Cyborg theatre: Corporeal /technological intersections in multimedia.
Item
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Title
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Cyborg theatre: Corporeal /technological intersections in multimedia.
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Identifier
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AAI3083699
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identifier
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3083699
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Creator
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Parker-Starbuck, Jennifer.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Daniel Gerould
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Date
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2003
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Theater
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Abstract
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This dissertation conceptualizes a "cyborg theatre" as a theoretical construct to explore how the integration of live bodies and technology on stage can challenge notions of ability, identity, globalization, and of performance itself. The cyborg theatre, through the issues of presence that it raises, simultaneously challenges and furthers questions of the borders of performance. It uses existing and emerging technology not purely as a frame or aesthetic scenic backdrop for projected images, but as a mutually dependent component of a larger complex of social, political, and theatrical systems existing between the live and the technological.;Society's embracing of new technologies is increasingly reflected on the stage, where live action is commonly intertwined with video, slides, and computer techniques. This dissertation addresses a need to theorize and analyze this intersection, especially as the concept of the "posthuman" emerges as a theoretical construct in literature. I use the cyborg as a central metaphor because it uniquely integrates technology with the living organism. I draw upon recent cyborg and posthuman theory as my theoretical methodology. To explore specific ways in which the body and technology unite in performance, I have set up a matrix of permutations that range from the "low-tech" to a fully integrated cyborgean performance. In order to facilitate these ideas, I have designed a grid that charts three applications of technology on one side against three conceptions of the body. These conceptions are based on the terms abject, object, and subject: this dissertation develops these terms in relation to the live body on stage. When the sides are combined, a model emerges that addresses important issues of ability, identity, and control that frame an embodied technology. While all permutations I discuss are aspects of the total cyborg theatre form, each coupling draws out a unique aspect in its development. Each of the artists I discuss---Cathy Weis, the Wooster Group, and George Coates---is representative of different qualities that highlight potentials or questions raised by the convergences of the body and technology. I conclude by examining how this model could be used to explore further work in multimedia theatre.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
