Well met : Renaissance faires and the American counterculture / Rachel Lee Rubin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rubin, Rachel, 1964-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Renaissance fairs--United States--History--20th century.

Renaissance fairs.

Counterculture--United States--History--20th century.

Counterculture.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (361 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Renaissance faires and the American counterculture

Place of Publication:

New York : New York University Press, c2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The Renaissance Faire—a 50 year-long party, communal ritual, political challenge and cultural wellspring—receives its first sustained historical attention with Well Met. Beginning with the chaotic communal moment of its founding and early development in the 1960s through its incorporation as a major “family friendly” leisure site in the 2000s, Well Met tells the story of the thinkers, artists, clowns, mimes, and others performers who make the Faire. Well Met approaches the Faire from the perspective of labor, education, aesthetics, business, the opposition it faced, and the key figures involved. Drawing upon vibrant interview material and deep archival research, Rachel Lee Rubin reveals the way the faires established themselves as a pioneering and highly visible counter cultural referendum on how we live now—our family and sexual arrangements, our relationship to consumer goods, and our corporate entertainments. In order to understand the meaning of the faire to its devoted participants, both workers and visitors, Rubin has compiled a dazzling array of testimony, from extensive conversations with Faire founder Phyllis Patterson to interviews regarding the contemporary scene with performers, crafters, booth workers and “playtrons.” Well Met pays equal attention what came out of the faire—the transforming gifts bestowed by the faire’s innovations and experiments upon the broader American culture: the underground press of the 1960's and 1970's, experimentation with “ethnic” musical instruments and styles in popular music, the craft revival, and various forms of immersive theater are all connected back to their roots in the faire. Original, intrepid, and richly illustrated, Well Met puts the Renaissance Faire back at the historical center of the American counterculture.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Note on Interviews

Introduction

1. “Welcome to the Sixties!”

2. Artisans of the Realm

3. “Shakespeare, He’s in the Alley”

4. “A Place to Be Out”

5. “Every Day Is Gay Day Here”

6. Hard Day’s Knight

Notes

Works Cited

Index

About the Author

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Jun 2020)

Includes bibliographical references (p. 313-331) and index.

ISBN:

0-8147-3810-9

OCLC:

818819035