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Richard Schechner
Richard Schechner
Richard Schechner
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Richard Schechner in American academic and theater director. He founded the New York City experimental theater company The Performance Group and is a pioneer of the field of performance studies. He is University Professor Emeritus at the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University,[1] and editor of TDR: The Drama Review.

Key Information

Biography

[edit]

Richard Schechner was born and raised in Newark, New Jersey. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University in 1956, a Master's degree from the University of Iowa two years later, and a PhD from Tulane University in 1962. He edited The Drama Review, formerly the Tulane Drama Review, from 1962 to 1969; and again from 1986 to the present.[2]

Schechner went on to become one of the founders of the Performance Studies department of the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. He founded The Performance Group of New York in 1967, which he led as artistic director until 1980, when it transformed into The Wooster Group. The home of both is the Performing Garage in New York's SoHo district, a building acquired by Schechner in 1968. That year Schechner signed the "Writers and Editors War Tax Protest" pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War.[3] In 1992, Schechner founded East Coast Artists with whom he continues to work. He writes books and also articles for journals worldwide.

In the 1990s, Schechner originated "rasaboxes," a technique of emotional training for performers and others.[4]

In his seminal 1993 work The Future of Ritual, Schechner explores how human belief, artistic expression, and cultural belonging converge in human societies to express authenticity and foster identity. Noting that the term avant-garde no longer serves its original purpose, he goes on to analyze theater and ritual in guerilla street theater and ritualized aspects of cultural experimentation in an international context.[5]

Beginning in 2007, the Richard Schechner Center for Performance Studies at the Shanghai Theatre Academy began publishing the bi-annual TDR/China.

Published works

[edit]

Books

[edit]
  • Public Domain (1968)
  • Environmental Theater (1973)
  • Theatres, Spaces, and Environments (1975 with Jerry Rojo and Brooks McNamara)
  • Essays on Performance Theory (1976)
  • The End of Humanism (1981)
  • From the Ramlila to the Avantgarde (1983)
  • Between Theater and Anthropology (1985)
  • The Engleburt Stories (1987, with Samuel MacIntosh Schechner)
  • The Future of Ritual (1993)
  • Performance Theory (revised edition of Essays on Performance Theory, 1988; revised again, 2004)
  • Performance Studies—An Introduction (2002, second edition 2006, third edition 2013, fourth edition 2020)
  • Over, Under, and Around (2004)
  • Performed Imaginaries (2015)

Edited works

[edit]
  • Dionysus in '69 (1970 film of 1968 production)
  • Ritual, Play, and Performance (1976, with Mady Schuman)
  • By Means of Performance (1990, with Willa Appel)
  • The Grotowski Sourcebook (1997, with Lisa Wolford).

Theatrical/directorial works

[edit]

In March 2005, the Richard Schechner Center for Performance Studies was inaugurated as part of the Shanghai Theatre Academy, where Schechner is an Honorary Professor. With The Performance Group Schechner directed many productions including Dionysus in 69 based on Euripides' The Bacchae (1968), Makbeth based on Shakespeare's Macbeth (1969), Commune group devised piece (1970), Sam Shepard's The Tooth of Crime (1972), Bertolt Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children (1975), David Gaard's The Marilyn Project (1975), Seneca's Oedipus (1977), Terry Curtis Fox's Cops (1978), and Jean Genet's The Balcony (1979). With East Coast Artists, Schechner has directed Faust/gastronome (1993), Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters (1995), William Shakespeare's Hamlet (1999), and Schechner's and Saviana Stanescu's YokastaS (2003, YokastaS Redux 2005), Lian Amaris's Swimming to Spalding (2009), Imagining O (three versions: 2011, 2012, 2014). Schechner has also directed in Asia and Africa: Anton Chekhov's Cherry ka Baghicha (1983 in Hindi) in New Delhi, Sun Huizhu's Mingri Jiuyao Chu Shan (1989 in Shanghai in Mandarin) August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (1992) at the Grahamstown Festival, South Africa, Aeschylus's The Oresteia (1995 in Taipei in Mandarin), and Shakespeare's Hamlet (2007 in Shanghai and 2009 in Wroclaw, Poland, in Mandarin).

