Performing Identities on the Stages of Quebec

Product Description Performing Identities on the Stages of Quebec explores the poetics and politics of Québécois identity. Considering the stage as a metaphor of virtual communities and performance as a privileged moment of collective identity rituals, this study centers on three productions from the national, local, and international stages: the Saint Jean or national holiday; Salut vieille branche! a street-theatre parody on genealogical roots; Tectonic Plates, a bicontinental work in progress. Through multiple voices and theatrical framings, these performances from Quebec address the problem of minority nationalism at the close of the twentieth century. Review «This is a wonderfully reflective and sensitive study in cultural politics. Jill Mac Dougall walks the reader through a series of enactments of cultural identity in Quebec, bringing out the contradictions and ironies at play. Her theoretically informed, yet highly personal readings, offer an original and timely take on national identity formation in the postnational era.» (Sherry Simon, Concordia University, author of 'Le Trafic des langues') «Through a close analysis of brilliant theatrical productions by some of the finest artists of our time, Dr. Mac Dougall explores the cultural politics of Québécois identity. This is a passionate study of the agency of art in a time of turmoil.» (Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Professor of Performance Studies, New York University) About the Author The Author: As a theatre practitioner, translator of francophone plays, and cultural politics scholar, Jill Mac Dougall has worked in Europe, Africa, and North America for over thirty years. She holds degrees in Applied Linguistics, Art Dramatique, and Performance Studies. In addition to numerous translations, she has published theatre reviews and essays in French and English on performance and identity in Zaire and Quebec, and is coeditor of Contaminating Theatre: Intersections of Theatre, Therapy, and Public Health. She is currently teaching theatre and acting with Pennsylvania State University and serving as Artistic Director of the Women's Theatre Festival in Philadelphia.