A Note from the Editor

I am thrilled to offer an introduction to this issue of Theatre Topics. Since assuming the editorship earlier this year, not only have I marveled at the erudite and creative musings of many who have submitted essays, but I have been struck by the astonishing cross-section of people submitting work for review. From graduate students through senior professors; academicians to theatre professionals; and those contemplating theatre in a traditional sense, to those thinking about the implications of performance from more wide-ranging perspectives, the spread of discourses exhibited in the essays crossing my desk exemplify the extensive and multifarious community of artists, scholars, and teachers working in theatre. Moreover, it has been my great pleasure to find that so many of the submissions are not only lucid and cogent, but also are asking probing research questions that are sure to push the field forward in fascinating and useful ways. In short, then, as I compose this my first editorial, I am delighted by the recognition that ours is a profession that is expansive in scope and rich in ideas.

The six essays included in this issue exemplify this breadth and depth. The first piece, by Una Chaudhuri and Shonni Enelow, opens with the question, "When we 'become-animal,' what do animals become?" In many respects, the theoretically sophisticated article that follows models one of the primary objectives of Theatre Topics, describing and theorizing the research, rehearsal, and performance process of a production at New York University about human–animal interactions. The essay stands as an exemplar of the intersection of theory and practice.

The same may be said for the three pieces that follow. The first of these, Scott Magelssen's engaging essay about a living history environment in which visitors (himself included) perform the historical, is marked by the author's careful consideration of the ways in which "both museum visitors [. . .] and museum curators negotiate historiographic and representational boundaries as they bear witness to the lived past." In a similar vein, Clark Lunberry's phenomenological analysis of his own response to Deborah Warner's production of Medea includes striking prose that verges on poetic, as well as an eloquent and useful rumination on the "dual perspective of having seen the performance, but of seeing it no longer, of having been a spectator to the play, but now being a spectator to my memories of it." The author is present as well in Ragan Fox's moving consideration of the issue of HIV-negativity. This is effectively explored by way of the author's description and critical unpacking of his own writing and performance on the subject.

The final two pieces in this issue move in a different direction. They are linked by their shared focus on "Introduction to Theatre," the bread-and-butter course for so many working in the academy. In the first of these two essays Jaclyn Pryor offers a view of theatre pedagogy through a smart application of feminist and queer theories. Considering specifically the mass lecture hall, Pryor seeks to make sense of the ways in which the practical application of such theoretical concepts, and the political questions that arise in their wake, are received. In the second, Amy Hughes, Jill Stevenson, and Mikhail Gershovich document how they have used the idea of "discourse" to "reconceptualize Introduction to Theatre in a way that addresses the diverse objectives of students, instructors, and university administrators." Taken together, the six essays that make up this issue epitomize the excellent and varied work being done in our field.

In closing, I want to thank Joan Herrington, who preceded me as editor. In the two years I served as her co-editor, I marveled at Joan's ability to ask probing and pointed questions of those whose work she is editing. Coupled with this, she possesses the uncanny ability to see promise in pieces that are in an embryonic stage of development. In short, I hope to meet the challenges that await me with the sort of discretion, poise, and professionalism that Joan brought to the editorship. Thanks also to Managing Editor Elanore Lampner; ATHE's Vice President for...