Ten points/ideas/concepts (though they may be reductive) that I see echoed in our readings thus far:
1) Spectators
a. “Spec-Actors” must take more responsibility for their “actions” during a performance and we can see how some of the political theorists demand a higher responsibility from the audience – the ones who believe the “Make belief.” Perhaps there is a way of thinking about responsibility and limitation as terms.
2) Art Activism (Artivism)
a. With limitations, a lot of the (political) art that is presented in Diana Taylor’s book forces the audience to confront their limitations and understand their limitation with performance and political acts. This “Artivism” is just one of the ways that politics and performance are inextricably linked together, and we see examples of that in all of the readings.
b. Also, every artist is responding to his or her political moment. (Almost inevitable.)
3) Transformation
a. The performance can transform an audience, and a political act can transform a nation, the population, supporters, etc. There is an element of transformation rooted in Boal’s work with the spect-actor.
4) Emancipation, or freedom?
a. We’ve read that it is the minoritarian subject’s struggle for emancipation, or the “us vs. them” dichotomy that constitutes politics. The spectators are also encouraged to free themselves from a “passive” state of being within the theater and become more active and involved.
5) Struggle is what makes politics
a. Tension between the actor and the spectator is also what activates political performance. Tension perhaps Is another phrase to kick around.
6) Resistance
a. Tying this again to the inherent struggle for equality that pervades the political theater. This resistance is also held strong in the theater itself – with (for example) the methodologies of Brecht and Boal as acts of resistance.
7) Civility – etiquette?
a. We discussed civility in the context of “knowledge of assumed spaces” and discussed the idea of tying it to political correctness. I am honestly unsure about how to approach civility, but there is definitely a way to discuss civility (and approach it through all of the readings) in the context of “who has the right?”
8) Passion, Empathy, Emotion, Affect
a. Passion makes politics (Mouffe’s assertion) – and art is dangerous because it sways a man’s emotions. Emotions, which could also be considered a form of passion, are powerful. And the art of “passionate speeches” in politics are also powerful. There is lots to unpack in this concept, but I am not sure of which term would be best, if any of them.
9) New possibilities/potentiality
a. There is definitely an echo of “potentiality” in our readings. In discussing transformation and identification within the political spectrum and “potentiality” especially in regards to world-making, within the performance realm. The potentiality within Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed is endless, for instance.
10) Entertainment?
a. I hesitate with this one, but there is definitely a simple element of “entertainment” that resonates throughout the readings and within the realms of politic and performance. People won’t show up to the theater if they are not entertained. There is also a reason why so many “celebrities” and “reality TV starts” have successfully (relative) entered the political spectrum and stayed. Perhaps this ties into the spectators taking more responsibility for what they are consuming, supporting, and engaging with.