My research analyses the ways a discourse of ‘accessibility’ operates within contemporary Shakespeare theatres. I examine paratexts—including company mission statements, program notes, advertisements, bathroom signs, and post-show chats—to show how Shakespearean performance institutions have uniquely adopted the discourse of ‘accessibility’ to describe a range of behaviors that mediate audience experience. I argue that the rhetorical zeitgeist for “access” betrays institutional anxieties and biases about managing and in some cases actually narrowing audience “access” to Shakespeare. Address: Queens NY
“Inclusion” is a rhetoric of human resources and industry. It is a euphemism that travels into th... more “Inclusion” is a rhetoric of human resources and industry. It is a euphemism that travels into the workplace or the academy alongside others like “diversity” and “accessibility” in place of activist language like “justice.” Feminist critic Sara Ahmed (2021) has argued that this jargon and the systems that execute them often allow injustices to persist unchecked within the institution and can indeed obscure and even facilitate racist and gender-discriminatory actions and Dean Spade (2015) has also argued against the mainstreaming gestures of trans liberation that beget violence at an administrative level. In literature and English departments, conversations about the canon necessitate conversations about inclusion. The selection of certain trans authored texts for inclusion on syllabi alongside invitations for trans readings of already canonical works create space for and representation of trans identity. At the same time, we can risk divorcing trans identity and theory from important critical context or reducing it to an overly simplistic extension of existing gender theory. This chapter will explore three contemporary trans authored texts that take a critical view of simple inclusion models: Kai Cheng Thom’s novel Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars (2016), Gretchen Felker-Martin’s apocalyptic horror novel Manhunt (2022), and the Bram Stoker erasure poem “R E D” by Chase Berggrun (2018).
“Inclusion” is a rhetoric of human resources and industry. It is a euphemism that travels into th... more “Inclusion” is a rhetoric of human resources and industry. It is a euphemism that travels into the workplace or the academy alongside others like “diversity” and “accessibility” in place of activist language like “justice.” Feminist critic Sara Ahmed (2021) has argued that this jargon and the systems that execute them often allow injustices to persist unchecked within the institution and can indeed obscure and even facilitate racist and gender-discriminatory actions and Dean Spade (2015) has also argued against the mainstreaming gestures of trans liberation that beget violence at an administrative level. In literature and English departments, conversations about the canon necessitate conversations about inclusion. The selection of certain trans authored texts for inclusion on syllabi alongside invitations for trans readings of already canonical works create space for and representation of trans identity. At the same time, we can risk divorcing trans identity and theory from important critical context or reducing it to an overly simplistic extension of existing gender theory. This chapter will explore three contemporary trans authored texts that take a critical view of simple inclusion models: Kai Cheng Thom’s novel Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars (2016), Gretchen Felker-Martin’s apocalyptic horror novel Manhunt (2022), and the Bram Stoker erasure poem “R E D” by Chase Berggrun (2018).
We invite submissions to A Cultural History of Trans Lives in the Early Modern Age (1450-1650), e... more We invite submissions to A Cultural History of Trans Lives in the Early Modern Age (1450-1650), edited by Nicholas R. Jones and Sawyer K. Kemp. Although the early modern period has long been a rich subject area for critique across the study of gender, race, and sexuality, the field of Early Modern Trans Studies has emerged in the last several years as differentiated from earlier feminist, gender studies, and queer theory approaches. As such, it emphasizes the transhistorical politicization of certain kinds of bodies and the biopolitical machinery of state- and church-endorsed sex and gender categories. As a field, Trans Studies has sometimes functioned as a corrective, asking, for instance: what can Trans Studies do with (or for) Early Modern Studies, other than simply applying a new set of theory buzzwords to “cross-dressing” narratives? As the field has grown, it further queries: What can contemporary trans life help illuminate about gender policing and racial profiling in historical eras? How can contemporary trans theory’s emphasis on intersectionality help us navigate the racialization of sex and gender norms in a period of European colonial expansion, intercultural trade, and travel? How might these questions, we ask, play out in non-Western geographies, histories, and paradigms? This volume, A Cultural History of Trans Lives in the Early Modern Age (1450-1650), will explore and expand these conversations by bringing historical texts, events, objects, persons, and phenomena into dialogue with rich questions and topics in trans studies.
This essay grows out of an interview with actor, director, and activist Skyler Cooper. In Livermo... more This essay grows out of an interview with actor, director, and activist Skyler Cooper. In Livermore Shakespeare Festival’s 2019 season, Cooper was fêted as the first transgender man to play the role of Othello, but it was actually his second time in the part. Cooper had previously performed a butch lesbian version of Othello in Impact Theatre’s 2005 production. In dialogue with Cooper’s account of the two roles, this essay posits that Cooper’s unique lived experience and performance history illustrate the intersections of gender, race, and trans identity both in Othello and in the contemporary American landscape. Although both characterizations represent cisgender interpretations of Othello as male and female, respectively, this essay engages critical race studies and transgender theory to argue that within and across these productions we can read a third interpretation: a transgender and transmasculine Othello whose experience of racist interpersonal violence, microaggressions, and gaslighting speaks to a contemporary Black transmasculine perspective that is often forgotten or ignored.
