Ulteriori informazioni
Monstrous Utopias builds on the growing discourse surrounding the figure of the monster in performance, theatre, media and literature, to reflect on the ways in which such figures can reflect and subvert understandings of society.
This volume considers the ethical and hopeful work of monsters and examines ways in which playwrights, theatre and performance artists, film artists, drag artists, dancers, cultural practitioners and activists have engaged the monster to reflect the ongoing fears (including racist, sexist, homophobic, and others) within society and how they might offer a radical sense of hope. Providing perspectives by top scholars in the field,
Monstrous Utopias interrogates the ways in which the figure of the monster can be used in performance as a hopeful figure. This is a global and exploratory collection that offers meaningful insights into the ways in which the figure of the monster can be used to radically envisage utopias and provide moments of hope to audiences, curated by Michael Mark Chemers and Analola Santana, two leaders in the field of monster studies.
These essays are essential reading for Theatre and Performance students of all levels as well as scholars. It will also be an enlightening text for those interested in monstrosity and Cultural Studies more broadly.
Sommario
Introduction - Wicked Prisms: Monstrosity as
Vor-ScheinPART I. THE MONSTER AS SIGNAL1. The Monstrous Body is a Discursive Body
2. "There Be Dragons...Awashed in the New World"
3. The Monstrous-Feminine in Performances by Florentina Holzinger
4. Many Monsters in One:
Ipi Zombi? And Post-Apartheid South African Sociophonics
5. Who is the Monster? Naming the Monster as Performative Act in Koreeda Hirozaku's
Monster (2023)
PART II. LOOKING THROUGH THE MONSTER'S EYES6. "Here Comes the Hurricane": Confronting Environmental Monstrosity through Comedic Performance
7. Haunting the Genre: The Transformative Power of Immersive Performance in Haunted Attractions
8.
Walk Toward The Sunset: Epidemic as Test in Melungeon Narrative
9. Revenge of the Monster Queer: The Cosmic Horror and Eldritch Liberation of Drag
10. Dancing the Monstrous: Manifestations of Female Sexuality in Horror
PART III. THE MONSTER IS US 11. Fearing the Monster Within: Abjection and Empathy in
The Whale12. Dreams of Carcosa: The Utopian Space of Weird Horror and Theatre or a Reparative Reading of
The King in Yellow13. Monstrous Embodiments: The Artistic and Political Potential of Drag Practices in Buenos Aires
14. Vultures and Mud: The Transformational Ecologies of Ochún Ibú Kolé
15. Teratological Becoming(s): Exploring Black Religion Through Monstrous Performance
Info autore
Michael Mark Chemers is Professor and Chair of the Department of Performance, Play & Design at the University of California Santa Cruz, USA, the author of
The Monster in Theatre History: This Thing of Darkness (Routledge 2018) and the co-editor, with Analola Santana, of
Monsters in Performance: Essays on the Aesthetics of Disqualification (Routledge 2022) and
The Figure of the Monster in Global Theatre (Routledge 2024), and with Ekaterina Trachsel and Gerald Siegmund of
Staging Monstrous Bodies (Routledge 2025), and is the founding Director of the UCSC Center for Monster Studies.
Analola Santana is Associate Professor of Theater at Dartmouth College, USA. She is the author of
Teatro y Cultura de Masas: Encuentros y Debates (2010) and
Freak Performances: Dissidence in Latin American Theatre (2018), which considers the significance of theatrical practices that use the "freak" as a medium to explore the continuing effects of colonialism on Latin American identity. She works as a professional dramaturg and is a company member of Mexico's famed Teatro de Ciertos Habitantes.
Riassunto
Monstrous Utopias builds on the growing discourse surrounding the figure of the monster in performance, theatre, media and literature, to reflect on the ways in which such figures can reflect and subvert understandings of society.
