Roustabouts, Animals, and the Work of Putting on the Big Show
From the 1870s to the 1960s, circuses crisscrossed the nation providing entertainment. A unique workforce of human and animal laborers from around the world put on the show. They also formed the backbone of a tented entertainment industry that raised new questions about what constituted work and who counted as a worker. Andrea Ringer examines the ......
An insider's look at the power of comedy to effect social change From Trevor Noah's The Daily Show and Hasan Minhaj's Patriot Act, to Issa Rae's Insecure and Corey Ryan Forrester's Twitter feed, today's multi-platform comedy refuses to shy away from the social issues that define our time.As more comedians lean into social justice activism, they ......
An insider's look at the power of comedy to effect social change From Trevor Noah's The Daily Show and Hasan Minhaj's Patriot Act, to Issa Rae's Insecure and Corey Ryan Forrester's Twitter feed, today's multi-platform comedy refuses to shy away from the social issues that define our time.As more comedians lean into social justice activism, they ......
From the pen of one of the handful of magicians ever to be officially declared as "Dean of Magicians" by the Society of American Magicians comes one of the most complete overviews of modern magic ever written. Containing detailed instructions for hundreds of sleights, illusions, and flourishes, the Modern Magic Manual will guide those already ......
WINNER OF THE 2022 NORTHWORDS BOOK AWARD Stories are medicine. During a time of heightened isolation, bestselling author Richard Van Camp shares what he knows about the power of storytelling--and offers some of his own favourite stories from Elders, friends, and family. Gathering around a campfire, or the dinner table, we humans have always ......
A queer genealogy of the famous performance space and the nuyorican aesthetic One could easily overlook the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, a small, unassuming performance venue on New York City's Lower East Side. Yet the space once hosted the likes of Victor Hernandez Cruz, Allen Ginsberg, and Amiri Baraka and is widely credited as the homespace for ......
A queer genealogy of the famous performance space and the nuyorican aesthetic One could easily overlook the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, a small, unassuming performance venue on New York City's Lower East Side. Yet the space once hosted the likes of Victor Hernandez Cruz, Allen Ginsberg, and Amiri Baraka and is widely credited as the homespace for ......
Few people have influenced Hollywood history than Douglas Fairbanks. And who better than his niece and Fairbanks family historian, Letitia, to relate that story? On-screen and offscreen, he was a force of nature, progressing in easy leaps and bounds from the Broadway stage to silent movies when feature-length film was just a few years old. His ......
Female-to-Male Cross-Dressing on the American Variety Stage
Manning up to take the stage by storm
Female-to-male crossdressing became all the rage in the variety shows of nineteenth-century America and began as the domain of mature actresses who desired to extend their careers. These women engaged in the kinds of raucous comedy acts usually reserved for men. Over time, as ......
