The Ethics of Encounter in Contemporary Theater Performances

Abstract

Dramatic arts, speech andmusic theater acts, performances, dance, films and other audiovisual media, cultural performances (from carnivals to gay pride parades) and all kinds of performances (from academic lectures to truth finding commissions) are currently understood as fields of research in Theatre Studies. Since its emergence in Berlin in the 1920s, Theatre Studies has developed a considerable diversity in terms of its content and method: while European Theatre Studies usually distinguishes between theatre arts and social performances, this separation does not hold in Asia, where an understanding of theatre and dance as art forms only emerged due toWestern influences. While at U.S.-American and British universities, Theatres Studies and practical training in theater and performance are usually housed in a joint ›Drama Department‹, scientific and artistic research are often situated further apart in continental Europe due to the institutional separation of academic and artistic universities. Thus, there can be no general approach to the question as to what kind of relationship Theatre Studies and Performance Studies have in reference to ethical questions. In any event, it must be addressed in connection with the great diversity of international Theatre Studies, which also means that one’s own perspective must also be embedded in its local context. My perspective has been shaped by US-American Performance Studies as well as by German-speaking Theatre Studies. Richard Schechner, who is known today as the founder of Performance Studies, first offered a course on »Performance Theory« at New York University in 1979 (1998, 357–363). Performance Studies allow performances from different cultures to be included within Theatre