Scott Wallin | University of California, Berkeley (original) (raw)

Papers by Scott Wallin

TDR, 2017

History offered an alternative account of the avantgarde's fate in his essay "The Conservative Av... more History offered an alternative account of the avantgarde's fate in his essay "The Conservative Avant-Garde." Here, Schechner acknowledged that a contemporary avantgarde was thriving, but that it had become a substantially different animal. Where the traditional avantgarde radically disrupted the status quo, artists of what Schechner termed today's "niche-garde" have focused on perfecting the techniques of the postwar avantgarde and mining their known registers, rather than risking failure. "Many of these artists are on the left personally, but in their artistic practice, in terms of venues, audiences, and effects on the political world, this left is apolitical, a style left rather than a workers' left" (2010:27). The essay, like its predecessor, was a polemic and one that self-consciously spoke from and about the insular-or what Brecht would call "culinary"-downtown New York performance scene. But, it was also a frank glance at the author's past, a provocation to reconsider the politics of conservation and recollection more broadly for artistic production and for scholarship. We might ask: After several decades of radical invention, does the "antidiscipline" of performance studies threaten to become just such a "niche-garde"?

Disability Studies Quarterly, May 19, 2015

Audio description is the process of translating visual information into words for people who are ... more Audio description is the process of translating visual information into words for people who are blind or have low vision. Typically such description has focused on films, museum exhibitions, images and video on the internet, and live theater. Because it allows people with visual impairments to experience a variety of cultural and educational texts that would otherwise be inaccessible, audio description is a mandated aspect of disability inclusion, although it remains markedly underdeveloped and underutilized in our classrooms and in society in general. Along with increasing awareness of disability, audio description pushes students to practice close reading of visual material, deepen their analysis, and engage in critical discussions around the methodology, standards and values, language, and role of interpretation in a variety of academic disciplines. We outline a few pedagogical interventions that can be customized to different contexts to develop students' writing and critical thinking skills through guided description of visual material.

This dissertation begins at the promising crossroads of performance studies and disability studie... more This dissertation begins at the promising crossroads of performance studies and disability studies. How does theater influence our perceptions and responses to psychosocial disability? While plays and productions often reinforce dominant social views that stigmatize and oppress people who are considered mad or labeled mentally ill, theater attuned to these concerns can also critique such treatment by offering fuller, more complex depictions that encourage us to rethink psychosocial disabilities. This dissertation analyzes North American theatrical productions that engage with madness in atypical ways. Drawing from performance theory, disability theory, and ethnographic inquiry via audience and artist interviews and close readings of live and videorecorded performances, "Madness in the Making" analyzes moments where theater and psychosocial disability work together to disrupt normative practices, initiate productive discussions around psychosocial disability, and reach towards a more inclusive and innovative theater. Contemporary society tends to regard psychosocial disability as mental illness that should be eliminated through treatment or social isolation. But madness is also a valuable resource for theater. Peter Brook and the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Peter Weiss' Marat/Sade (1965), for example, used madness as a theatrical device to push the limits of acting and audience expectations. This production exemplified how theater strategically uses mental and emotional disabilities in various productive ways, albeit often without concern for the lived realities of disabled people and in ways that further stereotypes and misunderstanding. Other theater, however, specifically targets these concerns. The Broadway musical, Next to Normal (2010) and Tuesdays at Four (2004) produced by The Fisher Players, a small community theater group from Detroit, consciously attempted to reduce the stigma of mental illness. Mental health advocates praised these shows for educating audiences and empowering mental health consumers. One can see in these performances theater's capacity to engender audience empathy and support. However, a deeper analysis of the work also reveals drama's inherent limitations in representing psychosocial disability. Part of this limitation relates to the need for an intersectional understanding of oppression as well the fact that stigma can never be fully removed from the concept of mental illness. Another challenge lies in the complex relationship between language and disability, and Joshua Waters' Madhouse Rhythm (2008) is a one-person show that addresses this challenge by utilizing linguistic performativity to resist psychiatric

