Performing #MeToo: How Not to Look Away

This collection of essays applies a multinational lens to performances that explore the #MeToo movement. In October 2017, a wave of sexual assault allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein prompted an outpouring of similar stories on Twitter and beyond, all bound by the same hashtag: #MeToo. The phrase, initially coined by activist Tarana Burke in 2006, reverberated across the internet and invigorated a movement. The essays in this volume engage with many of the performative interpretations of and responses to the #MeToo movement and invite reflection, discussion, and action.  Written by an international group of scholars and artists, the essays bring a global perspective to discussions on topics at the intersection of the #MeToo movement and the performing arts, including celebrity feminism, the practice of protest as a coping mechanism, misogynistic speech, the politics of performance, rehearsing and performing intimacy, and more. Contributors highlight works they have performed, witnessed, or studied, offering analysis and nuance while creating an archive of a powerful cultural moment. 

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements Introduction Judith Rudakoff “Vital Acts of Transfer”: #MeToo and the Performance of Embodied Knowledge Shana MacDonald Bite the Bullet: The Practice of Protest as a Coping Mechanism Nondumiso Lwazi Msimanga Resisting Theatre: The Political in the Performative Effie Samara Supporting Brave Spaces for Theatre-Makers Post-#MeToo: A Chicago-Based Study on Rehearsing and Performing Intimacy in Theatre Susan Fenty Studham We Get It: Calling Out Sexism and Harassment in Australia’s Live Performance Industry Sarah Thomasson Toward the Origin of Performing #MeToo: Franca Rame’s The Rape as an Example of Personal and Political Theatre/Therapy Laura Peja and Fausto Colombo The Royal Court in the Wake of #MeToo Catriona Fallow and Sarah Jane Mullan Dissident Solidarities: Power, Pedagogy, Care Swati Arora Conversations with Noura: Iraqi American Women and a Response to A Doll’s House Mary P. Caulfield #MeToo Theatre Women Share Their Stories Yvette Heyliger Les Zoubliettes: Raging through Laughter—a Feminist Disturbance Sonia Norris “I’m the person to speak about myself”: Self-Declaration, Reversal of Power, and Solidarity in The Red Book Yuh J. Hwang Appendix: A Primer on the International #MeToo Movement Elise A. LaCroix Biographies of Contributors

About the Author :
Judith Rudakoff has worked as a developmental dramaturg with emerging and established playwrights and artists throughout Canada, Cuba, Denmark, South Africa, England and the United States. Her books include Performing Exile: Foreign Bodies (2017); Dramaturging Personal Narratives: Who am I and Where is Here? (2015); TRANS(per)FORMING Nina Arsenault: An Unreasonable Body of Work (2012); Between the Lines: The Process of Dramaturgy (2002, co-editor Lynn M. Thomson); Questionable Activities: Canadian Theatre Artists in Conversation with Canadian Theatre Students (2000); Fair Play: Conversations with Canadian Women Playwrights (1989, co-editor Rita Much). Her articles have appeared in many journals, including The Drama Review (TDR), TheatreForum, Theatre Topics, and Canadian Theatre Review. She is the creator of The Four Elements and Elemental Lomograms, transcultural tools for initiating live performance, written work and visual art. She was the first Canadian honoured with the Elliott Hayes Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dramaturgy for her work on South Asian choreographer Lata Pada’s multidisciplinary work, Revealed by Fire (2001). In 1999, she was the first foreigner designated an Honourary Member of Cuba’s acclaimed Teatro Escambray. Dr. Rudakoff is a member of Playwrights Guild of Canada, and Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas. She is professor of theatre at York University in Toronto, Canada.