The Queerest Art - Essays on Lesbian and Gay Theater (Hardcover)

"This stimulating collection of essays critically examines and celebrates what, for centuries, many have deeply feared and many others have known and cherished to be true-that theatre is, indeed, the queerest art. The special ephermerality and perilousness of queer existence on- and offstage make this volume's excellently rendered project of documentation through performance, writing, and publication not only admirable and necessary but urgent."--"The Drama Review"

"A rich and varied collection, featuring the voices both of academics and theatre practitioners."
--"American Theatre"

"Eclectic array of essays."
--"Theater Journal"

"The panel discussions...contributes a warm, witty and deliciously rhetorical piece."
--"Lambda Book Report"

From Shakespeare's gender-bending play "Twelfth Night" to the the critically-acclaimed Broadway hit "Angels in America," from 17th century kabuki theater of Japan--performed by cross-dressing prostitutes--to the NEA-denounced performance art of Holly Hughes, theater has long been--as co-editor Alisa Solomon terms it--the queerest art.

The Queerest Art is a pioneering collection of essays by and conversations among a diverse range of leading theater academics and artists. The first anthology to bring scholars and makers of queer theater into direct dialogue, the volume explores such subjects as same-sex desire in Restoration comedy, the racialized impact of colonial Shakespeare, the cuerpo politizado of a performance artist in contemporary Los Angeles, and the nitty-gritty of getting a queer show presented in Peoria. The Queerest Art rereads the history of performance as a celebration and critique of dissident sexualities, exploring the politics of pleasure and the pleasure of politics that drive the theater.

Lively and accessible, The Queerest Art will be useful to scholars, students, artists, and theater-goers alike interested in what makes queer theater . . . and what makes theater queer.

Contributors include: Jill Dolan, Brian Freeman, Randy Gener, George E. Haggerty, Holly Hughes, Ania Loomba, Tim Miller, JosA(c) Esteban MuAoz, Deb Parks-Satterfield, Lola Pashalinski, Everett Quinton, David RomAn, David Savran, Laurence Senelick, Don Shewey, Carmelita Tropicana, Valerie Traub, Paula Vogel, Doric Wilson, and Stacy Wolf.