Disability Studies Quarterly, Dec 18, 2012

<p>The award-winning musical &l... more <p>The award-winning musical <em>Next to Normal</em> is widely lauded for addressing the stigma of mental illness. However, the play uses a medical model of psychosocial disability in a way that narrows and sanitizes the representation of people who have such disabilities. Analyzing <em>Next to Normal’s </em>performances<em>,</em> critical reviews, artist commentary, and audience reactions, this article argues that the musical fails to remove stigma associated with people with psychosocial disabilities and overlooks an ecological perspective that would better honor their experiences. </p><p>Keywords: psychosocial disability, madness, mental illness, theater, performance</p>

TDR, Mar 1, 2017

History offered an alternative account of the avantgarde's fate in his essay "The Conservative Av... more History offered an alternative account of the avantgarde's fate in his essay "The Conservative Avant-Garde." Here, Schechner acknowledged that a contemporary avantgarde was thriving, but that it had become a substantially different animal. Where the traditional avantgarde radically disrupted the status quo, artists of what Schechner termed today's "niche-garde" have focused on perfecting the techniques of the postwar avantgarde and mining their known registers, rather than risking failure. "Many of these artists are on the left personally, but in their artistic practice, in terms of venues, audiences, and effects on the political world, this left is apolitical, a style left rather than a workers' left" (2010:27). The essay, like its predecessor, was a polemic and one that self-consciously spoke from and about the insular-or what Brecht would call "culinary"-downtown New York performance scene. But, it was also a frank glance at the author's past, a provocation to reconsider the politics of conservation and recollection more broadly for artistic production and for scholarship. We might ask: After several decades of radical invention, does the "antidiscipline" of performance studies threaten to become just such a "niche-garde"?

Routledge eBooks, May 17, 2023

Disability Studies Quarterly, 2015

Audio description is the process of translating visual information into words for people who are ... more Audio description is the process of translating visual information into words for people who are blind or have low vision. Typically such description has focused on films, museum exhibitions, images and video on the internet, and live theater. Because it allows people with visual impairments to experience a variety of cultural and educational texts that would otherwise be inaccessible, audio description is a mandated aspect of disability inclusion, although it remains markedly underdeveloped and underutilized in our classrooms and in society in general. Along with increasing awareness of disability, audio description pushes students to practice close reading of visual material, deepen their analysis, and engage in critical discussions around the methodology, standards and values, language, and role of interpretation in a variety of academic disciplines. We outline a few pedagogical interventions that can be customized to different contexts to develop students' writing and critic...

Disability Studies Quarterly, 2012

<p>The award-winning musical &l... more <p>The award-winning musical <em>Next to Normal</em> is widely lauded for addressing the stigma of mental illness. However, the play uses a medical model of psychosocial disability in a way that narrows and sanitizes the representation of people who have such disabilities. Analyzing <em>Next to Normal’s </em>performances<em>,</em> critical reviews, artist commentary, and audience reactions, this article argues that the musical fails to remove stigma associated with people with psychosocial disabilities and overlooks an ecological perspective that would better honor their experiences. </p><p>Keywords: psychosocial disability, madness, mental illness, theater, performance</p>

This essay analyzes Jérôme Bel and Theater HORA’s Disabled Theater through a critical lens of dis... more This essay analyzes Jérôme Bel and Theater HORA’s Disabled Theater through a critical lens of disability by closely reading several of its Berlin and New York performances, drawing upon interviews with audience members and actors, and comparing the production with Bel’s earlier work, The Show Must Go On. Although Disabled Theater has been celebrated for aesthetic innovation and a bold, so-called politically incorrect embrace of disability, I argue that its aesthetic and affective work is coupled with and dependent upon a reductive approach to disability. The production achieves its force and audience interest by tacitly targeting the uncomfortable feelings many of us have about disability and then offering a fallacious sense of emancipation from these disabling perceptions and emotions. There is, however, an exception to this dynamic and outcome. Refusing to abide by the production’s otherwise normate perspective and expectations, Peter Keller’s individual performances offer an example of disability’s transgressive power and beauty onstage.

