About the Book
Staging Stigma critically examines the freak show performance tradition, using meticulous historical research and cultural criticism to change the way we understand both performance and disability in America.
About the Author :
Michael M. Chemers is Assistant Professor of Dramatic Literature and the founding Director of the Production Dramaturgy Program at Carnegie Mellon University. His work on freak shows has appeared in "Modern Drama, the New England Theatre Journal, the Journal of Nineteenth Century Theatre and Film, Theatre Forum, "and "Disability Studies Quarterly, "for which he has also served as an editor.
Review :
"This is an eminently readable book...It represents a reservoir of cultural and historical knowledge about one of theatre's often unacknowledged margins, and of the stories of performers who had intriguing and self-directed lives."--"Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies""As a wide-ranging historian and dramaturg in a hands-on conservatory of theatre arts, Chemers knows that freakishness illuminates the conditions underlying all successful performance, because peculiarity, however stigmatized, can bestow eminence when effectively marketed. From the marriage of Tom Thumb to the firing of Frog Boy, "Staging Stigma" uncovers a history that will interest students of performance studies, disability studies, and American studies."--Joseph Roach, Sterling Professor of Theater, Yale University
""Staging Stigma" is a spirited exploration of how the freak show--that extravagant, strange, fascinating, and faded, but lingering, very American institution--turned unusual folks into compelling and repelling celebrities. Chemers perfectly captures the way the freak show stage converts social stigma into theater, detailing both the ascendancy and the decline of these exuberant displays as the extravagant freaks came to be understood as people with medical problems. Chemers' unique contribution is the intriguing idea of rethinking these stigmatized ways of being as 'freaktopia, ' an appreciation of the proliferation of human differences now pronounced as pathological and undesirable."--Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, Professor of Women's Studies, Emory University, author of "Extraordinary Bodies," and editor of "Freakery"
"This study contributes an overview of benchmark moments in freak history and these moments serve as representative of a more holistic discussion of the potential for subversion in the freak show. Its readability, energy, and engaging tone makes it an accessible and historically useful text for undergraduates; the fact that its organizing question is a
“This is an eminently readable book...It represents a reservoir of cultural and historical knowledge about one of theatre's often unacknowledged margins, and of the stories of performers who had intriguing and self-directed lives.”--Petra Kuppers, "Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies"“As a wide-ranging historian and dramaturg in a hands-on conservatory of theatre arts, Chemers knows that freakishness illuminates the conditions underlying all successful performance, because peculiarity, however stigmatized, can bestow eminence when effectively marketed. From the marriage of Tom Thumb to the firing of Frog Boy, "Staging Stigma" uncovers a history that will interest students of performance studies, disability studies, and American studies.”--Joseph Roach, Sterling Professor of Theater, Yale University
“"Staging Stigma" is a spirited exploration of how the freak show--that extravagant, strange, fascinating, and faded, but lingering
"As a wide-ranging historian and dramaturg in a hands-on conservatory of theatre arts, Chemers knows that freakishness illuminates the conditions underlying all successful performance, because peculiarity, however stigmatized, can bestow eminence when effectively marketed. From the marriage of Tom Thumb to the firing of Frog Boy, "Staging Stigma" uncovers a history that will interest students of performance studies, disability studies, and American studies."--Joseph Roach, Sterling Professor of Theater, Yale University""Staging Stigma" is a spirited exploration of how the freak show--that extravagant, strange, fascinating, and faded, but lingering, very American institution--turned unusual folks into compelling and repelling celebrities. Chemers perfectly captures the way the freak show stage converts social stigma into theater, detailing both the ascendancy and the decline of these exuberant displays as the extravagant freaks came to be understood as people with medical problems. Chemers' unique contribution is the intriguing idea of rethinking these stigmatized ways of being as 'freaktopia, ' an appreciation of the proliferation of human differences now pronounced as pathological and undesirable."--Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, Professor of Women's Studies, Emory University, author of "Extraordinary Bodies," and editor of "Freakery"
"This study contributes an overview of benchmark moments in freak history and these moments serve as representative of a more holistic discussion of the potential for subversion in the freak show. Its readability, energy, and engaging tone makes it an accessible and historically useful text for undergraduates; the fact that its organizing question isan attempt to move theatre studies and disability studies discourse forward make it useful for graduate students and scholars in those fields."--Ann M. Fox, Associate Professor of English, Davidson College
