Theatre and Religion on Krishna s Stage examines the history and form of
India's râs lila folk theatre, and discusses how this theatre functions
as a mechanism of worship and spirituality among Krishna devotees in
India. From analyses of performances and conversations with performers,
audience, and local scholars, Mason argues that râs lila actors and
audience alike actively assume roles that locate them together in the
spiritual reality that the play represents. Correlating Krishna devotion
and theories of religious experience, this book suggests that the
emotional experience of theatrical fiction may arise from the propensity
of audiences to play out roles of their own through which they share a
performance's reality.