While in New Orleans from 1960 to 1967, Schechner was a producing director with John O'Neal and Gilbert Moses of the Free Southern Theater (1963–65) and a founding director with Franklin Adams and Paul Epstein of the New Orleans Group (1964–67). Schechner was instrumental in identifying many exceptional writers, including Sam Shepard, Jean-Claude VanItallie, Murray Mednick, Ronald Tavel and Canadian-trained Megan Terry, whose techniques he compared to Shakespeare. He described Terry's "Viet Rock" as "Elizabethan in scope and tone." Plays, Schechner maintained, should be "wrought" rather than "written" - and he implied that Shakespeare "wrought" large at the turn of the seventeenth century by working closely with London's burgeoning theatrical companies.[6] Schechner sought to emulate this technique in the late sixties with his Performance Group.

Schechner is currently editor of the Enactments series published by Seagull Books and editor of the Worlds of Performance series published by Routledge.

References

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Richard Schechner

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Richard Schechner (born August 23, 1934) is an American performance theorist, theatre director, and editor recognized as a founder of the academic field of , which examines performance across , , play, and everyday behaviors. As University Professor Emeritus at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, he helped establish the institution's department, integrating anthropological and ethnographic approaches to broaden scholarship beyond traditional dramatic analysis. Schechner's scholarly influence stems from his authorship of foundational texts, including Performance Studies: An Introduction (first published 2002, now in multiple editions), which outlines as a restorative and transformative act encompassing both staged events and social interactions, and Environmental Theater (1973), which theorizes immersive, site-specific productions that dissolve boundaries between performers and audiences. He has edited TDR: The Drama Review since the 1960s, shaping discourse on experimental and global practices through peer-reviewed articles and special issues. His work emphasizes empirical observation of rituals worldwide, drawing on fieldwork in , , and to argue for performance's role in cultural adaptation and social critique. In theatre practice, Schechner founded The Performance Group in 1967, an experimental ensemble that produced influential works like Dionysus in 69 (1968), adapting ' The Bacchae into a participatory spectacle challenging conventional spectatorship, and Commune (1971), exploring communal living through audience immersion. Later evolving into East Coast Artists, his directing career spans international collaborations, including adaptations of and Brecht, and workshops promoting "rasa aesthetics" from Indian performance traditions. Schechner's contributions earned awards such as the , the Thalia Prize (2010) for lifetime achievement in theatre, and the American Theatre in Higher Education Career Achievement Award (2008), affirming his impact on interdisciplinary performance scholarship and practice.

Early Life and Education

Childhood and Formative Influences

Richard Schechner was born on August 23, 1934, in , the third of four sons to Sheridan Schechner, a corporate executive who later directed banking operations, and Selma (Schwarz) Schechner, a homemaker. The family enjoyed relative affluence in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood of Newark, which had not yet transitioned to a majority-Black city. Judaism exerted a strong early influence on Schechner, with religious observance central to family life; his father served as president of the Oheb Shalom synagogue congregation, and Schechner engaged in Talmudic studies. The family's subsequent move to the suburbs of , exposed him to a changing social landscape, fostering awareness of class privilege by around age 12. These experiences—rooted in urban Jewish community dynamics, religious , and emerging —shaped Schechner's foundational perspectives on , , and societal structures, though his direct engagement with theater developed later during adolescence and university years.

Academic Training

Schechner earned a degree with honors in English from in 1956, having attended from 1952 to 1956 and gained editorial experience through campus publications. He subsequently received a degree from the in 1958. After two years of military service as an information specialist, Schechner pursued doctoral studies in theater history at , completing his PhD in 1962 with a dissertation analyzing the works of , for which he conducted research in .

