1. Crafting the Popular Stage Space in Urban Senegal.
- Author
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Valente-Quinn, Brian
- Subjects
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THEATER , *PERFORMANCE , *ARTISTS , *CULTURE , *CULTURAL property - Abstract
What is popular theater and what do popular theater artists do? Scholarship on popular theater in Africa has highlighted how, despite artists' frequent use of the label, the form proves difficult to describe in any definitive way, even as it interacts with and draws from several coexisting, and sometimes competing, approaches to theatrical performance. Based on oral histories and research on the popular theater movement in Senegal, as well as four years of interaction, participant observation and collaboration with the popular theater troupe Kàddu Yaraax, this essay considers the historical context in which the popular theater movement emerged in this country and offers a case study of popular theater practice, underlining the artistry that goes into the performance and framing of popular theater events. Addressing popular theater as a craft operating within and dialoguing with a specific cultural heritage, this essay explores the popular theater movement's use of an articulated, dynamic view of culture in response to a shifting landscape of collaborators and sponsors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2020
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