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Bathing in Liminality: Soaking Up History in Hot Springs, Arkansas
- Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism
- The University of Kansas, Department of Theatre and Dance
- Volume 32, Number 1, Fall 2017
- pp. 9-28
- 10.1353/dtc.2017.0019
- Article
- View Citation
- Additional Information
Abstract:
The continuously operating bathhouses of Hot Springs, Arkansas, are monuments to leisure. Like living history museums, they use performance methods—for example, ritual and nonverbal "cruelty"—to create for participants moments of anti-structure that subtly question gender and class hierarchies. These institutions suggest avenues for progressive change even in culturally conservative locations.