Download ~ Urinals, Swordfights, and Dildos # by Zachary J. Kopciak ~ Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Urinals, Swordfights, and Dildos
- Author : Zachary J. Kopciak
- Release Date : January 18, 2013
- Genre: Psychology,Books,Health, Mind & Body,Health & Fitness,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 11418 KB
Description
In a culture in which, according to the American Library Association, a children’s book about the true story of two male penguins raising a chick is the most controversial children’s book for five years in a row (ALA), in which elected officials compare the “dangers of the homosexual lifestyle” to the health risks associated with second-hand smoke (qtd. in Keyes), and some private universities in the US are threatening their students with expulsion because of their homosexualbehavior (“H.U. Queer Press”), it should come as little surprise that a young, moderately intelligent man with homosexualdesires growing up in America today would have difficulty understanding his personal gender and sexual identity. I found an excellent platform for exploring the conundrums I faced on my way out of the closet in Joe Calarco's adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, entitled Shakespeare’s Ramp;J. The adaptation centers on four Catholic schoolboys as they perform Shakespeare's play. The main source of tension in the play arises from the parallels that emerge between the forbidden love of Romeo and Juliet and the romance that develops between the two male students who play the iconic characters. I approached this entire project as if it were an experiment. Likewise, the writing of the accompanying essay was structured after the scientific method. “The Question” introduces my project. “The Research” consists of both the research into the work of gender theorists such as Judith Butler, Eve Sedgwick, and Kate Bornstien I did in preparation for writing this thesis, as well as my own personal experiences growing up in the closet, and how these experiences have informed my understandings of gender and sexuality. “The First Experiment” details my first hypothesis about staging a production of Romeo & Juliet staring four men, and the ultimate conclusion that in order to fully explore the performative qualities of gender, I would have to cast four women to play the four schoolboys created by Calarco. “The Second Experiment” explores my successes, failures, and discoveries while using Michael Chekhov’s psycho-physical acting technique and Anne Bogart’s Viewpoint work to help the actresses portray men onstage. “The Third Experiment” is an account of the major revisions I made to Calarco’s adaptation, the inclusion of several dramatic conventions I employed to enhance the actress’s performances (such as the urinals and dildos that give the paper its title) and the ultimate audience reception of production. Finally “The Conclusion” describes the conclusions I reached as a result of spending a year using the theatre to experiment with issues of gender and sexual identity. I did not want this production, or the essay that came from it to be a platform to simply decry and warn against the evils of homophobia, nor did I want to tell a standard gay Bildungsroman in which the closeted main character finally finds the strength to leave the closet after a romantic encounter with another queer boy. Though there is merit in such projects, I wanted to use this project as an opportunity to better understand the complex relationship between masculinity and homosexuality in this country. I wanted to see what would happen when male homosexuality interacts with normative western ideas and narratives regarding masculinity in order to better understand homosexuality and masculinity, both of which have been influential in my life.
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