Performing Masculinities

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.