Disabled Theater

Jerome Bel’s Disabled Theater - a dance piece that features a company of professional disabled actors - has polarized audiences worldwide. Some have celebrated the performance as an outstanding exploration of representation; others have criticized it as a contemporary freak show. From the impassioned critical reception, it is clear that the piece raises important questions about the role of people with cognitive disabilities within both society and the conventions of theater and dance. Using Disabled Theater as the basis of a broad, interdisciplinary discussion of performance and disability, this volume explores the intersections of politics and aesthetics, inclusion and exclusion, and identity and empowerment. Can the stage serve as a place of emancipation for people with disabilities? To what extent are performers with disabilities able to challenge and subvert the rules of society? What would a performance look like without an ideology of ability? These and other questions are explored by a stellar group of contributors, including Andre Lepecki, Yvonne Schmidt, Gerald Siegmund, Marcus Steinweg, Kai van Eikels, and Scott Wallin.