Abstract:

This dissertation uses critical theories of performance to examine contemporary theater that depicts U.S. culture from the 1940s and 1950s, examining critical identifications with this period as emblematic of American identities. The objects of my analysis include drag queens who perform imitations of 1940s movie stars, lesbian feminist appropriations of film noir, the relationship between representations of1950s nuclear family and realism, and documentary theater approaches to McCarthyism. I discuss the 1950s as an image of the US in performances by The Wooster Group, Split Britches, Culture Clash, and El Vez, a Chicano Elvis impersonator who adapts Elvis's image and music to discuss U.S./Mexico border issues. This work combines significant historical research on the 1940s and 1950s with contemporary theoretical models of history and identity, including concepts of surrogation, the archive and the repertoire.