Acting Queer Gender Dissidence and the Subversion of Realism

This book is situated at the intersection of queer/gender studies and theories of acting pedagogy and performance. It explores the social and cultural matrix in which matters of gender are negotiated, including that of post-secondary theatre and drama education. It identifies the predicament of gender dissident actors who must contend with the widespread enforcement of realist paradigms within the academy, and proposes a re-imagining of the way drama/theatre/performance are practised in order to serve more fairly and effectively the needs of queer actors in training. This is located within a larger project of critique in reference to the art form as a whole. 

The book stimulates discussion among practitioners and scholars on matters concerning various kinds of diversity: of gender expression, of approaches to the teaching of acting, and to the way the art form may be imagined and executed in the early years of the 21st Century, in particular in the face of the climate crisis. But it is also an aid to practitioners who are seeking new theoretical and practical approaches to dealing with gender diversity in acting pedagogy. 

                    

2. ‘You’re Soaking in It’: the Influence of Hollywood

3. Gender Dissidence and Its Prohibitions

4. Gendered Movement and “Physical’ Acting

5. The Subversion of Realism

6. Queer-looking, Queer-acting

7. Extensions and Excursions: Acting Queer Ecology

Conrad Alexandrowicz is Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre at the University of Victoria, Canada. He is a director, writer and choreographer, and the artistic director of Wild Excursions Performance. To date he has created over fifty choreographies, dance- and physical-theatre pieces, plays and performance works, some of which have been presented across Canada, in New York City, France and the U.K. He specializes in movement for actors and physical theatre creation, directs mainstage productions, and continues his explorations into that mysterious territory where dance and theatre overlap. He recently completed an extensive research project on the staging of poetry with actors and dancers funded by Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. His work has been published in Theatre, Dance and Performance Training, the Canadian Journal for Practice-Based Research in Theatre and Studies in Theatre and Performance.