Inside the Performance Workshop: A Sourcebook for Rasaboxes and Other Exercises (Routledge)
Inside The Performance Workshop: A Sourcebook for Rasaboxes and Other Exercises is the first full-length volume dedicated to the history, theory, practice, and application of a suite of performer training exercises developed by Richard Schechner and elaborated by the editors and contributors. This work began in the 1960s with The Performance Group, and has continued to evolve.
Rasaboxes – a featured set of exercises - is an interdisciplinary approach for training emotional expressivity through the use of breath, body, voice, movement, and sensation. It brings together:
- the concept of rasa from classical Indian performance theory and practice
- research on emotion from neuroscience and psychology
- experimental performance practices
- theories of ritual, play, and performance
This book combines both practical ‘how-to’ guidance, and applications in diverse contexts including undergraduate and graduate actor training, television acting, K-12 education, devising, and drama therapy. The book serves as an introduction to the work as well as an essential resource for experienced practitioners.
On the Edge of Utopia: performance and ritual at Burning Man
On the Edge of Utopia, Rachel Bowditch— performer, theatre director, scholar, and Burning Man participant—explores the spectrum of performance and ritual practices within Black Rock City from the everyday to spectacle, the profane to the sublime. Bowditch argues that Burning Man can be understood as a contemporary galaxy of happenings, a site for rehearsals of utopia, and a secular pilgrimage. As Burning Man continues to grow, it is creating new paradigms for performance, installation art, community, and invented rituals in the twenty-first century.
Seagull Books/University of Chicago Press, 2010.
Performing utopia
Performing Utopia, a volume of nine essays edited by Rachel Bowditch and Pegge Vissicaro, expand Jill Dolan's theory of the utopia performative to encompass performance in public life—from diasporic hip-hop battles, Chilean military parades, commemorative processions, Blackfoot powwows, and post-Katrina Mardi Gras to the Philadelphia Mummers Parade, Festas Juninas in Brazil, the Renaissance Fairs in Arizona, and neoburlesque competitions. How do these performances rehearse and enact visions of a utopic world? What can the lens of utopia illuminate about the potential of performing bodies to transform communities, identities, values, and beliefs across time?
Seagull Books/University of Chicago Press, 2018.
physical dramaturgy: perspectives from the field
Physical Dramaturgy: Perspectives from the Field, an anthology edited by Rachel Bowditch, Jeff Casazza, and Annette Thornton, looks at new ways of approaching a wealth of physical worlds, from the works of Shakespeare and other period playwrights to the processes of Jerzy Grotowski, Lloyd Williamson, Richard Schechner, and Michael Chekhov, and devising original works in a variety of contexts from Pig Iron, Dell’Arte International, Bill Bowers and mime, Tectonic Theater Project, and Liz Lerman’s Dance Exchange, giving dramaturgs, actors, and directors new ways of looking at existing methods and providing examples of how to translate, combine, and adapt them into new explorations for training, rehearsal, or research.
Routledge, 2018.
Peer reviewed book chapters
2016
“Commemorating the Ancestors: Performances of Death at the Tucson All Souls’ Procession.” Focus on World Festivals. Edited by Chris Newbold, Goodfellows Books, Oxford, 2016, pp. 28-289.
2016
“Republic of the Imagination: Burning Man and the Culture of Radical Self-Expression.” Focus on World Festivals. Edited by Chris Newbold, Goodfellows Books, Oxford, 2016, pp.64-76.
2014
“Elemental Performance: Realms of Fire at Burning Man.” Playa Dust: A Burning Man Comprehensive History, edited by Samantha Krukowski. Immedium, 2014, pp.160-173.
2015
“The Inferno: Burning Man and the Tipping Point.” Festive Devils of the Americas, edited by Milla Riggio, Paolo Vignolo, and Angela Marino Segura, Seagull Books (University of Chicago Press), 2015, pp. 299-316.
peer reviewed articles
2013
“Phoenix Rising: The Culture of Fire at the Burning Man Festival,” Performance Research, Routledge, an imprint of Taylor and Francis, Vol. 17, No. 6, ‘On Fire’ (Jan 2013), pp. 113-122.
2010
"The Somatic City: Rehearsing Utopia at the Burning Man Festival." in Cross-Cultural Poetics: Streetnotes, University of California (Special issue on Urban Culture and Aesthetics guest edited by Blagovesta Momchedjikova). Spring 2010.
2007
"Temple of Tears: Revitalizing and Inventing Ritual in the Burning Man Community in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada.” Journal of Religion and Theatre, December 2007.
2007
“Dancing With Fire: The Ultimate Effigy.” Puppetry International Magazine[iv] Issue 22, November 2007, pp. 16-19.
*****
Performance Research is a quarterly journal interdisciplinary in vision and international in scope, its emphasis is on research in contemporary performance arts within changing cultures. Performance Research was founded in 1996 by Richard Gough and Judie Christie and is published online and hardcopy by Routledge, an imprint of Taylor and Francis.
XCP: Streetnotes, a bi-annual peer-reviewed online publication affiliated with the print journal XCP: Cross-Cultural Poetics edited by David Michalski and published by eScholarship, University of California. All work submitted to Streetnotes undergoes double-blind review by at least two experts chosen by the Editorial Board for their knowledge and experience.
Journal of Religion and Theatre is a peer-reviewed online academic journal. It is abstracted and indexed in the MLA International Bibliography.
