Day Ten: Queering the Script

On Queering the Twelfth Night

"Queer theatre reflects the sorrow, anger, and fear of a community responding to patriarchal heterosexism, homophobia, AIDS, and threats of violence; yet at the same time, queer theatre can provide joy, pleasure, and fulfillment by questioning the concept of normal and celebrating difference" (Thomas, 2010, p. 101).

• In this way, queer performances are both affirmative and critical
• How have conceptions of queerness changed over time?
• How is something like Queer Shakespeare inherently political?

Queering the Media/Flipping the Script as an Activist Strategy

• "Queering" has become a term to describe any parody technique that reverses the power dynamics of the identities portrayed in cultural artifacts (i.e. the media, plays, art, music, folklore, fairy tales, etc.).
• The disruption of the normative order often results in humorous outcomes, prompting the audience to look at normalized social constructions as "queer" in and of themselves (in the sense that these constructions do not come from nature but are instead enforced by cultural institutions).
• No longer limited to the switching of gender or sexual identities, queering can happen when conventional roles are changed to reflect queer (or non-dominant) conceptions of race, age, class, nationality, ability, etc.

In-Class Assignment: Flipped Script
This performance will be your chance to not only interpret a literary work that has already been written, but to re-write a literary work. Therefore with your assigned partner you will be interpreting through writing and performing. You will choose a well-known narrative text (i.e. a fairy tale, folk tale, movie, TV show, comic, play, book, etc.) and re-write in such a way that makes visible a particular aspect of culture or identity. This is your chance to be creative and serious. Some ideas for how you might re-write the story include: silencing one character and giving voice to another, telling the story from a marginalized perspective, changing the ending, or rewriting the story so it highlights some issue of oppression or social (in)justice. You may also make visible (expose) previously invisible stereotypes or dominant ideologies. The performance selection does not need to be memorized, but you can’t hide your performance behind your script. After the performance, please turn in your script to me.
Rubric on Canvas