Revision with unchanged content. On the Broadway stages of the nineteen
eighties, Whoopi Goldberg, Lily Tomlin, Eric Bogosian, and John
Leguizamo brought performance art to the mainstream audiences in the
United States. Their work problematized the idea of what it meant to be
masculine in this tumultuous time. The shows advanced social critiques
to their audience while also meeting the expectations of the popular
marketplace by incorporating (re)presentational aesthetics. By
evaluating and reconceiving the constructed nature of the self in and by
means of performance, the performances advance a model for
masculinities, as everyday actors, might (re-)conceive of and construct
their lives, identities, and relationships. Through a critical
interpretation incorporating the lenses of Robert Connell, Victor
Seidler and Arthur W. Frank's sociology of the body, I conceptualize
gender, in light of the social signs and codes, roles, and identities,
that the performers' bodies represent. This book contributes to the
growing literature and discourses concerned with representations of the
male body and masculinities, particularly in live performance. In
particular, this study offers an analysis of performance art monologues
presented to the mainstream audiences that tend to frequent Broadway
shows and that focus on diverse masculinities.
