Performing Democracy: International Perspectives on Urban Community-Based Performance (review)

Performing Democracy: International Perspectives on Urban Community-Based Performance documents the burgeoning activity in the newly defined field of "community-based theatre." Throughout theatre history, various approaches have self-consciously utilized performance to build and change communities; however, theoretical discourses since the 1960s have foregrounded the extraordinary power of particular performance techniques to create social change and activate democratic processes. Haedicke and Nellhaus define "community-based performance" broadly as that which ". . . often redefines text, initiates unique script development strategies that challenge time-tested techniques for playwriting, . . . introduces participatory performance techniques that blur the boundaries between actor and spectator in order to maximize the participants' agency, . . . produc[es] a two-way learning process not circumscribed by actual performance event or space, and disrupt[s] the traditional actor/audience relationship" (3). With this definition guiding the anthology, relationships emerge among a wide array of political performance forms ranging from skateboarding to presentational dance performance to theatre in education, senior theatre, and performance art. Because the volume juxtaposes scholarly writing with practitioners' "reports from the trenches" (6), the essays, which may appear uneven to some readers, create a rich tapestry of multiple voices and perspectives. The editors have carefully ordered each section so that the more scholarly and theoretical essays help position some of the more descriptive practitioner accounts. Contributors honestly analyze both failures and successes within their own creative work, providing a balanced look at shortcomings in community-based performance practices.

The most successful aspects of the anthology are its effectiveness in challenging identity politics, questioning aesthetic standards that have obscured community-based work, and opening up dialogue among international communities that goes well beyond British and North American countries. Three sections with editorial introductions provide a framework that serves the articles well and highlights ethical and theoretical issues, rather than reinforcing more obvious categories such as location or genre.

In "Part I: Defining Communities," essays consider how the act of performance constitutes communities. Bruce McConachie contributes an augmented version of his previously published article, "Approaching the Structure of Feeling in Grassroots Theater." Including more material about his collaboration with Robbie McCauley, he explains how emotion-laden images allow audiences to imagine a unified community. Exploring some of the ethical issues inherent in facilitating as an outsider, Sonja Kuftinec demonstrates the fluidity of ethno-religious borders as she shares how a performance with Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim), Croatian, and Serbian teenagers temporarily reformed those borders. E. J. Westlake describes examples of forum theatre with homeless Seattle youth, and Carl Thelin shares the work of an artist cooperative in Taichung, Taiwan. Developing a Marxist perspective, Alan Filewood interrogates definitions of both "community" and "theatre" as he describes the "strategic ventures" of a Canadian company, Ground Zero. Filewood offers an insightful analysis, explaining how "theatre" and all of its connotations become obstacles when one takes an activist approach in working class communities.

"Part II: Authority in Community-Based Theater Process" focuses on issues of "social location, control, authority, and authenticity: 'who performs, whose material is performed, and who decides?'" (13). Laura Wiley and David Fiener provide a perceptive explanation of their practices at the Albany Park Theatre Project. They utilize a process that decentralizes representational authority and shifts from individual ownership to a collective ownership that empowers the teenagers creating the work. Jane Heather explores her collaboration with an Alberta labor union that fights against the privatization of their jobs. John Somers's essay describes an educational project in an Exwick classroom where students discover the history of their school and community, and, through performance, build skills and bond with the community. Attilio Favorini and Gillette Elvgren examine the process of creating a documentary drama about the steel industry in Pittsburgh. They recount a professional revival of a community-based play that lost its connection to the...