Directing Portfolio by Scott Wallin

TDR, 2017

History offered an alternative account of the avantgarde's fate in his essay "The Conservative Av... more History offered an alternative account of the avantgarde's fate in his essay "The Conservative Avant-Garde." Here, Schechner acknowledged that a contemporary avantgarde was thriving, but that it had become a substantially different animal. Where the traditional avantgarde radically disrupted the status quo, artists of what Schechner termed today's "niche-garde" have focused on perfecting the techniques of the postwar avantgarde and mining their known registers, rather than risking failure. "Many of these artists are on the left personally, but in their artistic practice, in terms of venues, audiences, and effects on the political world, this left is apolitical, a style left rather than a workers' left" (2010:27). The essay, like its predecessor, was a polemic and one that self-consciously spoke from and about the insular-or what Brecht would call "culinary"-downtown New York performance scene. But, it was also a frank glance at the author's past, a provocation to reconsider the politics of conservation and recollection more broadly for artistic production and for scholarship. We might ask: After several decades of radical invention, does the "antidiscipline" of performance studies threaten to become just such a "niche-garde"?

Disability Studies Quarterly, May 19, 2015

Audio description is the process of translating visual information into words for people who are ... more Audio description is the process of translating visual information into words for people who are blind or have low vision. Typically such description has focused on films, museum exhibitions, images and video on the internet, and live theater. Because it allows people with visual impairments to experience a variety of cultural and educational texts that would otherwise be inaccessible, audio description is a mandated aspect of disability inclusion, although it remains markedly underdeveloped and underutilized in our classrooms and in society in general. Along with increasing awareness of disability, audio description pushes students to practice close reading of visual material, deepen their analysis, and engage in critical discussions around the methodology, standards and values, language, and role of interpretation in a variety of academic disciplines. We outline a few pedagogical interventions that can be customized to different contexts to develop students' writing and critical thinking skills through guided description of visual material.

This dissertation begins at the promising crossroads of performance studies and disability studie... more This dissertation begins at the promising crossroads of performance studies and disability studies. How does theater influence our perceptions and responses to psychosocial disability? While plays and productions often reinforce dominant social views that stigmatize and oppress people who are considered mad or labeled mentally ill, theater attuned to these concerns can also critique such treatment by offering fuller, more complex depictions that encourage us to rethink psychosocial disabilities. This dissertation analyzes North American theatrical productions that engage with madness in atypical ways. Drawing from performance theory, disability theory, and ethnographic inquiry via audience and artist interviews and close readings of live and videorecorded performances, "Madness in the Making" analyzes moments where theater and psychosocial disability work together to disrupt normative practices, initiate productive discussions around psychosocial disability, and reach towards a more inclusive and innovative theater. Contemporary society tends to regard psychosocial disability as mental illness that should be eliminated through treatment or social isolation. But madness is also a valuable resource for theater. Peter Brook and the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Peter Weiss' Marat/Sade (1965), for example, used madness as a theatrical device to push the limits of acting and audience expectations. This production exemplified how theater strategically uses mental and emotional disabilities in various productive ways, albeit often without concern for the lived realities of disabled people and in ways that further stereotypes and misunderstanding. Other theater, however, specifically targets these concerns. The Broadway musical, Next to Normal (2010) and Tuesdays at Four (2004) produced by The Fisher Players, a small community theater group from Detroit, consciously attempted to reduce the stigma of mental illness. Mental health advocates praised these shows for educating audiences and empowering mental health consumers. One can see in these performances theater's capacity to engender audience empathy and support. However, a deeper analysis of the work also reveals drama's inherent limitations in representing psychosocial disability. Part of this limitation relates to the need for an intersectional understanding of oppression as well the fact that stigma can never be fully removed from the concept of mental illness. Another challenge lies in the complex relationship between language and disability, and Joshua Waters' Madhouse Rhythm (2008) is a one-person show that addresses this challenge by utilizing linguistic performativity to resist psychiatric

