Pavis analyses the political and aesthetic consequences of cultures meeting at the crossroads of theatre, looking at productions including Brook's Mahabharata, Cixous/Mnouchkine's Indiande, and Barba's Faust.

Fresh takes on key questions in black performance and black popular culture, by leading artists, academics, and critics

As the media have increasingly become the lens through which we see the world, media styles have shaped even the fine arts, and contemporary theatre is particularly indebted to mass media's dramatic influence. In order to stay culturally and financially viable, theatre producers have associated theatrical productions and their promotion with film, television, and the Internet by adopting new theatrical practices that mirror the form and content of mass communication. This work demonstrates how mediatization, or the adoption of the semantics and the contexts of mass media, has changed the way American theatre is produced, performed, and perceived. Early chapters use works like Robert Wilson's 3D digital opera Monsters of Grace and Thecla Schophorst's digitally animated Bodymaps to demonstrate the shifting nature of live performance. Critical analysis of the interaction between the live performer and digital technology demonstrates that the use of media technology has challenged and changed traditional notions of dramatic performance. Subsequent discussion sustains the argument that theatre has reconfigured itself to access the economic and cultural power of the media. Final chapters consider the extent to which mediatization undermines theatrical authorship and creativity.

The authors look at the possibilities for the politics of culture and the culture of politics in the United States in the nineties. They argue for pluralism, participation and equity in culture and community life.

Because of a shared experience of European colonialism and trans-Atlantic slavery, issues of culture and identity are major concerns for African and Caribbean playwrights. Slavery and colonialism had involved systematic acts of cultural denigration, de-humanization and loss of freedom, which left imprints on the collective psyches of the colonized Africans and enslaved peoples of African descent in the Caribbean. Both experiences brought intense cultural and psychic dislocations which still impact in various ways on the lives of Africans and peoples of African descent around the world. African and Caribbean playwrights try to help their peoples regain their dignities by affirming their cultures, histories and identities. The book focuses on the similarities and differences between Caribbean theatre and the theatre of sub-Saharan Africa, showing how identities and cultures are negotiated and affirmed in each case.

There is a complex relationship between performance, youth, and the shifting material circumstances (social, cultural, economic, ideological, and political) under which theatre for children and youth is generated and perceived. This book explores different aspect of theatre for young audiences using examples from theatrical events globally.

Views on intercultural exchanges within theatre practice from contributors including: Peter Brook, Clive Barker, Jacques Lecoq and Rustom Bharucha.

With the rapidly developing globalization of various sectors of modern life, individuals, organizations, and nations are becoming increasingly aware of the ways in which cultural diversity may not only be a potential cause of conflict but also a source of growth, creativity, and inspiration. If, traditionally, intercultural mediation has been understood as a conflict-solving strategy or as a means to facilitate communication between individuals from different cultural backgrounds, Bridging Culture aims at providing a framework and a set of theoretical reflections towards a larger vision of the field, presenting mediation as a particular form of critical intervention within the different domains of the humanities. The contributions in the present volume take intercultural mediation to be a multifaceted, interdisciplinary phenomenon, impacting upon the fields of linguistics and literature as well as translation and cultural studies, where themes such as interculturality, multilingualism, and cultural transfer are continual and urgent features of contemporary discourse and debate.

"A shrewdly designed, generously expansive, timely contribution to our understanding of how 'black' expression continues to define and defy the contours of global (post)modernity. The essays argue persuasively for a transnational ethos binding disparate African and diasporic enactments, and together provide a robust conversation about the nature, history, future, and even possibility of 'blackness' as a distinctive mode of cultural practice." --Kimberly Benston, author of Performing Blackness "Black Cultural Traffic is nothing less than our generation's manifesto on black performance and popular culture. With a distinguished roster of contributors and topics ranging across academic disciplines and the arts (including commentary on film, music, literature, theater, television, and visual cultures), this volume is not only required reading for scholars serious about the various dimensions of black performance, it is also a timely and necessary teaching tool. It captures the excitement and intellectual innovation of a field that has come of age. Kudos!" --Dwight A. McBride, author of Why I Hate Abercrombie & Fitch "The explosion of interest in black popular culture studies in the past fifteen years has left a significant need for a reader that reflects this new scholarly energy. Black Cultural Traffic answers that need." --Mark Anthony Neal, author of Songs in the Key of Black Life "A revolutionary anthology that will be widely read and taught. It crisscrosses continents and cultures and examines confluences and influences of black popular culture -- music, dance, theatre, television, fashion and film. It also adds a new dimension to current discussions of racial, ethnic, and national identity." --Horace Porter, author of The Making of a Black Scholar

How are hybrid and diasporic identities performed in increasingly diverse societies? How can we begin to think differently about theatrical flow across cultures? Interculturalism is an increasingly urgent topic in the 21st century. As human traffic between nations increases, it becomes imperative to critically re-examine the way cultural exchange is performed. Theatre & Interculturalism surveys established approaches and asks what it would mean to reconsider intercultural performance, not from the points of view of the colonizing cultures, but 'from below'- from the viewpoints of the historically colonized and marginalized.