Site-Based Theatre: The Beginning

Editors Penelope Cole and Rand Harmon co-organized and led a working group titled Site-Based Theatre as a Trans-Contextual Experience at the American Society of Theatre Research (ASTR) conference in Minneapolis in November 2016. Mike Pearson and Michael Shanks, speaking about site-specific performance in their book Theatre/Archaeology, contend that "performance recontextualises such sites: is the latest occupation of a location where other occupations—their material traces and histories—are still apparent: site is not just an interesting, and disinterested, backdrop." Further, they suggest that "interpenetrating narratives jostle to create meanings."¹ Inspired by the insights of Pearson and Shanks and the idea of the multiple occupations, or contexts, present in sites, the goal of our working group was to explore the very specific moment in the performative event when these multiple contexts intersect. We hoped through close analysis to unpack how performers and viewer/participants navigate between and among the disparate, and often competing, contexts of the theatrical event. The strength and breadth of the ideas exhibited in the papers by the participants in this working group, as well as the discoveries engendered through spirited, impassioned dialogue, inspired this collection of articles and conversations for Theatre History Studies. Some of the articles in this special section were first presented as part of the working group and have been revised and refined. Other articles represent the ongoing scholarly work in site-based theatre of working group members. Still others are written by scholars new to the field who bring a welcome fresh voice to our collective scholarship.

Our explorations of the interactive moment in site-based work emphasized how contexts collide, shift, blur, merge, and are reimagined, revealing the power embedded in the moment of performance. Our discussions also exposed how ripe these moments of interaction are for transgressive social behavior or the promotion of exclusivity, or both simultaneously. We aimed to articulate the unique dramaturgies of site-based theatre as defined by those moments of interaction through this work. By centering our discussions on the affective responses generated in the negotiation of multiple contexts by the performer and the spectator/participant in interaction, we gained compelling analytical perspectives on site-based theatrical events. Potent ideas about how creators of site-based work can engage with and capitalize on moments of interaction emerged. Finally, these exchanges led us to questions surrounding ethics and site-based theatre.

As the ideas for this special section developed, we became most interested in grappling with how the visceral/affective impact on the spectator/participant of a site-based event is created as well as how the spectator/participant may come to embody characters, the narrative itself, and/or the themes and ideas of the event. Additionally, raising and addressing concerns regarding potential societal and behavioral transgressions created by the unconventional spectator/ performer relationships and interactions found in site-based events was another area of extreme interest. To these ends we sought, as articulated in our call for papers, "case studies that explore the unique dramaturgies of site-based performances or engage the ethical implications of disruptive audience conventions." We also welcomed "submissions analyzing spectator embodiment and engagement or exploring aesthetic innovations or ethical challenges experienced by audiences in site-based productions."

The articles found within this section speak to these questions in a multitude of ways. The first three papers are case studies of three widely different site-based performances personally experienced by the authors, and the next article examines how the creators of site-based work utilize various dramaturgies and techniques in the conception of site-based events. The final portion of this special collection is a curated conversation between four scholars/directors revolving around distinctive ethical concerns raised by their personal experiences with either attending or creating site-based work.

Terminology and Definitions

A large body of work attempts to define the multiplicity of terms used to signify theatrical work performed outside the boundaries of more conventional theatre spaces.² The editors of this special collection have deliberately chosen the generic umbrella term "site-based" to encompass the ever-growing variety of these types of...