One of the hallmarks of 9/11 and its immediate aftermath was the banishing of theatre or performance from the community. The consensus was that we had entered a moment of sacred authenticity that could brook no illusion or spectacle.
The moment of theatre's resumption was therefore clearly marked--you can read some account of this in the linked articles below and see some evidence of it in the Broadway Stars clip. Similarly, the return to air of late night entertainment, from Jon Stewart to David Letterman to Saturday Night Live, necessitated a kind of meta-commentary on the role of performance in the midst of national trauma. (see the Youtube link below for a recording of Jon Stewart's re-entry).
Now for your prompt: having read Taylor and parts of the TJ Forum on 9/11, what do you think is the most useful contribution theatricality / performativity, and / or performance and theatre studies can offer in this circumstance? Now, more than a decade later, what do the methods and terms we have been studying bring to the phenomenon of 9/11?
Note: all posts are due by midnight on Monday, September 10th.
Note: all posts are due by midnight on Monday, September 10th.
Daily Show
Broadway Stars
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