Volume 2, Number 1
May 2016
Greetings
Identity, Performance, and Other Muddy Signifiers: A Note From the Editors
Jennifer Goff & Julia Moriarty
Articles
Textiles in Space: A Look Into the Use of Textiles in Space Age Fashion and Star Trek
Emily Kimball
Wagered Identity: Deviant Space & Performance in Poker
Patrick Konesko
Negotiating the Nancy Boy: Representation in Conner Prairie's "Follow the North Start"
Stephen Harrick
Dancing in Idyll-Logical Spaces and Presence-ing Absences: A Critical Analysis of Two Performance Festivals in Itacaré, Bahia, Brazil Utilizing Santos's Sociology of Absences as a Critical Lens
Laurelann Porter
Review
It's True What They Said, "Tragedy is Dead": A Performance Analysis of Antigone
Mayurakshi Sen
Identity, Performance, and Other Muddy Signifiers: A Note From the Editors
Jennifer Goff & Julia Moriarty
Articles
Textiles in Space: A Look Into the Use of Textiles in Space Age Fashion and Star Trek
Emily Kimball
Wagered Identity: Deviant Space & Performance in Poker
Patrick Konesko
Negotiating the Nancy Boy: Representation in Conner Prairie's "Follow the North Start"
Stephen Harrick
Dancing in Idyll-Logical Spaces and Presence-ing Absences: A Critical Analysis of Two Performance Festivals in Itacaré, Bahia, Brazil Utilizing Santos's Sociology of Absences as a Critical Lens
Laurelann Porter
Review
It's True What They Said, "Tragedy is Dead": A Performance Analysis of Antigone
Mayurakshi Sen
About the Contributors
STEPHEN HARRICK is an independent scholar who finished his doctorate in Theatre at Bowling Green State University in 2015. He has published in Theatre Journal, Theatre Topics, Theatre History Studies, and New England Theatre Journal. He has held positions in the Association for Theatre in Higher Education and American Theatre and Drama Society, and he has presented papers at conferences such as Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association, American Society for Theatre Research, Mid-America Theatre Conference and A World of Popular Entertainments.
EMILY KIMBALL is currently pursuing an MFA in Costume Design at Minnesota State University, Mankato. She holds a B.A. in Theatre from Bethany Lutheran College and has been the Costume Designer and Shop Coordinator at Bethany since 2012. Her theatrical exploits have lead her to positions in New Hampshire, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. She enjoys other aspects of theatre, such as playwriting and acting and directing. She loves to knit and looks forward to the day she can get a dog. Website: emilyjkimball.com
PATRICK KONESKO Originally from Saginaw, Michigan, Patrick received his B.A. in Theatre from Saginaw Valley State University. After graduating, he moved to Bowling Green State University in Ohio to pursue both his M.A. and Ph.D. in Theatre. While there, he also earned a Certificate in Performance Studies. His dissertation was titled Representing Childhood: The Social, Historical, and Theatrical Significance of the Child on Stage.
Patrick’s research interests include theatrical representations of children and childhood, poker and performativity, performances of organized labor and labor training, dramaturgy, and theatre history/historiography. His research has been presented at the Mid America Theatre Conference (MATC), the American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR), the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), and the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association (MAPACA).
Before traveling to Laramie, Patrick spent two years as adjunct faculty at Bowling Green State University. He joined the faculty of the University of Wyoming in the fall of ’15, where he teaches courses in theatre history, dramatic literature, and acting.
LAURELANN PORTER is currently an Instructor at Arizona State University in the Master of Liberal Studies program. She has also been teaching Women and Film at Scottsdale Community College for several years. She received her PhD in Theatre and Performance of the Americas from Arizona State University. She received her BFA in Independent Theatre Studies from Boston University and her MFA in Playwriting from Arizona State University. She has directed and produced several short films, music videos, and two feature length documentary films.
Her dissertation focused on the lives of women in rural Bahia in an area where tourism has increased dramatically in the last 10 years. Part of the continued work of her dissertation will involve the creation of a series of short form ethnographic documentary films and a new performance piece entitled “Sympathy for Exú” and incorporates elements of Afro-Brazilian mythologies, in particular stories of the trickster figure, Exú. Her next research project in Brazil is a research pedagogy developed together with Brazilian dancer and choreographer Mestre Monza Calabar. Calling this new technique Antromovimento, their work together seeks to explore the possibilities of teaching Afro-Brazilian histories and epistemologies through dance, movement, crafts, and culinary arts.
