From the back cover of

LOCAL ACTS, COMMUNITY-BASED PERFORMANCE IN THE UNITED STATES

by Jan Cohen-Cruz

Rutgers University Press, 2005

An eclectic mix of art, theatre, dance, politics, experimentation, and ritual, community-based performance has become an increasingly popular art movement in the United States. Forged by the collaborative efforts of professional artists and local residents, this field brings performance together with a range of political, cultural, and social projects, such as community-organizing, self-representation, and education.

Local Acts presents a long-overdue survey of community-based performance from its early roots, through its flourishing during the politically turbulent 1960's, to present-day popular culture. Drawing on nine case studies, including groups such as the African American Junebug Productions, the Appalachian Roadside Theater, and the Puerto Rican Teatro Pregones, Jan Cohen-Cruz provides descriptions of performances and processes, first-person stories, and analysis. She shows how the ritual side of these endeavors reinforces a sense of community identification while the aesthetic side enables local residents to transgress cultural norms, to question group habits, and to incorporate a level of craft that makes the work accessible to individuals beyond any one community. The book concludes by exploring how community-based performance transcends even national boundaries, connecting the local United States with international theater and cultural movements.

Local Acts is a volume in The Rutgers Series on the Public Life of the Arts, edited by Ruth Ann Stewart, Margaret J. Wyszomirski, and Joni M. Cherbo.

Cover photograph: Steelbound, a Touchstone Theater production created in association with Cornerstone Theater. Photo by Edward A. Leskin, 1999.