Over the past three decades, theater studies has undergone a radical
worldwide development and renewal. This happened through two different
yet complementary paths: the first (North American in origin) led to the
birth of the discipline of performance studies; the second (European
continental) is what Marco de Marinis calls "new theatrology." New
theatrology arises from the dialogue between theatre history and the
humanities and social sciences, yet de Marinis also characterizes it by
a strong experimental imprint resulting from a close and participatory
relationship with theatrical practice and its players.
The first part of Understanding Theatre retraces the main steps that
brought theater studies to make the transition from performance to the
audience to their receptive act, giving proper attention to the
documentary element. In the second part, de Marinis tests the new
perspective of investigation on some fundamental innovative theatrical
experiences of the twentieth century. In this way, the volume collects
de Marinis's essays--written for magazines, conference programs, and
edited collections--from a span of almost thirty years and documents key
post-semiological developments in how we understand theater today.