Puppetry International Magazine founded in 1994 is the leading peer-reviewed journal in the field of puppetry.
INVITED ARTICLES AND CATALOG ESSAYS
2019
“Phoenix Rising: Reflecting on The Conference of the Birds,” Eucumenica Journal of Theatre and Performance, Special Edition, “Muslim Worlds,” edited by Hesam Sharifian and Claire Pamment.
2019
“Republic of the Imagination: Burning Man and the Culture of Radical Self-Expression,” Electric Sky catalogue for ROMER + ROMER, printed in English and translated into German.
2018
“Four Principles about Site-Specific Theatre: A Conversation on Architecture, Bodies, and Presence,” co-authored by Rachel Bowditch, Daniel Bird Tobin, Chelsea Pace, and Marc Devine. Theatre Topics, Volume 28, Number 1, March 2018, pp. E-5-E-19 (Article). John Hopkins University Press. muse.jhu.edu/article/690019/pdf
2015
“Utopia/Dystopia,” Eucumenica Journal of Theatre and Performance, “Journal Anthology of Critical Terms,” Fall 2015, pp.125-132.
2011
“The Creative Conundrum: How the Arts Fit into a Research University.” American Society for Theatre Research/ASTR-Online. August 2011.
2009
“Performance Studies International 13: Happening/Performance/Event.” Everywhere and All At Once: An Anthology of Writings on Performa 07.[ii] Edited by RoseLee Goldberg. Zurich/New York: JRP/Ringier, 2009. Pp348-349.
*****
Performa founded by RoseLee Goldberg in 2004 is a leading organization dedicated to exploring the critical role of live performance in the history of twentieth-century art and to encouraging new directions in performance for the twenty-first century. The three-week biennial held in New York City showcases new work by more than 100 contemporary artists, in an innovative program breaking down the boundaries between visual art, music, dance, poetry, fashion, architecture, and graphic design. Presented in collaboration with a consortium of more than 50 arts institutions and over 50 curators including the Guggenheim, the Whitney, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMa) and PS1.
CITATIONS in books
2018
Moises Kaufman and Barbara Pitt-McAdams
Moment Work: Tectonic Theatre Project's Process of Devising Theatre. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Quoted on inside of book cover.
2018
Dan Fine and Alex Oliszewski.
Digital Media, Projection Design, and Technology for Theatre. Routledge, 2018.
Images of my directing work on House of the Spirits featured on pp.44-45, 59, 76, 78, and 196..
2015
Scott Shattuck.
Director’s Vision. Second Edition. Waveland Press, 2015.
Three images of my directing work featured; 1) pp. 118, Machinal by Sophie Treadwell; 2) pp. 121, Transfix in Sedona by Vessel; and 3) (full-color/full page center insert) Aurora in the Petrified Forest by Vessel, 2015.
2012
That's Disgusting: Unraveling the Mysteries of Repulsion by Rachel Herz.
Photo of Rachel Bowditch on the cover.
2011
Phillip B. Zarrilli.
“Altered Consciousness in Performance: West and East,” Altering Consciousness: Multidisciplinary Perspectives, Volume One: History, Culture, and the Humanities. Ed. Etzel Cardena, Michael Winkelman. Praeger, 2011.
Citation about On the Edge of Utopia: Performance and Ritual at Burning Man on page 302.
2011
LInda Essig and Jennifer Setlow.
Lighting and the Design Idea. Third Edition. Wadsworth, 2011.
Image of Anon(ymous) directed by Rachel Bowditch (page 141).
2006
Schechner, Richard.
Performance Studies: An Introduction. Routledge, 2006. Image of my portrayal of Yono in Yokastas at La Mama, 2005.
citations of creative work in peer reviewed journals
2013
“Page to Stage: The Sun Serpent,” TYA Today, Spring 2013. Pp.28-29.
2009
Bedard, Roger. “The Cultural Construction of Theatre for Children and Young Audiences: A Captive Eddy of Recursive Harmonies,” Theater Festivals: Celebration of Cultural Diversity, The Assitej Book 2008-2009. ASSITEJ International. Image of Anon(ymous) by Naomi Iizuka, directed by Rachel Bowditch (page 293).
2005
Calzadilla, Fernando. Review of “YokastaS by Saviana Stanescu. Directed by Richard Schechner.” Theatre Journal, Vol.55, No. 4, Theatre and Activism (Dec., 2003), pp.710-713.
Book reviews
2016
“Media and Ritual: Death, Community, and Everyday Life,” by Johanna Sumiala. Journal of Media and Religion. Taylor and Francis, 2016.
2011
“Psychophysical Acting: An Intercultural Approach After Stanislavski.” by Phillip B. Zarrilli. The Drama Review (TDR) 55:1 (T209) Spring 2011, pp. 159-161.
podcasts: burning man
PODCAST: "Becoming Legendary: #32 with Rachel Bowditch" Burning Man
PODCAST: "Becoming Legendary: #32 with Rachel Bowditch" Burning Man
PODCAST: "Becoming Legendary: #32 with Rachel Bowditch" Burning Man
Interview with Patrick Brennan.
February 16, 2019
PODCAST: "Burning Man," Natural High.
PODCAST: "Becoming Legendary: #32 with Rachel Bowditch" Burning Man
PODCAST: "Becoming Legendary: #32 with Rachel Bowditch" Burning Man