Performing Age in Modern Drama

Performing Age in Modern Drama

Valerie Barnes Lipscomb Performing Age in Modern Drama

Valerie Barnes Lipscomb Liberal Arts University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee Sarasota, Florida, USA ISBN 978-1-137-51251-2 ISBN 978-1-137-50169-1 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-50169-1 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016936677 The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Cover illustration: Ian Paterson / Alamy Stock Photo Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Nature America Inc. New York

For Kevin, Vanessa, Natalie always, forever.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thanks go first to the staff at Palgrave Macmillan for a smooth publishing process. I also acknowledge the staffs of Comparative Drama and the International Journal of Ageing and Later Life, which earlier published portions of Chaps. 2 and 5, respectively (see Lipscomb, Performing the Aging Self and The Play s the Thing. ). This project has been simmering on one of my burners for a decade, but the gratitude I feel in completing it reaches back to mentors at all phases of my academic life. Miriam Gilbert and David Hamilton modeled the scholarly rigor and interpersonal warmth that I always hope to emulate, and I would not have pursued an academic career without the encouragement of Daniel Rutenberg. As I decided to focus on age studies and drama, I was fortunate to benefit from the guidance of Lagretta Lenker, Phillip Sipiora, Anthony Kubiak, Richard Dietrich, and especially Sara Deats, who gave me valuable feedback about most of this manuscript and continues to be an amazing role model. So many outstanding scholars generously welcomed me to the field of age studies and can be counted on for kindness and advice; thanks to Cynthia Port, Aagje Swinnen, Margaret Morganroth Gullette, Kate de Medeiros, Teresa Mangum, Roberta Maierhofer, Erin Gentry Lamb, and especially to Leni Marshall. Anthony Ellis also has been on that list, and I mourn that he will never experience old age. I am grateful to Kathleen Woodward for her encouragement when I first ventured to enter this conversation, and to Anne Davis Basting for forging a path in aging and theatre. I will be eternally thankful for the conversation with Elinor Fuchs at the European Network in Aging Studies conference that piqued her vii

viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS curiosity about a dramaturgy of age; her gracious interest in reading and sharing work is among the best developments in my professional life. The scholars with whom I have served on the Modern Language Association Age Studies Forum Executive Committee are truly inspirational; one could not be in better academic company than E. Ann Kaplan, Michelle Masse, Devoney Looser, Elizabeth Gregory, and Sally Chivers. At the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee, I am indebted first and foremost to Jane Rose for her leadership and unflagging confidence in me, and to the collegial faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences. I appreciate additional funding from the university for conference travel that contributed to this manuscript. The staff at the Jane Bancroft Cook Library cheerfully helped me track down books, articles and photos. I also appreciate Bonnie Vorenberg and Irene Silver-Stender for going out of their way to ensure I had access to senior-theatre materials. Thanks go to all the undergraduate and graduate students who contributed to my research; one after another, they would begin my project having not really thought about age, and then slowly sound more and more disturbed that the drama sources they read never mentioned performing age. My students continually refresh the great joy I find in teaching. Finally, I am grateful every day for my family, the Barneses and Lipscombs near and far who have unfailingly cheered me on. Not one minute of any of this would matter without the love of my husband, Kevin, and our daughters, Vanessa and Natalie I am blessed indeed to be sharing your lives.

CONTENTS 1 Introduction 1 2 Classics of Modern Drama: The Sense of Essential Self 13 3 Contemporary Memory Plays I: The Fragmented Self 47 4 Contemporary Memory Plays II: The Midlife Performative 77 5 The Continuum of Age: Performing Identity over the Life Course 117 6 The Fullness of Self: Performing Identity in Senior Theatre 157 Bibliography 183 Index 197 ix