From Acting to Performance: Essays in Modernism and Postmodernism

From Acting to Performancecollects for the first time major essays by performance theorist and critic Philip Auslander. Spanning over a decade, the essays survey the changes in acting and performance that occurred during the transition from the ecstatic theatre of the Vietnam era to the postmodern irony of the 1980s. Starting with the modern acting theories that inspired theatrical experimentalists of the 1960s such as Jerzy Grotowski and Jacques Copeau and ranging to 1990s performance artists and stand-up comics such as Kate Bornstein and Rosanne Barr,From Acting to Performanceprovides critical analyses of modernist acting theories. Auslander argues that traditional theatre and contemporary performance studies are united by shared concerns and critical approaches.