Introduction: Object Lessons

Abstract

Theatre and performance histories are littered with objects: props, costumes, sketches, prompt books, letters, diaries, paintings, ledgers, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, photographs, film reels, video recordings, architectural ruins, etc., etc. Though often consigned to history’s metaphorical dustbin, the objects that remain allow performance scholars to “touch time,” to experience the past in the present and to imagine new futures (Schneider). Housed in archives, museums, galleries, storage facilities, performance venues, rural and urban sites, and personal collections, these objects open doors to the past; they help us to reclaim “forgotten” performance practices and to reimagine historical narratives. Yet while most of us tacitly acknowledge the importance of objects to our work, how many of us identify objects as collaborators on grant applications, dissertation projects, article submissions? How many of us acknowledge the lessons that objects have taught us?