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Political Solo Performances by Anna Deavere Smith

Year 2018, Volume: 19 Issue: 35, 829 - 848, 31.07.2018
https://doi.org/10.21550/sosbilder.396138

Abstract

Anna Deavere Smith is
an African American playwright, performer and an academician who has created a
unique technique in creating her plays. This article examines her journalistic
technique of interviewing people and building a performance text out of
interviews. Smith uses solo
performance as a medium to explore issues of race, identity and gender. Her
plays, as in “Fires in the Mirror”, reveal contradictory notions of individuals
on such matters in order to show that identity is not singular but is
multi-layered and more complex than we think. This article also discusses her
method of acting as it is closely related to her ideas on identity and race.
Overall, the article demonstrates the ways Anna Deavere Smith challenges the
principles of traditional political theatre and how she creates a more fluid,
intricate and dynamic way of understanding identity and political performance.

References

  • Ards, Angela (2006). “Life as Art: Character Study: Anna Deavere Smith as Herself”. Black Issues Book Review, C. 8, S. 3, s. 12-15.
  • Butler, Judith (1988). “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory”. Theatre Journal, C. 40, S. 4, s. 519-531.
  • Case, Sue‐Ellen (1989). “Introduction to Chlorophyll Postmodernism and the Mother Goddess/a Conversation”. Women & Performance: a Journal of Feminist Theory, C. 4, S. 2, s. 20-25.
  • Gray, Madison. “The L.A. Riots: 15 Years After Rodney King”. TIME, http://content.time.com/time/specials/2007/la_riot/article/0,28804,1614117_1614084_1614831,00.html (Erişim: 15.12.2017)
  • Kalb, Jonathan (2001). “Documentary Solo Performance: The Politics of the Mirrored Self”. Theater, C. 31, S. 3, s. 13-29.
  • Lyons, Charles R., and James C. Lyons (1994). “Anna Deveare Smith: Perspectives on her Performance within the Context of Critical Theory”. Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, C. 9, S. 1, s. 43-66.
  • Nagel, Erica (2007). “An Aesthetic of Neighborliness: Possibilities for Integrating Community-Based Practices into Documentary Theatre”. Theatre Topics, C. 17, S. 2, s. 153-168.
  • NEH, National Endowment for Humanities (2015). “The Many Faces Of Anna Deavere Smith”. Humanities, C. 36, S. 2. https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2015/marchapril/feature/the-many-faces-anna-deavere-smith (Erişim: 04.01.2018).
  • Martin, Carol, and Anna Deavere Smith (1993). “Anna Deavere Smith: the Word Becomes You. An interview”. TDR, C. 37, S. 4, s. 45-62.
  • Martin, Carol (1996). “Bearing Witness: Anna Deavere Smith from Community to Theatre to Mass Media”. A Sourcebook of Feminist Theatre and Performance: On and Beyond the Stage, London; New York: Routledge, s. 81-93.
  • O’Connor, Jacqueline (1992). “A One-Woman Riot: Brooklyn 1991 & Los Angeles”. Studies in the Literary Imagination, C. 40, S. 2, s. 153-171.
  • Paget, Derek (1987). “Verbatim Theatre: Oral History and Documentary Techniques”. New Theatre Quarterly, C. 3, S. 12, s. 317-336.
  • Richards, Sandra L. (1993). “Caught in the Act of Social Definition: On the Road with Anna Deavere Smith”. Acting Out: Feminist Performances, Ed: Lynda Hart, Peggy Phelan, Ann Arbor: University of Michagan Press, s. 35-53.
  • Rose, Heidi (2011). “A Conversation with Anna Deavere Smith”. Text and Performance Quarterly, C. 31, S. 4, s. 440-448.
  • Smith, Anna Deavere (1993). Fires in the Mirror: Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and Other Identities. New York: Anchor Books/Doubleday.
  • Smith, Anna Deavere (1994). Twilight: Los Angeles 1992. New York: Anchor Books.
  • Smith, Cherise (2011). “Other Oriented Performance: Anna Deavere Smith and Twilight: Los Angeles”. Enacting Others: Politics of Identity in Eleanor Antin, Nikki S. Lee, Adrian Piper, and Anna Deavere Smith, North Carolina:Duke University Press, s. 135-188.
  • Thompson, Debby (2003). “Is Race a Trope?": Anna Deavere Smith and the Question of Racial Performativity”. African American Review, C. 37, S. 1, s. 127-138.
  • Weber, Bruce (1994). “On Stage, and Off: Rebutting Pulitzer Perception”. The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/22/theater/on-stage-and-off.html (Erişim: 20.11.2017).

