Performance Theorists

Some of the most famous theorists or writers on performance I have learned about and read about in this class are: Victor Turner, Richard Schechner, Judith Butler, and Gregory Bateson. Victor Turner was a cultural anthropologist best known for his work on symbols, rituals and rites of passage. His work is often referred to as symbolic and interpretive anthropology. Turner’s main interests were of social drama, ritual, and rites of passage. Turner created the new concept of social drama in order to account for the symbolism of conflict and crisis resolution among Ndembu villagers. Turner spent his career exploring rituals. As a professor at the University of Chicago, Turner began to apply his study of rituals and rites of passage to world religions and the lives of religious heroes. Turner published many books and his views are taught around the world to students being educated. Richard Schechner was a university professor. Schechner is one of the founders of the Performance Studies department of the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. He also founded The Performance Group, an experimental theater troupe. Schechner was also a director and directed many productions. One of Schechner’s more popular productions he directed was William Shakespear’s “Hamlet” in 1999. Gregory Bateson was a anthropologist, a social scientist, a linguist, a semiotician and a cyberneticist whose work intersected that of many other fields. Bateson was once married to well known anthropologist Margaret Mead. One of the threads that connect Bateson's work is an interest in systems theory and cybernetics, a science he helped to create as one of the original members of the core group of the Macy Conferences. Bateson's take on these fields’ centers upon their relationship to epistemology, and this central interest provides the undercurrents of his thought.