Performing Colonization:

Abstract

Theatre is always influenced by the culture in which it is performed, and can be employed as an ideological tool to influence its cultural context in return. This article assesses the role of European theatre practices in the ideological colonization of the Americas. World’s Fairs, Wild West shows, and Christian pageant theatre are methods by which colonial ideology was communicated to audiences and performances, and sites of resistance for Indigenous performers in the past and the present.