Theatre Journal

Abstract:

Through a case study of the creative process on the thirtieth anniversary revival of Anna Deavere Smith’s Twilight: Los Angeles 1992 at the Mark Taper Forum in 2023, this essay argues for centering theories of power in theatre practice as well as scholarship. The limits of mainstream US theatre models manifested in the workings of structural racism and what Gayatri Spivak calls “zones of sanctioned ignorance”—structurally overdetermined blind spots—about race, history, acting theory, and the division of labor in the “creative”/ labor process. Knowledge of cutting-edge “theory,” the continuing critique of our own worldmaking assumptions, and expansive visions of “theory” integrated with “practice” could disrupt mind/body dualism and lead us to reimagine conventional US theatre protocols, opening possibilities for progressive change.