Includes bibliographical references (pages 171-190) and index.
Cross-dressing, the theater, and gender struggle in early modern England / Jean. E. Howard -- Goethe's "women's parts played by men in the Roman theater" / translated by Isa Ragusa. The legacy of Goethe's mimetic stance / Lesley Ferris -- "When men women turn" / Jill Campbell -- Boys and girls together / Laurence Senelick -- The travesty dancer in nineteenth-century ballet / Lynn Garafola -- "I'm the queen of the bitches" / Marybeth Hamilton -- Sliding scales / Elizabeth Drorbaugh -- It's never too late to switch / Alisa Solomon -- Crisscrossing cultures / Peggy Phelan.
0
Contributors include Jill Campbell, Yale University; Elizabeth Drorbaugh, Hofstra University; Lynn Garafola, Senior Editor, Dance Magazine; Marybeth Hamilton, University of London; Jean E. Howard, Columbia University; Peggy Phelan, New York University; Isa Ragusa, Princeton University; Laurence Senelick, Tufts University; Alisa Solomon, staff writer for The Village Voice.
Cross-dressing in theatrical performance has generated a lively, controversial debate in the last decade. This collection examines cross-dressing as a culturally determined performance phenomenon, and brings a wide range of arguments and historical evidence to bear on this fascinating subject. The essays focus on cross-dressing in theatre, cabaret, opera and dance, and address everything from the significance of the cross-dressed classical Greek actor to the Renaissance tradition of adolescent boys playing female roles: from Restoration breeches roles to "vogueing."
Using critical perspectives drawn from social history, anthropology, psychoanalysis and gender theory, contributors discuss performance traditions within the wider context of sexology and sexuality, and draws out the differences of their approach.