Career Development

Early Theatrical and Academic Roles

Schechner earned his PhD from in 1962 and was immediately hired as an in the English department there, marking his entry into academia. In this role, he taught theater and drama courses, emphasizing experimental and approaches, while fostering connections between academic study and practical performance. His tenure at Tulane, lasting until 1967, laid the groundwork for his interdisciplinary methods, integrating literary analysis with live theater practice. Concurrently, Schechner assumed editorial responsibilities for the Tulane Drama Review (later renamed TDR: The Drama Review) starting in 1962, succeeding Robert J. Corrigan. Under his editorship through 1969, the journal shifted toward documenting innovative theater techniques, environmental staging, and performance theory, publishing contributions from figures like and featuring Schechner's own early writings, such as his 1965 article "Approaches." This work elevated the publication's influence in circles, bridging academic discourse with emerging theatrical experiments. In 1963, Schechner became involved with the Free Southern Theater (FST), a civil rights-oriented ensemble based in New Orleans, initially as an advisor and later advancing to producing director. Drawing on his Tulane position, he provided logistical and artistic support, directing productions and helping professionalize operations for a company focused on African American performers and audiences in the segregated . He remained with FST until 1966, contributing to its mission of community-engaged theater amid the , though tensions over leadership and direction led to his departure alongside founders and John O'Neal. This period represented his initial foray into producing and directing socially charged experimental work outside traditional academic venues.

Involvement in Civil Rights and Experimental Theater

In the early 1960s, Schechner engaged with the through the Free Southern Theater (FST), a troupe founded in 1963 by activists John O'Neal, Doris Derby, and to promote African American theater and stimulate creative expression in the rural South amid ongoing racial struggles. Recruited by the founders for his theater expertise as a professor and editor of the Tulane Drama Review, Schechner served initially as an advisor, recommending productions like Ossie Davis's for its alignment with FST's goals of addressing social and racial issues, despite critiquing its artistic quality. He progressed to roles including board member and chairman, supporting the company's tours across and with an initial ensemble of three African American and five white actors, performing works such as Samuel Beckett's to rural audiences. This hands-on involvement exposed Schechner to grassroots theater's potential for social impact, fostering his commitment to the African American Freedom Movement. Schechner's civil rights work intersected with experimental forms through the New Orleans Group, which he co-founded in 1965 alongside painter Franklin Adams and composer Paul Epstein as an extension of FST efforts. The group produced works informed by direct observation of civil rights activism, experimenting with "environmental theater" techniques—such as immersive staging that blurred performer-audience boundaries—in their productions to mirror the participatory dynamics of movement demonstrations. Departing from FST in 1966 alongside O'Neal and amid internal shifts toward literary focus, Schechner relocated to New York, carrying forward these insights into radical theatrical innovation. Building on this foundation, Schechner established The Performance Group in 1967 as an experimental ensemble in , emphasizing environmental theater principles derived from his Southern experiences, including ritualistic elements, myth exploration, and shamanistic actor roles to challenge conventional staging. Key productions like (1968), an adaptation of ' involving audience participation and physical improvisation, embodied these methods, drawing from civil rights-era communal to redefine performance as socially disruptive "twice-behaved behavior." The group's innovations, later detailed in Schechner's Environmental Theater (1973), prioritized spatial flexibility and direct engagement over scripted narrative, reflecting how his civil rights immersion informed a broader critique of theater's isolation from real-world contention.

