Gender and Race Trouble: The Emperor Jones by The Wooster Group

This paper is a study of The Wooster Group’s staging of identity-related tensions in Eugene O’Neill’s The Emperor Jones. Using Judith Butler’s theories on performativity as an analytical framework, this paper shows how Elizabeth LeCompte’s iconoclastic American company deconstructs O’Neill’s 1920 wo...

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Main Author: Emeline Jouve
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAES 2015-11-01
Series:Angles
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/angles/2176
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author Emeline Jouve
author_facet Emeline Jouve
author_sort Emeline Jouve
collection DOAJ
description This paper is a study of The Wooster Group’s staging of identity-related tensions in Eugene O’Neill’s The Emperor Jones. Using Judith Butler’s theories on performativity as an analytical framework, this paper shows how Elizabeth LeCompte’s iconoclastic American company deconstructs O’Neill’s 1920 work to “trouble” the traditional configurations of both gender and race. By playing with the codes of representation, The Wooster Group sheds light on the artificiality of the conventional binary system opposing the masculine to the feminine and Whites to Blacks. As they subvert traditional signs and symbols, The Wooster Group creates an “aesthetic of resistance,” this paper argues, opening onto a reconfiguration of gender and race identities.
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spelling doaj-art-0ab7b2297ea34786bbc8bea2a9293eef2025-08-20T02:26:38ZengSAESAngles2274-20422015-11-01110.4000/angles.2176Gender and Race Trouble: The Emperor Jones by The Wooster GroupEmeline JouveThis paper is a study of The Wooster Group’s staging of identity-related tensions in Eugene O’Neill’s The Emperor Jones. Using Judith Butler’s theories on performativity as an analytical framework, this paper shows how Elizabeth LeCompte’s iconoclastic American company deconstructs O’Neill’s 1920 work to “trouble” the traditional configurations of both gender and race. By playing with the codes of representation, The Wooster Group sheds light on the artificiality of the conventional binary system opposing the masculine to the feminine and Whites to Blacks. As they subvert traditional signs and symbols, The Wooster Group creates an “aesthetic of resistance,” this paper argues, opening onto a reconfiguration of gender and race identities.https://journals.openedition.org/angles/2176performanceperformativitytheatregenderAmerican theatrerace
spellingShingle Emeline Jouve
Gender and Race Trouble: The Emperor Jones by The Wooster Group
Angles
performance
performativity
theatre
gender
American theatre
race
title Gender and Race Trouble: The Emperor Jones by The Wooster Group
title_full Gender and Race Trouble: The Emperor Jones by The Wooster Group
title_fullStr Gender and Race Trouble: The Emperor Jones by The Wooster Group
title_full_unstemmed Gender and Race Trouble: The Emperor Jones by The Wooster Group
title_short Gender and Race Trouble: The Emperor Jones by The Wooster Group
title_sort gender and race trouble the emperor jones by the wooster group
topic performance
performativity
theatre
gender
American theatre
race
url https://journals.openedition.org/angles/2176
work_keys_str_mv AT emelinejouve genderandracetroubletheemperorjonesbythewoostergroup