Laurelann is also a playwright and performer. She created her solo performance “How not to Make Love to a Woman” in order to understand how performance can contribute to public dialogue about difficult topics. Previous solo performance pieces include “Passion Fruit” about a blues singer caught in a bisexual love triangle, and “Idle Worship or the Day I Realized my Dad was Short” a fictionalized autobiography about growing up Mormon.
MAYURAKSHI SEN completed her Masters in English from Jadavpur University, India after receiving her Bachelor’s degree from the same institution. She has been extensively involved in the study and practice of theatre and performance since 2011. She received the British Council Scotland Scholarship which facilitated her participation in the Theatre and Performance course conducted by the Scottish Universities’ International Summer School in 2015. She has been invited to the 2016 Conference of the International Federation for Theatre Research to present her paper at their New Scholars' Forum. Currently, she is serving as an intern at her hometown and is busily preparing to begin her first semester in August, 2016 as a PhD student of Theatre at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Mayurakshi resides in Kolkata, India.
STEPHEN HARRICK is an independent scholar who finished his doctorate in Theatre at Bowling Green State University in 2015. He has published in Theatre Journal, Theatre Topics, Theatre History Studies, and New England Theatre Journal. He has held positions in the Association for Theatre in Higher Education and American Theatre and Drama Society, and he has presented papers at conferences such as Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association, American Society for Theatre Research, Mid-America Theatre Conference and A World of Popular Entertainments.
EMILY KIMBALL is currently pursuing an MFA in Costume Design at Minnesota State University, Mankato. She holds a B.A. in Theatre from Bethany Lutheran College and has been the Costume Designer and Shop Coordinator at Bethany since 2012. Her theatrical exploits have lead her to positions in New Hampshire, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. She enjoys other aspects of theatre, such as playwriting and acting and directing. She loves to knit and looks forward to the day she can get a dog. Website: emilyjkimball.com
PATRICK KONESKO Originally from Saginaw, Michigan, Patrick received his B.A. in Theatre from Saginaw Valley State University. After graduating, he moved to Bowling Green State University in Ohio to pursue both his M.A. and Ph.D. in Theatre. While there, he also earned a Certificate in Performance Studies. His dissertation was titled Representing Childhood: The Social, Historical, and Theatrical Significance of the Child on Stage.
Patrick’s research interests include theatrical representations of children and childhood, poker and performativity, performances of organized labor and labor training, dramaturgy, and theatre history/historiography. His research has been presented at the Mid America Theatre Conference (MATC), the American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR), the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), and the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association (MAPACA).
Before traveling to Laramie, Patrick spent two years as adjunct faculty at Bowling Green State University. He joined the faculty of the University of Wyoming in the fall of ’15, where he teaches courses in theatre history, dramatic literature, and acting.
LAURELANN PORTER is currently an Instructor at Arizona State University in the Master of Liberal Studies program. She has also been teaching Women and Film at Scottsdale Community College for several years. She received her PhD in Theatre and Performance of the Americas from Arizona State University. She received her BFA in Independent Theatre Studies from Boston University and her MFA in Playwriting from Arizona State University. She has directed and produced several short films, music videos, and two feature length documentary films.
Her dissertation focused on the lives of women in rural Bahia in an area where tourism has increased dramatically in the last 10 years. Part of the continued work of her dissertation will involve the creation of a series of short form ethnographic documentary films and a new performance piece entitled “Sympathy for Exú” and incorporates elements of Afro-Brazilian mythologies, in particular stories of the trickster figure, Exú. Her next research project in Brazil is a research pedagogy developed together with Brazilian dancer and choreographer Mestre Monza Calabar. Calling this new technique Antromovimento, their work together seeks to explore the possibilities of teaching Afro-Brazilian histories and epistemologies through dance, movement, crafts, and culinary arts.
Laurelann is also a playwright and performer. She created her solo performance “How not to Make Love to a Woman” in order to understand how performance can contribute to public dialogue about difficult topics. Previous solo performance pieces include “Passion Fruit” about a blues singer caught in a bisexual love triangle, and “Idle Worship or the Day I Realized my Dad was Short” a fictionalized autobiography about growing up Mormon.
MAYURAKSHI SEN completed her Masters in English from Jadavpur University, India after receiving her Bachelor’s degree from the same institution. She has been extensively involved in the study and practice of theatre and performance since 2011. She received the British Council Scotland Scholarship which facilitated her participation in the Theatre and Performance course conducted by the Scottish Universities’ International Summer School in 2015. She has been invited to the 2016 Conference of the International Federation for Theatre Research to present her paper at their New Scholars' Forum. Currently, she is serving as an intern at her hometown and is busily preparing to begin her first semester in August, 2016 as a PhD student of Theatre at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Mayurakshi resides in Kolkata, India.
