Gay and Lesbian Studies and the Theatre Curriculum

Abstract

Gay and Lesbian Studies and the Theatre Curriculum Sám Abel In recent years, courses have begun to appear in university curricula under the rubric of Gay and Lesbian Studies.1 Several schools have Gay and Lesbian Studies programs in place, while many others have introduced individual courses dealing with issues of sexual difference. Given the explosion of lesbian, gay, and bisexual issues on the national scene and the rapid appearance of scholarly material about sexual difference, Gay and Lesbian Studies will soon take its place alongside existing cross-disciplinary programs in Women's, African-American, Native American, and other area studies. Theatre faculty will have great opportunities to participate in this growing field. More importantly , theatre has a heavy stake in Gay and Lesbian Studies and major contributions to make equal to, if not greater than, the share it holds in other cross-disciplinary fields. The purpose of this article is to raise two questions: first, how does this new field of Gay and Lesbian Studies affect the curriculum and teaching methods of academic theatre; and second, what contributions can theatre educators make to courses dealing with sexual orientation, and what form should such contributions take? In short, what resources do Gay and Lesbian Studies provide for academic theatre; and how, in turn, can theatre educators contribute to Gay and Lesbian Studies? The observations presented here are based on experiences at Dartmouth College in developing courses which address gay, lesbian, and bisexual issues in the theatre curriculum and in interdisciplinary courses. These discussions, then, reflect the situation of a small, private school, though many issues will apply to any academic setting. I focus primarily on undergraduate education, though theatre studies have great opportunities to connect with Gay and Lesbian Studies on a graduate level as well. Canon Fire, Or Is There Such a Thing As a Lesbian and Gay Theatre? The first (and potentially most divisive) question for gay and lesbian theatre studies is that of the validity of a genre of "Gay and Lesbian Drama." 31 32 Sam Abel Increasing numbers of plays in recent years have addressed issues of sexual difference, but do these works constitute a genre? Do all plays which raise issues of sexual difference belong in such a genre? Or are concerns of sexual difference too loosely defined to warrant separate classification? And if such a category is posited, the questions do not end there. Does gay male theatre belong in the same genre as lesbian theatre, or are they separate categories? Is there a distinct bisexual theatre? Does a play belong to this category if the writer is gay but the subject matter is not, or if the subject matter is gay-related but the playwright is straight? Where do the dividing lines end? These questions are intriguing but, in the end, moot. What matters is not the objective validity of a genre called "Gay and Lesbian Drama" but that the term is mentioned at all. As Thomas Postlewait argues in a series of recent articles in Theatre Journal, genre classification says more about the people who generate the categories than about the works being categorized. To posit a genre of gay or lesbian drama is, then, more than a mode of literary analysis; it is a political act. A lecture, or an entire course, on gay and lesbian drama tells students that issues of sexual difference are important in society. To discuss plays labeled as "Gay and Lesbian Drama" asserts that sexual identities distinct from the mainstream population exist and that such plays (and such identities) merit study. What impact does the introduction of this genre have on the undergraduate drama classroom? If gay and lesbian drama follows the developmental pattern of the drama of other marginalized populations, the first step is to recognize that many notable playwrights from the past were gay men, lesbians, or bisexuals. In the case of other marginalized populations, the process of recognition necessitates a literal act of recovery: finding works that rarely or never saw the stage or publication. Bringing the drama of marginalized populations to public attention means digging through archives, transcribing oral histories, and otherwise documenting that which has never been documented. But for...