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Acting Queer

Gender Dissidence and the Subversion of Realism

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  • © 2020

Overview

Authors:
  1. Conrad Alexandrowicz

    1. University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada

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  • Addresses the experience of gender-nonconforming actors in the context of actor training in order to establish a critique of such training and the theatre practices it feeds.
  • Stimulates discussion about diversity among both practitioners and scholars.
  • Proposes an original form of 'queer-eco training’ in response to the climate crisis

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Table of contents (7 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-ix
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  2. Introduction: Why Write This Book Now?

    • Conrad Alexandrowicz
    Pages 1-25

  3. ‘You’re Soaking in It’: The Socio-Cultural Bath

    • Conrad Alexandrowicz
    Pages 27-48

  4. The Influence of Hollywood

    • Conrad Alexandrowicz
    Pages 49-71

  5. Gender Dissidence

    • Conrad Alexandrowicz
    Pages 73-111

  6. Gendered Movement and ‘Physical’ Acting

    • Conrad Alexandrowicz
    Pages 113-139

  7. ‘Queer-Looking, Queer-Acting’: The Subversion of Realism

    • Conrad Alexandrowicz
    Pages 141-166

  8. Acting Queer Ecology: Extensions and Excursions

    • Conrad Alexandrowicz
    Pages 167-189

  9. Back Matter

    Pages 191-224
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Keywords

About this book

This book is situated at the intersection of queer/gender studies and theories of acting pedagogy and performance. It explores the social and cultural matrix in which matters of gender are negotiated, including that of post-secondary theatre and drama education. It identifies the predicament of gender dissident actors who must contend with the widespread enforcement of realist paradigms within the academy, and proposes a re-imagining of the way drama/theatre/performance are practised in order to serve more fairly and effectively the needs of queer actors in training. This is located within a larger project of critique in reference to the art form as a whole. 


The book stimulates discussion among practitioners and scholars on matters concerning various kinds of diversity: of gender expression, of approaches to the teaching of acting, and to the way the art form may be imagined and executed in the early years of the 21st Century, in particular in the face of the climate crisis. But it is also an aid to practitioners who are seeking new theoretical and practical approaches to dealing with gender diversity in acting pedagogy. 




                    

Reviews

“Acting Queer was written for post-secondary theatre educators, especially practitioners, but I would suggest sharing it with department and college administrators also. … he also intends the book for ‘students themselves who may be asking troubling though perhaps productive questions … who is teaching them? What are they being taught and why?’ … . I look forward to asking these questions alongside students and discovering what may be possible when heteronormative gender roles are actively subverted in our pedagogy.” (Emily Finck, Theatre Topics, Vol. 32 (1), March, 2022)

Authors and Affiliations

  • University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada

    Conrad Alexandrowicz

About the author

Conrad Alexandrowicz is Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre at the University of Victoria, Canada. He is a director, writer and choreographer, and the artistic director of Wild Excursions Performance. To date he has created over fifty choreographies, dance- and physical-theatre pieces, plays and performance works, some of which have been presented across Canada, in New York City, France and the U.K. He specializes in movement for actors and physical theatre creation, directs mainstage productions, and continues his explorations into that mysterious territory where dance and theatre overlap. He recently completed an extensive research project on the staging of poetry with actors and dancers funded by Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. His work has been published in Theatre, Dance and Performance Training, the Canadian Journal for Practice-Based Research in Theatre and Studies in Theatre and Performance.

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