This essay grows out of an interview with actor, director, and activist Skyler Cooper. In Livermo... more This essay grows out of an interview with actor, director, and activist Skyler Cooper. In Livermore Shakespeare Festival’s 2019 season, Cooper was fêted as the first transgender man to play the role of Othello, but it was actually his second time in the part. Cooper had previously performed a butch lesbian version of Othello in Impact Theatre’s 2005 production. In dialogue with Cooper’s account of the two roles, this essay posits that Cooper’s unique lived experience and performance history illustrate the intersections of gender, race, and trans identity both in Othello and in the contemporary American landscape. Although both characterizations represent cisgender interpretations of Othello as male and female, respectively, this essay engages critical race studies and transgender theory to argue that within and across these productions we can read a third interpretation: a transgender and transmasculine Othello whose experience of racist interpersonal violence, microaggressions, and gaslighting speaks to a contemporary Black transmasculine perspective that is often forgotten or ignored.
Originally delivered as part of the Shakespeare Association of America Next Generation Plenary, 2... more Originally delivered as part of the Shakespeare Association of America Next Generation Plenary, 2018. Transcripts of the papers published by Shakespeare Studies.
Teaching Social Justice Through Shakespeare: Why Renaissance Literature Matters Now, 2019
from the edited collection "Teaching Social Justice Through Shakespeare: Why Renaissance Literatu... more from the edited collection "Teaching Social Justice Through Shakespeare: Why Renaissance Literature Matters Now," edited by Hillary Eklund and Wendy Beth Hyman
This essay uses the case study of the digital game Play the Knave to unpack the historical and th... more This essay uses the case study of the digital game Play the Knave to unpack the historical and theoretical value of declamatory acting to Shakespeare performance. Analysis of the game as a digital object and observations of people playing it when installed in Shakespeare theaters and arts venues reveal continuities between the material practices of acting in Shakespeare’s day and our own, as players adopt a declamatory style of gesture when they play. We maintain that much as the declamatory style functioned in the early modern period as a sign of and a means for amateur performance, so this style can facilitate and mediate communal, collaborative Shakespeare theater today, helping to develop among a wide public new pleasures and competencies in Shakespeare performance.
“Inclusion” is a rhetoric of human resources and industry. It is a euphemism that travels into th... more “Inclusion” is a rhetoric of human resources and industry. It is a euphemism that travels into the workplace or the academy alongside others like “diversity” and “accessibility” in place of activist language like “justice.” Feminist critic Sara Ahmed (2021) has argued that this jargon and the systems that execute them often allow injustices to persist unchecked within the institution and can indeed obscure and even facilitate racist and gender-discriminatory actions and Dean Spade (2015) has also argued against the mainstreaming gestures of trans liberation that beget violence at an administrative level. In literature and English departments, conversations about the canon necessitate conversations about inclusion. The selection of certain trans authored texts for inclusion on syllabi alongside invitations for trans readings of already canonical works create space for and representation of trans identity. At the same time, we can risk divorcing trans identity and theory from important critical context or reducing it to an overly simplistic extension of existing gender theory. This chapter will explore three contemporary trans authored texts that take a critical view of simple inclusion models: Kai Cheng Thom’s novel Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars (2016), Gretchen Felker-Martin’s apocalyptic horror novel Manhunt (2022), and the Bram Stoker erasure poem “R E D” by Chase Berggrun (2018).
“Inclusion” is a rhetoric of human resources and industry. It is a euphemism that travels into th... more “Inclusion” is a rhetoric of human resources and industry. It is a euphemism that travels into the workplace or the academy alongside others like “diversity” and “accessibility” in place of activist language like “justice.” Feminist critic Sara Ahmed (2021) has argued that this jargon and the systems that execute them often allow injustices to persist unchecked within the institution and can indeed obscure and even facilitate racist and gender-discriminatory actions and Dean Spade (2015) has also argued against the mainstreaming gestures of trans liberation that beget violence at an administrative level. In literature and English departments, conversations about the canon necessitate conversations about inclusion. The selection of certain trans authored texts for inclusion on syllabi alongside invitations for trans readings of already canonical works create space for and representation of trans identity. At the same time, we can risk divorcing trans identity and theory from important critical context or reducing it to an overly simplistic extension of existing gender theory. This chapter will explore three contemporary trans authored texts that take a critical view of simple inclusion models: Kai Cheng Thom’s novel Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars (2016), Gretchen Felker-Martin’s apocalyptic horror novel Manhunt (2022), and the Bram Stoker erasure poem “R E D” by Chase Berggrun (2018).
