Hissing, Bidding, and Lynching: Participation in Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins’s An Octoroon and the Melodramatics of American Racism

Preston, Carrie J.

doi:10.1162/dram_a_00793

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December 01 2018

Hissing, Bidding, and Lynching: Participation in Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins’s An Octoroon and the Melodramatics of American Racism

Carrie J. Preston

Carrie J. Preston is the Arvind and Chandan Nandlal Kilachand Professor at Boston University, with appointments in English and Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies. Her book Modernism’s Mythic Pose (Oxford University Press, 2011) won the De la Torre Bueno Prize in dance studies. She is the author of Learning to Kneel: Noh, Modernism, and Journeys in Teaching (Columbia University Press, 2016), and her essays on modernist performance and theatre have appeared in Modernism-modernity, Theatre Journal, and Modernist Cultures, among others. This essay is part of a new book about audience participation in theatrical lessons on race and gender. [email protected]

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Carrie J. Preston

Carrie J. Preston is the Arvind and Chandan Nandlal Kilachand Professor at Boston University, with appointments in English and Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies. Her book Modernism’s Mythic Pose (Oxford University Press, 2011) won the De la Torre Bueno Prize in dance studies. She is the author of Learning to Kneel: Noh, Modernism, and Journeys in Teaching (Columbia University Press, 2016), and her essays on modernist performance and theatre have appeared in Modernism-modernity, Theatre Journal, and Modernist Cultures, among others. This essay is part of a new book about audience participation in theatrical lessons on race and gender. [email protected]

Online ISSN: 1531-4715

Print ISSN: 1054-2043

2018

New York University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

TDR/The Drama Review (2018) 62 (4 (240)): 64–80.

https://doi.org/10.1162/dram_a_00793

Abstract

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s 2016 An Octoroon encouraged Boston theatregoers to hiss and cheer like the audiences for Boucicault’s 1859 The Octoroon, then encouraged them to bid for slaves and scream for a lynching. For some, participation may have encouraged a self-satisfied post-racial bliss; for others, it may have bolstered psychic investments in racism and misogyny. Many, however, were confused: What is an appropriate response to the melodramatic extremes of American race relations?

External Supplements

An Octoroon: a rehearsal and production blog of company one theatre
The rehearsal and production blog for An Octoroon by Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins, directed by Summer L. Williams. Company One Theatre in partnership with ArtsEmerson, 2016.
The hottest play of 1859 is back! Sort of...
The publicity trailer for An Octoroon by Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins, directed by Summer L. Williams. Company One Theatre in partnership with ArtsEmerson, 2016.
Curricular Connections Packet
Curricular Connections, a guide for teachers and students for An Octoroon by Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins, directed by Summer L. Williams. Company One Theatre in partnership with ArtsEmerson, 2016.

2018

New York University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Hissing, Bidding, and Lynching: Participation in Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins’s An Octoroon and the Melodramatics of American Racism

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Hissing, Bidding, and Lynching: Participation in Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins’s An Octoroon and the Melodramatics of American Racism

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