by Sonja Kuftinec This captivating study maps a history and theory of community-based theater in the United States through the Cornerstone Theater Company. Detailing how the performance-making process contributes to an ongoing negotiation of American identity, Kuftinec investigates community-based theater to trace the historical affiliations of the form and critically examines how community-based theater both enables community and challenges the very notion of “community” as a stable site. While Cornerstone’s contemporary work can be contextualized within a historical tradition of grassroots performance, it also complicates this tradition, suggesting that identity may be more dynamic than rooted. By using Cornerstone as a case study, Kuftinec’s analysis of community-based theater’s impact upon rural, urban, and professional sites across the United States proposes that “community” and “America” are vital terms of negotiation rather than fixed entities. 272 pp (hardcover) 2003 NONMEMBER PRICE: $45.00 |