We invite submissions to A Cultural History of Trans Lives in the Early Modern Age (1450-1650), e... more We invite submissions to A Cultural History of Trans Lives in the Early Modern Age (1450-1650), edited by Nicholas R. Jones and Sawyer K. Kemp. Although the early modern period has long been a rich subject area for critique across the study of gender, race, and sexuality, the field of Early Modern Trans Studies has emerged in the last several years as differentiated from earlier feminist, gender studies, and queer theory approaches. As such, it emphasizes the transhistorical politicization of certain kinds of bodies and the biopolitical machinery of state- and church-endorsed sex and gender categories. As a field, Trans Studies has sometimes functioned as a corrective, asking, for instance: what can Trans Studies do with (or for) Early Modern Studies, other than simply applying a new set of theory buzzwords to “cross-dressing” narratives? As the field has grown, it further queries: What can contemporary trans life help illuminate about gender policing and racial profiling in historical eras? How can contemporary trans theory’s emphasis on intersectionality help us navigate the racialization of sex and gender norms in a period of European colonial expansion, intercultural trade, and travel? How might these questions, we ask, play out in non-Western geographies, histories, and paradigms? This volume, A Cultural History of Trans Lives in the Early Modern Age (1450-1650), will explore and expand these conversations by bringing historical texts, events, objects, persons, and phenomena into dialogue with rich questions and topics in trans studies.
This essay grows out of an interview with actor, director, and activist Skyler Cooper. In Livermo... more This essay grows out of an interview with actor, director, and activist Skyler Cooper. In Livermore Shakespeare Festival’s 2019 season, Cooper was fêted as the first transgender man to play the role of Othello, but it was actually his second time in the part. Cooper had previously performed a butch lesbian version of Othello in Impact Theatre’s 2005 production. In dialogue with Cooper’s account of the two roles, this essay posits that Cooper’s unique lived experience and performance history illustrate the intersections of gender, race, and trans identity both in Othello and in the contemporary American landscape. Although both characterizations represent cisgender interpretations of Othello as male and female, respectively, this essay engages critical race studies and transgender theory to argue that within and across these productions we can read a third interpretation: a transgender and transmasculine Othello whose experience of racist interpersonal violence, microaggressions, and gaslighting speaks to a contemporary Black transmasculine perspective that is often forgotten or ignored.
This essay grows out of an interview with actor, director, and activist Skyler Cooper. In Livermo... more This essay grows out of an interview with actor, director, and activist Skyler Cooper. In Livermore Shakespeare Festival’s 2019 season, Cooper was fêted as the first transgender man to play the role of Othello, but it was actually his second time in the part. Cooper had previously performed a butch lesbian version of Othello in Impact Theatre’s 2005 production. In dialogue with Cooper’s account of the two roles, this essay posits that Cooper’s unique lived experience and performance history illustrate the intersections of gender, race, and trans identity both in Othello and in the contemporary American landscape. Although both characterizations represent cisgender interpretations of Othello as male and female, respectively, this essay engages critical race studies and transgender theory to argue that within and across these productions we can read a third interpretation: a transgender and transmasculine Othello whose experience of racist interpersonal violence, microaggressions, and gaslighting speaks to a contemporary Black transmasculine perspective that is often forgotten or ignored.
Originally delivered as part of the Shakespeare Association of America Next Generation Plenary, 2... more Originally delivered as part of the Shakespeare Association of America Next Generation Plenary, 2018. Transcripts of the papers published by Shakespeare Studies.
Teaching Social Justice Through Shakespeare: Why Renaissance Literature Matters Now, 2019
from the edited collection "Teaching Social Justice Through Shakespeare: Why Renaissance Literatu... more from the edited collection "Teaching Social Justice Through Shakespeare: Why Renaissance Literature Matters Now," edited by Hillary Eklund and Wendy Beth Hyman
This essay uses the case study of the digital game Play the Knave to unpack the historical and th... more This essay uses the case study of the digital game Play the Knave to unpack the historical and theoretical value of declamatory acting to Shakespeare performance. Analysis of the game as a digital object and observations of people playing it when installed in Shakespeare theaters and arts venues reveal continuities between the material practices of acting in Shakespeare’s day and our own, as players adopt a declamatory style of gesture when they play. We maintain that much as the declamatory style functioned in the early modern period as a sign of and a means for amateur performance, so this style can facilitate and mediate communal, collaborative Shakespeare theater today, helping to develop among a wide public new pleasures and competencies in Shakespeare performance.
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