My current work has me thinking about theatre (and, oh yes, it's theatre, not that pedestrian "theater" as the plebs refer to it) in a very practical way. We will be staging a dramatization of some of the collected ethnographies and I'm in charge of the logistics. This is a little weird for me, for although I was in summer musicals at the camp for nerds I loved (Brigadoon; need I say more?), my most consistent thespian role was Janet at the local Rocky Horror Picture Show floorshow (Friday nights only) during most of high school. Despite, or perhaps because of, my nontraditional involvement in performance, I lack the technical know-how. My friends, the theatre geeks, would despair. Luckily I'm in the position to be receiving really solid advice about budget estimates, commissionning playwrights, set design, etc. It's exciting and a new way for me to think about presenting ethnographic data, in part because it is such an activist thing to do.
Over the course of my dissertation work, it was difficult not to make a connection between a BDSM "scene" and theater. Goffman's theory of the performance of identity was an easy, if obvious, link between social science and BDSM. Some scenes would be orchestrated down to the finest detail while others were improvs and sometimes even stand-up routines. There is a qualitative difference between scenes performed in private and those which are done in public. Although I talked to people often about what their private scenes were like, I really only have firsthand knowledge of my own. For me, it was the difference between experience and performance.
Although the socials, the pool nights, the study groups, the demos, all served to tie the community together, the foundations of the Texas subculture were the parties. A truly good scene at a party often attracted an audience. On the part of the players (another term borrowed and repurposed from theatre), the goal was often to transcend the audience. Top space and subspace became the connection between the individuals playing. The energy of the audience, in the form of attention and even arousal, was added to the dynamics of a scene. However, there were very clear demarcations between player and observer. It was verboten to enter another's scene uninvited, an offense worthy of expulsion.
As part of my research, to go the whole-hog participant-observation (the favored method among cultural anthropologists), I felt it was important to experience playing in public at least once. It was a much bigger deal than I expected. I felt... exposed... gazed upon... even a bit objectified, in ways I didn't expect. It became more than an experience; it became performance.
I have a bit of a split personality when it comes to being the center of attention. Most social situations, I avoid it like the plague (although if you get me started on my research, I won't shut up, as evidenced by this blog). But when I was dancing, there was something powerful about being worshipped, for lack of a better word. Now when I dance (for fun, not profit), I don't mind being a spectacle.
But to get back to BDSM, I think it is a postmodern theatre based on individualism. People sample the scenes they watch, rarely staying for a full performance. The line between actor and audience is rigid during a scene, but in five minutes, the watchers could become the watched. In some cases, this becomes a bit competitive, sort of, "My scene was more hardcore than yours" one-ups-man-ship that I found a little off-putting (for what it's worth, this pissing contest usually happened between male dominants; submissives had their own version - my marks are more prominent than yours, I withstood more pain). Other times, people would be inspired by the scenes of others and the energy became synergistic.
The props may be extensive, but the staging was usually very minimal. I am interested to learn more about the community in my new city, as the little I've seen, based on the gay male leather conference I went to, suggests a more sustained interest in costuming and setting. My first Texas party reminded me strongly of the performance art parties I attended in New Orleans, probably before I was old enough to appreciate them. Performance, if not specifically theatre, has been part of the air I breathe for most of my life, in large part due to the environments I moved in.
In my (admittedly limited) experience, the most powerful theatrical experiences involved the actors inviting the audience to be vulnerable with them. Moments of erotic crisis are certainly a window into another's life we do not often witness outside of our own realm of lovers (however extensive or limited that might be).
As my work-theatre project progresses, I am interested in the types of restriction that will inform this performance. Although the subject matter and audience and methodology is radically different, a shared goal between the worlds is transformation. In BDSM the transformation is focused on the players while in activist theatre (at least this one) is the transformation of the audience. I am inclined to think the former is more democratic but perhaps the effectiveness is diffused. I hope, much like a poet writing a sonnet, the limitations of a conventional theatre production will cause us to stretch creatively within structure.
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