Theoretical Contributions to Performance Studies

Core Concepts and Frameworks

Schechner's foundational concept of restored behavior defines as sequences of actions that are not spontaneous but derived from pre-existing cultural patterns, learned through , , and repetition, rendering them "twice-behaved." He likens these behaviors to strips of that a director can edit, rearrange, or reconstruct, emphasizing their symbolic, coded, and reflexive qualities rather than inherent authenticity. This framework extends beyond theater to encompass rituals, social interactions, and everyday enactments, arguing that all such activities draw from stored repertoires susceptible to variation and efficacy in achieving transformative ends. Complementing this, Schechner's environmental theater framework rejects fixed staging in favor of immersive environments where the entire space— including audience areas—becomes performative, with flexible actor-audience relations and modular . Outlined in his 1973 book of the same name, it prioritizes "using scenery all the way" to dissolve boundaries, enabling performances like those of The Performance Group that integrated spectators directly into the action for heightened participation and spatial dynamism. This approach theoretically posits theater as an ecological system, where environment shapes behavioral restoration and collective experience over scripted illusion. Schechner also developed the Rasaboxes as a practical framework for emotional training, adapting the eight rasas (emotional essences) from the ancient Indian Natyasastra into a grid-based exercise system. Devised in the and refined through workshops, it involves performers physically entering marked boxes to evoke, amplify, and transition between rasas—such as love, anger, or wonder—via breath, voice, movement, and facial cues, fostering precise control over affective states. This intercultural tool underscores Schechner's view of as a mechanism for emotional mapping and cross-cultural efficacy, applicable to , , and . These concepts interconnect in Schechner's broader theory, framing along a continuum from efficacy-driven rituals (aimed at real-world change) to entertainment-oriented spectacles, with fieldwork and revealing aesthetic dimensions in non-theatrical behaviors. He posits that performances restore behaviors to negotiate liminal spaces, where the "future creates the past" through adaptive reenactment rather than rigid historical fidelity.

Establishment of the Discipline at NYU

In 1979, Richard Schechner introduced the first course on at New York University's Graduate Department, marking the initial step toward formalizing the field of . This course, advertised as featuring leading figures in the to explore beyond traditional theater, laid the groundwork for an interdisciplinary approach that integrated theater practice with anthropological and ethnographic methods. Schechner's emphasis on as "restored behavior" or "twice-behaved action"—actions consciously repeated or prepared—shifted focus from interpretive meaning to the functional "how" and effects of across contexts like , play, and social interaction. The Department of Performance Studies was formally founded in 1979–1980 at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts by Schechner, alongside colleagues Michael Kirby and Brooks McNamara, establishing it as the first academic program explicitly named for the discipline. This initiative expanded beyond conventional theater studies to encompass a broad spectrum of performances, including , , everyday behaviors, and cultural rituals, using theoretical analysis, fieldwork, and practical experimentation as core methodologies. Schechner's vision positioned the department as a hub for examining performance's transformative potential in social and cultural dynamics, influencing subsequent programs worldwide. Early leadership and curriculum development solidified the department's innovative structure; Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett joined in 1981 as its first chair, serving for 13 years and further integrating ethnographic perspectives. The program's roots in experimental theater and Schechner's practical experience with groups like The Performance Group informed a hands-on that prioritized performance's over aesthetic judgment, fostering into intercultural exchanges, , and performative power structures. By prioritizing empirical of performance behaviors, the department challenged siloed academic disciplines, establishing as a rigorous, praxis-oriented field at NYU.

Directorial and Practical Innovations

Founding of The Performance Group

Richard Schechner founded The Performance Group in 1967 in as an experimental theater ensemble aimed at advancing innovative practices that blurred distinctions between performers, audience, and environment. The initiative stemmed from Schechner's evolving theories on as an interdisciplinary field encompassing , play, and social interaction, which he sought to test through collective creation rather than conventional dramatic scripts. Influenced by Polish director Jerzy Grotowski's actor-centered training methods, which Schechner helped introduce to American practitioners, the group prioritized physical and vocal mastery, self-referential acting, and heightened ensemble communication to foster immersive experiences. Key founding members included Joan MacIntosh, an and collaborator who contributed to early developments and married Schechner in 1970. The troupe initially operated without a fixed venue, conducting rehearsals and workshops to develop methodologies that positioned performers as co-creators in environmental setups, departing from proscenium-stage traditions. By 1968, the group secured the Performing Garage at 33 Wooster Street in as its permanent home, enabling sustained experimentation in a raw, adaptable space that supported audience integration. This foundation laid the groundwork for productions emphasizing restored behavior and communal ritual, reflecting Schechner's view of theater as a for broader performative behaviors.

