Trans-Global Readings: Crossing Theatrical Boundaries

Description

This text provides a forum for a wide range of theatre, music and performance artists to talk about where they stand in relation to new technologies, intercultural collaborations and the making of interdisciplinary work. Looking at how time, space and memory play an active role in shaping different artistic visions, Caridad Svich has gathered the voices of unique and dynamic artists, including Tim Etchells, Richard Foreman, Peter Gabriel, Guillermo Gomez Pena, Phelim McDermott and Peter Sellars as a way to examine the impact of globalization on the creation and development of new work. An emphasis on the discussion of the artistic process distinguishes the interviews and essays collected in this volume. the specific nature of each contribution offers the reader, be they student, practitioner or interested audience member, a privileged window into how artists on the cutting edge of their disciplines negotiate the many practical, political and technological choices available to them in the contemporary world. An afterword by the theatre scholar Patrice Pavis illustrates further how changing dramatic forms are affected by and created from new media.

Caridad Svich is a member playwright of New Dramatists in New York City -- .

"In an era of porous borders--both real and artistic--we urgently look to artists who can reach beyond traditional boundaries. This volume is a welcome and inspiring collection of artists' perspectives on the relationship of performance to a new set of global and aesthetic realities. As these artists discuss their lives, work, ideas and aspirations, readers will cross countless borders with them."--Thomas Sellar, Yale University "In a world where globalisation is seen as the great threat to native cultures, identity and art forms, and where, paradoxically, interdisciplinary, cross-fertilisation and formal experimentation are the buzz words of both the artist and academic, playwright/scholar Caridad Svich has brought together in this timely volume a broad range of international theatrical practitioners to reflect on their working processes and how the breaking of boundaries, both national and formal has affected their methodologies and their art."--Colin Teevan, playwright/translator "This is a book with a personality as vivid and quirky as the artists that appear beneath its covers, and while certain themes and perspectives float between the conversations, there is a fierce individuality to each of the pieces. The lasting impression is of the contemporary artist as a tightrope walker on the borders of culture, politics, aesthetics and technology. What keeps them up there is the elusive concept of creativity, and perhaps that is the book's greatest strength: it looks beyond theory and practice to the productive imagination."--Paul Heritage, Queen Mary, University of London