POLİTİK TİYATRONUN SOLO SESİ: ANNA DEAVERE SMITH

Year 2018, Volume: 19 Issue: 35, 829 - 848, 31.07.2018
https://doi.org/10.21550/sosbilder.396138

Abstract

Bu çalışma, Afro-Amerikalı oyun yazarı, oyuncu
ve akademisyen Anna Deavere Smith’in 1980’lerde oyun yazmak için
şekillendirmeye başladığı röportaj tekniğini konu alır.  Smith, belli bir konu hakkında yaptığı
röportajları bir araya getirerek, o konuyu tüm boyutlarıyla sahnelemeye
çalışır. Özellikle kimlik, toplumsal cinsiyet ve ırk gibi politik meseleler
hakkında farklı görüşler ortaya koyarken, insanların kendi çelişkilerini de
gözler önüne serer. Bunu nasıl başardığı kısaca “Fires in the Mirror” oyunuyla
örneklendirilir. Bu konulara bakış açısı, Smith’in oluşturduğu oyunculuk metoduyla
da bağlantılı olduğundan, son olarak oyunculukta benimsediği yönteme değinilir.
Tüm bu bilgiler ışığında Smith’in hangi açıdan “geleneksel” politik tiyatronun
dışında kaldığı ve kendine özgü ne tür politik performanslar sergilediği ortaya
konur.

References

  • Ards, Angela (2006). “Life as Art: Character Study: Anna Deavere Smith as Herself”. Black Issues Book Review, C. 8, S. 3, s. 12-15.
  • Butler, Judith (1988). “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory”. Theatre Journal, C. 40, S. 4, s. 519-531.
  • Case, Sue‐Ellen (1989). “Introduction to Chlorophyll Postmodernism and the Mother Goddess/a Conversation”. Women & Performance: a Journal of Feminist Theory, C. 4, S. 2, s. 20-25.
  • Gray, Madison. “The L.A. Riots: 15 Years After Rodney King”. TIME, http://content.time.com/time/specials/2007/la_riot/article/0,28804,1614117_1614084_1614831,00.html (Erişim: 15.12.2017)
  • Kalb, Jonathan (2001). “Documentary Solo Performance: The Politics of the Mirrored Self”. Theater, C. 31, S. 3, s. 13-29.
  • Lyons, Charles R., and James C. Lyons (1994). “Anna Deveare Smith: Perspectives on her Performance within the Context of Critical Theory”. Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, C. 9, S. 1, s. 43-66.
  • Nagel, Erica (2007). “An Aesthetic of Neighborliness: Possibilities for Integrating Community-Based Practices into Documentary Theatre”. Theatre Topics, C. 17, S. 2, s. 153-168.
  • NEH, National Endowment for Humanities (2015). “The Many Faces Of Anna Deavere Smith”. Humanities, C. 36, S. 2. https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2015/marchapril/feature/the-many-faces-anna-deavere-smith (Erişim: 04.01.2018).
  • Martin, Carol, and Anna Deavere Smith (1993). “Anna Deavere Smith: the Word Becomes You. An interview”. TDR, C. 37, S. 4, s. 45-62.
  • Martin, Carol (1996). “Bearing Witness: Anna Deavere Smith from Community to Theatre to Mass Media”. A Sourcebook of Feminist Theatre and Performance: On and Beyond the Stage, London; New York: Routledge, s. 81-93.
  • O’Connor, Jacqueline (1992). “A One-Woman Riot: Brooklyn 1991 & Los Angeles”. Studies in the Literary Imagination, C. 40, S. 2, s. 153-171.
  • Paget, Derek (1987). “Verbatim Theatre: Oral History and Documentary Techniques”. New Theatre Quarterly, C. 3, S. 12, s. 317-336.
  • Richards, Sandra L. (1993). “Caught in the Act of Social Definition: On the Road with Anna Deavere Smith”. Acting Out: Feminist Performances, Ed: Lynda Hart, Peggy Phelan, Ann Arbor: University of Michagan Press, s. 35-53.
  • Rose, Heidi (2011). “A Conversation with Anna Deavere Smith”. Text and Performance Quarterly, C. 31, S. 4, s. 440-448.
  • Smith, Anna Deavere (1993). Fires in the Mirror: Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and Other Identities. New York: Anchor Books/Doubleday.
  • Smith, Anna Deavere (1994). Twilight: Los Angeles 1992. New York: Anchor Books.
  • Smith, Cherise (2011). “Other Oriented Performance: Anna Deavere Smith and Twilight: Los Angeles”. Enacting Others: Politics of Identity in Eleanor Antin, Nikki S. Lee, Adrian Piper, and Anna Deavere Smith, North Carolina:Duke University Press, s. 135-188.
  • Thompson, Debby (2003). “Is Race a Trope?": Anna Deavere Smith and the Question of Racial Performativity”. African American Review, C. 37, S. 1, s. 127-138.
  • Weber, Bruce (1994). “On Stage, and Off: Rebutting Pulitzer Perception”. The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/22/theater/on-stage-and-off.html (Erişim: 20.11.2017).
There are 19 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language Turkish
Subjects Creative Arts and Writing
Journal Section Articles
Authors

Elif Baş 0000-0002-8481-8912

Publication Date July 31, 2018
Published in Issue Year 2018 Volume: 19 Issue: 35

Cite

APA Baş, E. (2018). POLİTİK TİYATRONUN SOLO SESİ: ANNA DEAVERE SMITH. Uludağ Üniversitesi Fen-Edebiyat Fakültesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 19(35), 829-848. https://doi.org/10.21550/sosbilder.396138