Key Productions and Techniques

Schechner's most influential production was , staged by The Performance Group from June 6, 1968, to July 27, 1969, at the Performing Garage in , which adapted Euripides' through collective improvisation and emphasized ritualistic elements, nudity, and sexual explicitness to evoke communal ecstasy. The production featured a modular scaffold environment that allowed performers to interact dynamically with the audience, blurring boundaries between spectators and participants, and incorporated chance elements inspired by to challenge linear narrative structures. Subsequent works by The Performance Group under Schechner's direction included Commune (1971), which extended participatory rituals into themes of social bonding; The Tooth of Crime (1972), a rock-theater adaptation of Sam Shepard's play emphasizing mythic confrontation; and (1975), a Brechtian reimagining with amplified environmental immersion. Other notable directorial efforts encompassed (1978), Faust/gastronome (1991), and multiple adaptations of , including one in 2014 that probed psychological fragmentation through non-traditional casting and spatial reconfiguration. Schechner pioneered environmental theater techniques, utilizing the entire performance space—including audience areas—as an active component, with performers navigating scaffolds, platforms, and proximity to viewers to dismantle the arch and foster immediacy, as exemplified in Dionysus in 69's use of ladders and open-floor layouts for unpredictable interactions. Actor training in his ensembles integrated physical disciplines such as , tumbling, and Viola Spolin's games with encounter-group exercises to heighten , , and vocal-physical expressivity, enabling "restored behavior"—rehearsed patterns drawn from and daily life. Later, Schechner developed the rasaboxes method in the 1980s and 1990s, a grid-based exercise derived from the Indian Natyasastra's eight rasas (emotional flavors: e.g., erotic, heroic, fearful), where performers physically inhabit marked floor spaces to evoke, transition, and modulate affective states through breath, voice, and movement, enhancing emotional precision without psychological realism. These techniques prioritized ensemble cohesion and transformative presence over character illusion, influencing global performance practices by merging anthropological observation with theatrical experimentation.

Publications and Editorial Work

Authored Books

Schechner's early authored work, (1969), examines performances in non-theatrical contexts, such as public events and everyday behaviors, challenging conventional boundaries of theater. In Environmental Theater (1973), he advocates for immersive, site-specific productions that integrate audience participation and altered performance spaces, drawing from his experiences with experimental groups. Performance Theory (first published 1977, revised 2003) synthesizes theories of performance across disciplines, including and , positing that all social behaviors contain performative elements. Between Theater and Anthropology (1985) explores intersections between dramatic performance and practices in diverse cultures, emphasizing ethnographic fieldwork in non-Western traditions. The Future of Ritual (1993) analyzes how rituals evolve in modern societies, incorporating case studies from global performances to argue for their adaptive role in cultural continuity. Performance Studies: An Introduction (first edition 2002, with subsequent revisions) serves as a foundational textbook, defining the field through examples from theater, rituals, sports, and media, and has been translated into multiple languages. More recent works include Performed Imaginaries (2014), which investigates collective imaginaries in events across cultures.

Edited Works and TDR Journal

Schechner assumed the editorship of The Drama Review (TDR) in 1962, transforming the publication from a focus on traditional dramatic criticism to one emphasizing experimental theater, , political , and practices. He held this position until 1969, after which Michael Kirby edited the journal until 1986. Schechner resumed editorship in 1986 and has continued in the role, now as University at NYU's Tisch School of , overseeing TDR's evolution into a key outlet for scholarship published by . Under his sustained leadership, TDR has prioritized interdisciplinary analyses of , , and cultural enactments, maintaining quarterly issues that integrate theoretical essays, documentation of live events, and archival materials. Among Schechner's edited volumes, By Means of Performance: Intercultural Studies of Theatre and Ritual (1990), co-edited with Willa Appel, compiles essays examining performative intersections between Western theater and non-Western rituals, drawing on ethnographic and directorial case studies to challenge Eurocentric performance paradigms. He also co-edited The Free Southern Theater: A Documentary (1969) with Thomas C. Dent and Gilbert Moses, which documents the civil rights-era troupe's efforts to integrate theater into African American communities in the U.S. South through scripts, manifestos, and production histories. Additionally, Schechner edited Dionysus in 69 (1970), a transcription and analysis of The Performance Group's immersive staging of Euripides' The Bacchae, incorporating performer testimonies and audience interactions to illustrate environmental and participatory theater techniques. As series editor for Enactments at the University of Chicago Press, he has overseen publications advancing performance theory through monographs on topics ranging from actor training to intercultural adaptations since the 1990s. These works reflect Schechner's commitment to archiving and theorizing ephemeral performances via collaborative editorial frameworks.

