LOCAL ACTS

Cohen-Cruz (drama, New York U.) seeks to capture the spirit and materiality of community-based performance in the US, discussing some markers of the past, principles and purposes in the present, and aesthetic diversity, primarily in the generation of practitioners who came of age in the 1960s and 1970s. Performance, she says, includes not only theater, but also music, dance, and other heightened behavior intended for public viewing. The common features of the 16 examples she describes are collaborating with people whose lives inform the subject matter and expressing collective meaning.