Working In The Wings: New Perspectives On Theatre History And Labor Theatre History And Labor Project Muse Upcc Books

Theatre has long been an art form of subterfuge and concealment. __Working in the Wings: New Perspectives on Theatre History and Labor,__ edited by Elizabeth A. Osborne and Christine Woodworth, brings attention to what goes on behind the scenes, challenging, and revising our understanding of work, theatre, and history. Essays consider a range of historic moments and geographic locations—from African Americans’ performance of the cakewalk in Florida’s resort hotels during the Gilded Age to the UAW Union Theatre and striking automobile workers in post–World War II Detroit, to the struggle in the latter part of the twentieth century to finish an adaptation of __Moby Dick__ for the stage before the memory of creator Rinde Eckert failed. Contributors incorporate methodologies and theories from fields as diverse as theatre history, work studies, legal studies, economics, and literature and draw on traditional archival materials, including performance texts and architectural structures, as well as less tangible material traces of stagecraft. __Working in the Wings__ looks at the ways in which workers' identities are shaped, influenced, and dictated by what they do; the traces left behind by workers whose contributions have been overwritten; the intersections between the sometimes repetitive and sometimes destructive process of creation and the end result—the play or performance; and the ways in which theatre affects the popular imagination. This collected volume draws attention to the significance of work in the theatre, encouraging a fresh examination of this important subject in the history of the theatre and beyond. Introduction: The Work Of Play In Performance / Elizabeth A. Osborne And Christine Woodworth -- Working Conditions: Driving Race Work : The Uaw, Detroit, And Discrimination For Everybody! / Chrystyna Dail. Working Together : The Partnership Of Les Waters And Annie Smart / Sara Freeman. Advertising And The Commercial Spirit : Cataloging Nineteenth Century Scenic Studio Practices / Tom Robson. Don't Quit Your Day Job : Situating Extratheatrical Employment In The Performance Archive / Christine Woodworth -- Inscription, Erasure, And Recovery : Palimpseste Of Labor: Retooling The Kitchen Sink : Representing Domestic Labor In American Performance After 1963 / Dorothy Chansky. Beaten, Battered, And Brawny : American Variety Entertainers And The Working-class Body / Max Shulman. Hidden In Plain Sight : Recovering The Federal Theatre Project's Caravan Theatre / Elizabeth A. Osborne. African American Waiters And Cakewalk Contests In Florida East Coast Resorts Of The Gilded Age / Jerry Dickey -- Myth, Memory, And Manifestation : The Work Of The Public Mind: Dion Boucicault's The Octoroon And The Work Of Republicanism / Elizabeth Reitz Mullenix. Myth Made Manifest : Labor, Landscape, And The First Washington Theatre / Annmarie T. Saunders. Labor, Theatre, And The Dream Of The White City / Rosemarie K. Bank. Blue-collar Bard : Recalling Shakespeare Through The Rhetoric Of Labor / Melissa Rynn Porterfield. Songs Of Salaried Warriors : Copyright, Intellectual Property, And John Philip Sousa's The Free Lance / Tracey Elaine Chessum. Working On A Masterpiece : Rinde Eckert's And God Created Great Whales / Jonathan Chambers -- Conclusion: Waiting In The Wings--work / Elizabeth A. Osborne. Edited By Elizabeth A. Osborne And Christine Woodworth. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Theatre has long been an art form of subterfuge and concealment. Working in the Wings: New Perspectives on Theatre History and Labor, edited by Elizabeth A. Osborne and Christine Woodworth, brings attention to what goes on behind the scenes, challenging and revising our understanding of work, theatre, and history. Essays consider a range of historic moments throughout the United States: African Americans' performance of the cakewalk in Florida's resort hotels; the UAW Union Theatre's role in automobile worker strikes in post-World War II Detroit; the complex negotiations of public identity involved in building the nation's first Washington Theatre; and the creative work of building and marketing a new Shakespeare Festival to the people of Pittsburgh. Contributors incorporate methodologies and theories from fields as diverse as work studies, cultural history, women's studies, economics, and literature and draw on traditional archival materials, including performance texts and architectural structures, as well as less tangible material traces of stagecraft. Working in the Wings looks at the ways in which workers' identities are shaped, influenced, and dictated by what they do; the traces left behind by workers when their contributions have been overwritten; the intersections between the sometimes repetitive and sometimes destructive process of creation and the end result; and the ways in which theatre circulates in the popular imagination. This collected volume draws attention to the significance of work in the theatre and of theatre's work in the world, encouraging a fresh examination of this important subject in the history of the theatre and beyond. Book jacket