Criticisms, Controversies, and Debates

Challenges to Traditional Theater Norms

Schechner's concept of environmental theater fundamentally disrupted conventional theatrical structures by eliminating the arch and integrating performers, audience, and environment into a unified, interactive space, thereby rejecting passive spectatorship in favor of direct engagement. This approach, outlined in his 1973 book Environmental Theater, emphasized six axioms, including the idea that the theatrical event encompasses not only dramatic text but also sensory stimuli and performer-spectator transactions, challenging the isolation of staged action from real-time audience response. Traditional norms of fixed staging and scripted fidelity were supplanted by flexible, site-specific setups where environmental elements—lighting, sound, and —became active participants in the dynamic. A pivotal example was the 1968–1969 production , directed by Schechner with The Performance Group at the Performing Garage, which adapted ' through improvisation, nudity, ritualistic sequences, and audience invitations to join onstage activities, effectively dissolving the and actor-spectator divide. This work, performed over 29 iterations with variable outcomes due to its non-replicable structure, provoked public backlash for perceived indecency— including arrests and protests—while critics noted its role in embodying communal experimentation against hierarchical theater traditions. Schechner defended the production's variability as essential to authentic performance, arguing it mirrored processes over rigid , thus prioritizing experiential authenticity over reproducible scripts. These innovations extended to actor training, where Schechner introduced techniques like Rasaboxes—facial and bodily exercises drawing from Indian and Asian traditions—to dismantle Western naturalism's emphasis on psychological interiority, fostering instead a visceral, transformative physicality that questioned the performer's fixed identity. By broadening "performance" beyond elite theater to encompass everyday behaviors and cultural rituals, Schechner critiqued normative boundaries, positing that all human actions involve "restored behavior"—twice-behaved sequences adaptable across contexts—undermining theater's claim to uniqueness and inviting scrutiny of its cultural gatekeeping. Such shifts, while influential in avant-garde circles, drew resistance from adherents to classical forms, who viewed them as diluting dramatic discipline in favor of chaotic relativism.

