Performing Feminisms

Performing Feminisms is the first book to bring together theoretical works on the theater written from a feminist perspective. This pioneering work uses feminist critical theory, as it have been applied to fiction and the cinema, to explore dramatic tests and performances.

In an introductory essay, Sue-Ellen case provides an overview of the intersection between feminist critical theory and theater in the 1980s. The contributors consider a wide range of themes and strategies—psychoanalytic theory, Lacanian criticism, socialist feminism, lesbianism, history, even the folk theory of Aunt Jemima. Among the contributors, Teresa de Lauretis examines sexual indifference and lesbian representation. Elin Diamond and Sharon Willis use Lacan to dismantle notions of identity. Glenda Dickerson explores womanist attitudes in African-American theater. Yvonne Yarbo-Bejarano discusses the female subject in Chicago theater. Judith Butler destabilizes gender identity in her analysis of the performative act. The writers consider differences across time—from Shakespeare to contemporary performance art—and across ethnic and class boundaries.

The feminist critical practices of the 1980s present a challenge to women's studies and theater studies in the 1990s. Performing Feminisms introduces a relatively new field, one sure to provoke discussion in both disciplines.