MRPJ#2/Untitled: Extras

It turns out that the first play ever to be produced and performed in the Colonies in this country, Ye Bear and Ye Cubs, in Virginia 1665, was taken to court by our Puritan forefathers for being blasphemous. The jury demanded that the play be performed in court. Based on this performance, the jury determined that the play was entertaining and therefore they would not prosecute; as a matter of fact the court ended up prosecuting the plaintiff for taking the play to court. –from Sorting It Out by Anne Bogart.

In celebration of Movement Research’s 30th Anniversary, Critical Correspondence is reprinting monthly excerpts from each of the first 30 Performance Journals. We will be featuring representative and relevant articles as well as each of the issues’ editorial note. It is both emboldening and challenging to look at the historical map that precedes our time – the continuity of mission, the diverse attempts to “word” a practice, the voices that have gone and the ones that keep returning, the ongoing rootage of discourse alongside political struggles.

From this untitled second edition of the not-yet-called Performance Journal, we’ve selected What Ideals Guide Our Actions by Sarah Schulman and the issue’s Editors Note by Richard Elovich and Guy Yarden. In addition, we share excerpts from a piece by Hilton Als on Adrian Piper and a conversation between Douglas Crimp and Gregg Bordowitz, accompanied by some of the graphics from the printed journal. The issue also contains a piece from Joe Jeffreys on Jack Smith, a letter from Steve Paxton, and writings by Anne Bogart, Kevin Duffy, Jim Eigo, Jeff Nunokawa, Caroline Palmer and others.

Many of these Journal issues are available for purchase at Movement Research. As always, we welcome your comments at the end of each reprinted article, or at cc@movementresearch.org. This month’s bookend quotes are from the First Issue.

Improvisation reminds me of being in a boat that is springing periodic leaks that I have to plug in order to reach the shore. Being able to keep a wide range of considerations operating while continuing to improvise is one of the most difficult performance activities I have ever encountered. –from Another Vocabulary, by Nina Martin, in response to an article by Sarah Johnson that appeared in the previous edition.

Comments are closed.