In 2007, Routledge published Theory for Performance Studies as part of its Theory 4 series, listing Philip Auslander as author. When, in August, The Chronicle of Higher Education revealed that much of the book was lifted word-for-word from the template for the series, Theory for Religious Studies by Timothy K. Beal and William E. Deal, TDR editor Richard Schechner convened via email and phone conversations a “ TDR Forum,” asking leaders in the field to respond to the book and the series. Schechner and other respondents address issues of plagiarism, corporate takeovers of academic publishing, and the dumbing down of performance studies, asking why a notable scholar such as Auslander would undertake such an egregious piece of “scholarship.” Deal and Beal answer some questions put to them by Schechner, and Routledge's Claire L'Enfant and Talia Rodgers offer their perspectives.

Returning to a formative moment in the discourse of performance studies with a glancing dialogue between Richard Schechner and Michael Goldman, this article traces a series of efforts by Benjamin Bennett, Herbert Blau, Elin Diamond, and Stanton Garner, among others, to seize the work of dramatic performance as performance and to develop a critical vocabulary that understands dramatic theatre as an encounter with writing rather than as a reinscription of the archive.