee reveals how these performances engage in acts of disavowal of and resistance to mythologies of adoption and adoptee experience. Lee examines twelve works-from South Korea, the United States, the United Kingdom, Belgium, and Denmark-including plays, musicals, solo performances, community-based theater, and performance art. Through her analysis, theater and performance become a means for reimagining adoptees' identity, kinship, and sense of belonging. Further, these pieces encourage critical exploration of the history, politics, and social impacts of Korean transnational adoption. These works thus nurture a countermemory to engender redressive accountability and transpacific justice, pointing a way forward for remaking the transnational adoptee experience in the twenty-first century.
