Directing “The Performance of Possibilities” Within Whiteness

Casting, Staging, and Interaction in Postperformance Discussions

Bibliographic Data

ID7364752
AuthorsClaire Syler (0000-0003-4352-3437, University of Missouri, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume27
Issue2
Pages255-264
Publication date2020-03-31
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueQualitative Inquiry (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1077-8004 • E-ISSN: 1552-7565
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1077800420912795
OpenAlexW3014160634
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited14

Postperformance discussions are common, talk-driven events that follow cultural affairs (i.e., lectures, film screenings, theater) and often feature expert panelists in conversation with everyday spectators. This article examines the postperformance discussions held after The Every 28 Hours Plays, a critical performance project focused on anti-Black racism and police brutality, at the predominantly White University of Missouri. Applying discourse analysis to transcripts of the postproduction dialogues, I show how Whiteness challenged some White spectators’ understanding of the pedagogically oriented performance and, as such, I examine how critical performance pedagogues can grapple with the White racial frame of spectatorship to navigate and, potentially, resist it. One way to navigate Whiteness during postperformance discussions is to approach the discussions as performance, using directorial practices like casting, staging, and structured interaction to focus the dialogue on a production’s critical themes

Aesthetics · Art · Conversation · Focus (optics · Frame (networking · Racism · Sociology · White (mutation · Art Education and Development · Communication · Computer Science · Critical Race Theory in Education · Gender Studies · Theatre and Performance Studies

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