Acts of Gaiety: LGBT Performance and the Politics of Pleasure [Hardcover]

Acts of Gaietyexplores the mirthful modes of political performance by LGBT artists, activists, and collectives that have inspired and sustained deadly serious struggles for revolutionary change. The book explores antics such as camp, kitsch, drag, guerrilla theater, zap actions, rallies, manifestos, pageants, and parades alongside more familiar forms of legitimate theater. Against queer theory's long-suffering romance with mourning and melancholia and a national agenda that urges homosexuals to renounce pleasure if they want to be taken seriously by mainstream society,Acts of Gaietyseeks to reanimate notions of gaiety as a political value for LGBT activism.

The book mines the archives of lesbian-feminist activism of the 1960s-70s, highlighting the outrageous gaiety that lay at the center of the social and theatrical performances of the era and uncovering original documents long thought to be lost. Juxtaposing historical figures such as Valerie Solanas and Jill Johnston with more recent performers and activists (including Hothead Paisan, Bitch & Animal, and the Five Lesbian Brothers), Warner shows how reclaiming this largely discarded and disavowed past elucidates possibilities for being and belonging.Acts of Gaietyexplores the mutually informing histories of gayness as politics and asjoie de vivre, along with the centrality of liveliness to queer performance and protest.

Sara Warneris Faculty Fellow at Harvard University and an Associate Professor of Performing and Media Arts at Cornell.

Acts of Gaietyis a great read. Filled with excellent research that sets the various theater productions in context and accompanied by a compelling historical account of the conjunctions of riot and revelry in LGBT liberation movements, it will make an impact on a number of different fields.
—Judith Halberlƒ!