Intercultural and Ethical Critiques

Schechner's advocacy for intercultural performance, which emphasized selective borrowing and adaptation from non-Western traditions to enrich Western theater, drew significant criticism for overlooking historical power dynamics and risking . In , Indian theater scholar Rustom Bharucha published "A Collision of Cultures: Some Western Interpretations of the Indian Theatre," critiquing Schechner's approach as eclectic and ethically questionable, arguing it perpetuated colonial-era imbalances by allowing Western artists to extract elements from Indian traditions without reciprocal depth or contextual sensitivity. Schechner responded in "A Reply to Rustom Bharucha," defending as a mutual exchange fostering innovation rather than , though Bharucha maintained that such defenses ignored the in . This exchange, later termed part of the "interculture wars," highlighted broader concerns that Schechner's framework enabled Western practitioners to "speak for the other," echoing orientalist patterns without addressing ethical obligations to source cultures. Specific applications of Schechner's theories faced scrutiny for superficial adaptation. His "Rasaesthetics" and Rasaboxes system, which reinterpreted ancient Indian rasa theory from the Natya Shastra into a Western actor-training grid of nine emotional boxes, was critiqued for imposing a static, abstract structure that disrupted the fluid, embodied sociality of original Indian performance practices, potentially amounting to cultural appropriation by prioritizing Western universality over cultural specificity. Critics argued this method neglected codified Indian gestures and traditions, fostering immobility in performers and ethical disregard for heritage integrity, as the grid's avoidance of the central "" (peace) box hindered authentic emotional transitions and reciprocity. Schechner presented Rasaboxes as a tool for emotional training, but detractors viewed it as hegemonic, reducing dynamic aesthetics to a commodified exercise disconnected from their socio-ritual origins. Ethical concerns also arose in Schechner's environmental theater practices, particularly regarding audience participation and performer vulnerability. Productions like (1968–1969) involved unstructured interactions, including and physical contact, which led to psychological strain on performers requiring weekly therapy sessions to address emotional fallout from unpredictable audience responses. Critics contended that Schechner's emphasis on breaking performer-spectator barriers in Environmental Theater (1973) inadequately addressed and , as varying audience behaviors—from passive observation to combative interventions in later works like Commune (1971)—created risks without sufficient guidelines for managing disruptions or trauma. While Schechner theorized participation as transformative, retrospective analyses highlight a gap in ethical foresight, where the pursuit of immersion overlooked the need for clear protocols to protect participants from unintended harm.

Legacy and Influence

Impact on Academia and Theater Practice

Schechner's establishment of the Department of Performance Studies at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 1979–1980, alongside Michael Kirby and Brooks McNamara, marked the formal inception of as an in the United States, expanding scholarly inquiry beyond traditional theater to encompass , play, and cultural performances through interdisciplinary lenses including and . This program, the first of its kind globally, trained generations of scholars and practitioners, fostering a field that by the early had proliferated to over 100 programs worldwide, emphasizing empirical analysis of performative behaviors rather than solely dramatic texts. His introduction of the concept of "restored behavior"—rehearsed actions drawn from cultural repertoires—provided a foundational framework for dissecting non-theatrical performances, influencing anthropological and sociological studies of human conduct as iterative and adaptable rather than spontaneous. In theater practice, Schechner's 1968 formulation of "environmental theater," outlined in six axioms published in The Drama Review, revolutionized staging by advocating for performer-audience intermingling, malleable performance spaces, and the dissolution of conventions, principles that directly informed immersive and site-specific works by subsequent ensembles. As founding director of The Performance Group from 1967, he implemented these ideas in productions like (1968), which utilized audience participation and physical environmental manipulation, techniques that prefigured and influenced modern experimental groups such as and contemporary immersive formats employing sensory immersion and spatial disruption. His editorial stewardship of TDR: The Drama Review from 1962 onward disseminated these methodologies, amplifying their adoption in professional training and productions by prioritizing documented experimentation over inherited dramatic orthodoxy. These innovations, grounded in observable performative dynamics rather than abstract symbolism, have sustained empirical rigor in theater praxis, evident in the persistence of flexible staging in over 30% of productions tracked by theater archives since the 1970s.

Broader Societal and Theoretical Reach

Schechner's performance theory posits that human actions across social, cultural, and political domains function as "restored behaviors"—rehearsed, repeated sequences derived from cultural patterns, extending far beyond theatrical stages to encompass rituals, sports, political rallies, and everyday interactions. This framework, articulated in works like Performance Theory (first published 1977, revised 2003), challenges disciplinary silos by integrating , , and , enabling analyses of how performances reinforce or subvert societal norms. For instance, Schechner draws parallels between tragedy and indigenous shamanic rituals, arguing that both serve symbolic functions in processing social crises, thus broadening theoretical tools for understanding. In societal contexts, Schechner's ideas have informed examinations of power dynamics, where performances in public spheres—such as protests or media spectacles—act as rituals that construct collective identities or contest authority. His advocacy for performance studies as an interdisciplinary field, established through NYU's department in the 1980s, has influenced academic curricula worldwide, fostering research into politically engaged performances that address issues like globalization and identity. Ethnographic studies of events like the Ramlila cycle in Ramnagar, India—a 30-day communal ritual Schechner documented over decades—illustrate how such performances sustain social cohesion while adapting to modern disruptions, offering models for analyzing contemporary cultural hybridity. Theoretically, Schechner's liminal model from Between Theater and (1985) treats performances as transformative spaces where aesthetic and elements converge, impacting fields like by emphasizing reflexivity and efficacy over mere representation. This has spurred debates on intercultural borrowing, cautioning against naive appropriations while promoting "as if" engagements that simulate other realities for empathetic insight. His insistence on performance's ubiquity—evident in non-Western traditions and even Western daily codes—has democratized , revealing how scripted behaviors underpin social structures, though critics note potential overgeneralization risks in equating all action with performance.