Disability Studies Quarterly, Dec 18, 2012

<p>The award-winning musical &l... more <p>The award-winning musical <em>Next to Normal</em> is widely lauded for addressing the stigma of mental illness. However, the play uses a medical model of psychosocial disability in a way that narrows and sanitizes the representation of people who have such disabilities. Analyzing <em>Next to Normal’s </em>performances<em>,</em> critical reviews, artist commentary, and audience reactions, this article argues that the musical fails to remove stigma associated with people with psychosocial disabilities and overlooks an ecological perspective that would better honor their experiences. </p><p>Keywords: psychosocial disability, madness, mental illness, theater, performance</p>

TDR, Mar 1, 2017

History offered an alternative account of the avantgarde's fate in his essay "The Conservative Av... more History offered an alternative account of the avantgarde's fate in his essay "The Conservative Avant-Garde." Here, Schechner acknowledged that a contemporary avantgarde was thriving, but that it had become a substantially different animal. Where the traditional avantgarde radically disrupted the status quo, artists of what Schechner termed today's "niche-garde" have focused on perfecting the techniques of the postwar avantgarde and mining their known registers, rather than risking failure. "Many of these artists are on the left personally, but in their artistic practice, in terms of venues, audiences, and effects on the political world, this left is apolitical, a style left rather than a workers' left" (2010:27). The essay, like its predecessor, was a polemic and one that self-consciously spoke from and about the insular-or what Brecht would call "culinary"-downtown New York performance scene. But, it was also a frank glance at the author's past, a provocation to reconsider the politics of conservation and recollection more broadly for artistic production and for scholarship. We might ask: After several decades of radical invention, does the "antidiscipline" of performance studies threaten to become just such a "niche-garde"?

Routledge eBooks, May 17, 2023

Disability Studies Quarterly, 2015

Audio description is the process of translating visual information into words for people who are ... more Audio description is the process of translating visual information into words for people who are blind or have low vision. Typically such description has focused on films, museum exhibitions, images and video on the internet, and live theater. Because it allows people with visual impairments to experience a variety of cultural and educational texts that would otherwise be inaccessible, audio description is a mandated aspect of disability inclusion, although it remains markedly underdeveloped and underutilized in our classrooms and in society in general. Along with increasing awareness of disability, audio description pushes students to practice close reading of visual material, deepen their analysis, and engage in critical discussions around the methodology, standards and values, language, and role of interpretation in a variety of academic disciplines. We outline a few pedagogical interventions that can be customized to different contexts to develop students' writing and critic...

Disability Studies Quarterly, 2012

<p>The award-winning musical &l... more <p>The award-winning musical <em>Next to Normal</em> is widely lauded for addressing the stigma of mental illness. However, the play uses a medical model of psychosocial disability in a way that narrows and sanitizes the representation of people who have such disabilities. Analyzing <em>Next to Normal’s </em>performances<em>,</em> critical reviews, artist commentary, and audience reactions, this article argues that the musical fails to remove stigma associated with people with psychosocial disabilities and overlooks an ecological perspective that would better honor their experiences. </p><p>Keywords: psychosocial disability, madness, mental illness, theater, performance</p>

This essay analyzes Jérôme Bel and Theater HORA’s Disabled Theater through a critical lens of dis... more This essay analyzes Jérôme Bel and Theater HORA’s Disabled Theater through a critical lens of disability by closely reading several of its Berlin and New York performances, drawing upon interviews with audience members and actors, and comparing the production with Bel’s earlier work, The Show Must Go On. Although Disabled Theater has been celebrated for aesthetic innovation and a bold, so-called politically incorrect embrace of disability, I argue that its aesthetic and affective work is coupled with and dependent upon a reductive approach to disability. The production achieves its force and audience interest by tacitly targeting the uncomfortable feelings many of us have about disability and then offering a fallacious sense of emancipation from these disabling perceptions and emotions. There is, however, an exception to this dynamic and outcome. Refusing to abide by the production’s otherwise normate perspective and expectations, Peter Keller’s individual performances offer an example of disability’s transgressive power and beauty onstage.