ATHE – Sites of Performance and Protest: Dramaturging Public Space in Boston
“Sites of Performance and Protest: Dramaturging Public Space in Boston”
Session Chair:
LaRonika Thomas, Loyola University Maryland & University of Maryland, College Park
Panel Description:
Panelists dramaturg the city of Boston through a series of site visits and responses to public spaces of protest in Boston.
Building off of last year’s panel on “Dramaturgies of the as Vegas Experience,” this panel extends the idea of a dramaturgy of public space to Boston, a city with a significant history of protest and resistance. Turning from the spectacle-filled, tourist-focused casinos of Las Vegas, this panel asks a group of dramaturgs to consider the performance of a different kind of public space, sites of protest. Places such as the Boston Harbor and Harvard Yard are communal public spaces serving a variety of purposes for residents and visitors alike, and their use as sites of local or national protest throughout Boston’s history have perhaps added to their significance as sites of tourism and consumption in the 21st century. Who do these spaces purport to be for and who uses them on a day-to-day basis? How are their histories of protest embedded and/or featured in these spaces? What can these sites tell us about the relationship between protest and consumption? What can the multiple ways these sites are used tell us about protest, performance, dramaturgy, and urban space?
Inspired by a variety of dramaturgical methodologies, most significantly Elinor Fuchs’, “EF’s Visit to a Small Planet,” the panel of dramaturgs will each choose a site of protest in Boston to visit and engage with before or during the conference and will present their reflections on the spaces during the panel, continuing the conversation on public space started in Las Vegas.
If you are interested in participating in the session as a panelist, please send session chair LaRonika Thomas (lmthomas@loyola.edu) your top 2-3 site visit choices and a 300-word abstract on your site selection by April 20th.