References

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  36. https://ttu-ir.tdl.org/items/0f60983b-92e3-4db3-a1cb-6646360f50f8
  37. https://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/archives/schechner_richard.html
  38. https://www.pewcenterarts.org/contributor/richard-schechner
  39. https://hemisphericinstitute.org/en/hidvl-collections/item/1313-rschechner-dionysus.html
  40. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10633270-dionysus-in-69
  41. https://www.interviewmagazine.com/culture/richard-schechner-imagining-o
  42. https://thedramateacher.com/environmental-theatre-conventions/
  43. https://hemisphericinstitute.org/en/hidvl-collections/itemlist/category/387-rschechner.html
  44. https://www.routledge.com/Performance-Theory/Schechner/p/book/9780415314558
  45. https://library.strathmore.edu/Author/Home?author=%2522Schechner%252C%2BRichard%252C%2B1934-%2522&basicSearchType=Author&sort=relevance&view=list
  46. https://cab.unime.it/journals/index.php/IJPS/article/download/2774/2452
  47. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-drama-review/information/about-this-journal/editorial-board
  48. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/by-means-of-performance/B1D68C7CDC08699D0DCD7C3A137C0498
  49. https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/author/S/R/au245009469.html
  50. https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/series/SBEN.html
  51. http://western-scenic-design-11.wikis.bgc.bard.edu/local--files/october-25/schechner-performancetheory.pdf
  52. https://www.critical-stages.org/3/a-true-friend-of-theatre-art-in-all-its-manifestations-richard-schechner/
  53. https://edithhall.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/dionysus-since-69.pdf
  54. https://www.ukessays.com/essays/drama/richard-schechners-performance-theory.php
  55. https://www.welcomehomevetsofnj.org/textbook-ga-24-2-32/richard-schechner-performance-studies-an-introduction.pdf
  56. https://www.sahapedia.org/sites/default/files/A%2520Collision%2520of%2520Cultures%2520-%2520Some%2520Western%2520Interpretations%2520of%2520the%2520Indian%2520Theatre%2520-%2520Rustom%2520Bharucha.pdf
  57. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1124574
  58. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/30/white-actors-slave-songs-play-cancelled
  59. http://liminalities.net/16-1/rasa.pdf
  60. https://www.academia.edu/21652442/Environmental_Theater_a_how_not_to_regarding_ethics_responsibility_and_performance
  61. https://www.academia.edu/74449877/About_Performance_A_Conversation_with_Richard_Schechner
  62. https://moscow.sci-hub.st/3353/7ca27301095bbc42678ba041357c3d33/schechner1968.pdf
  63. https://nyuskirball.org/performance-matters/celebrating-downtown/artifacts-x-nyu-skirball/downtown-performance-richard-schechner/
  64. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/829619.Performance_Theory
  65. https://www.amazon.com/Performance-Theory-Routledge-Classics-84/dp/0415314550
  66. https://qspace.library.queensu.ca/bitstreams/b26615f2-52b9-4664-b4a9-f0d0685b6eca/download
  67. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/277909152_Performance_Studies_Floating_Free_of_Theatre_Richard_Schechner_and_the_Rise_of_an_Open_Interdisciplinary_Field
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