Stage turns : Canadian disability theatre / Kirsty Johnston.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Johnston, Kirsty, 1971-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Actors with disabilities--Canada.

Actors with disabilities.

People with disabilities and the arts--Canada.

People with disabilities and the arts.

Theater--Canada--History.

Theater.

Theaters--Canada--History.

Theaters.

History.

Canada.

Physical Description:

xv, 221 pages : illustrations, portrait ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Montreal : McGill-Queen's University Press, [2012]

Summary:

Over the past three decades, disability theatre artists have claimed greater space on Canadian and world stages. While disabled figures and themes-are theatre mainstays, productions tend to employ disability figuratively rather than engage with actual disability experience. In reaction, disability theatre pursues an activist perspective that dismantles stereotypes, challenges stigma, and re-imagines disability as a valued human condition.

Stage Turns documents the development and innovations of disability theatre in Canada, the aesthetic choices and challenges of the movement, and the multiple spatial scales at which disability theatre operates, from-the local to the increasingly global. Histories of Canada's leading disability theatre companies emphasize the early importance of local efforts in the absence of national coordination, while close readings of individual productions demonstrate how aesthetic choices matter and can be a source of solidarity or debate. In the first comparative analysis of disability theatre in Canada, Kirsty Johnston provides a nuanced consideration of disability theatre's breadth and internal differences.

Stage Turns shows that the diversity of disability theatre is critical to understanding how it is challenging mainstream aesthetics and fulfilling its own artistic goals. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Introduction 3

Part 1 Histories

2 Surveying the Scene 19

3 Workman Arts 48

4 Theatre Terrific 65

5 Scale-Jumping 86

Part 2 Performances

6 Re-Staging Disability Theatre 107

7 Staging Schizophrenia 126

8 Disruptive Spaces: The Clinic 143

9 Performing Paralympia 155

10 Conclusion 171.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [199]-213) and index.

ISBN:

9780773539952

0773539956

9780773539945

0773539948

OCLC:

764385474