In the Lurch: Verbatim Theater and the Crisis of Democratic Deliberation

Some of theater’s most powerful works in the past thirty years fall into the category of "verbatim theater," socially engaged performances whose texts rely on word-for-word testimony. Performances such as Fires in the Mirror, The Laramie Project, and The Vagina Monologues have at their best demonstrated how to hold hard conversations about explosive subjects in a liberal democracy. But in this moment of what author Ryan Claycomb terms the “rightward lurch” of western democracies, does this idealized space of democratic deliberation remain effective? In the Lurch asks that question in a pointed and self-reflexive way, tracing the history of this branch of documentary theater with particular attention to the political outcomes and stances these performances seem to seek. But this is not just a disinterested history—Claycomb reflects on his own participation in that political fantasy, including earlier scholarly writing that articulated with breathless hopefulness the potential of verbatim theater, and on his own theatrical attendance, imbued with a belief that witnessing this idealized public sphere was a substitute for actual public participation. In the Lurch also recounts the bumpy path towards its completion, two years marked by presidential impeachments, an insurrection, a national reckoning with racism, and a global pandemic. At the heart of the book is a central question: is verbatim theater any longer an effective cultural response to what can look like the possible end of democracy?

Table of Contents:
Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: In the Lurch One: Democratic Deliberation and the Theatricalized Public Sphere Two: Debating in Utopia Three: Feeling Together Four: The Opposite of Empathy is Suspicion Coda: Nostalgia; or, the Pastness of the Present Bibliography

About the Author :
Ryan Claycomb is Professor of English and Theater and Associate Dean in the College of Liberal Arts at Colorado State University.

Review :
"Poignant, self-interrogative, deeply informed yet engagingly written, Claycomb’s In the Lurch might be my book of the year. Perhaps all the best books are written out of exactly the combination of love and frustration, hope and despair." "Claycomb's analysis raises important questions about verbatim theatre's capacity to be political and skillfully examines how the current political context reshapes audience engagements with these types of practices. It is difficult to read In the Lurch without being impressed and somewhat moved by Claycomb's honest and heartfelt reflections the anguish of losing faith with theatre. There is something poignant and recognizable expressed in this sentiment that makes the book a refreshing and potent statement of our times." "This expertly argued, self-reflective study wrestles with the question of verbatim and documentary theatre's efficacy against the backdrop of what Claycomb calls the "rightward lurch" of Western democracies. Yet this is not just a book about verbatim theatre's potentials and pitfalls; it also maps a cultural transformation over the past five decades and how changes in history have engendered changes in affective form." "In the Lurch is a compelling prompt for these and other inquiries. It will be an invaluable resource in the classroom and for future research about documentary theatre, feminist scholarship, and democratic theory"