Dirk Gindt publishes Theatre Research in Canada

Dirk Gindt, artist-in-residence in the Department of Theatre, has published a new essay in Canada's leading scholarly theatre journal Theatre Research in Canada / Recherches théâtrales au Canada 34.2 (2013).

'Sky Gilbert, Daniel MacIvor, and the Man in the Vancouver Hotel Room: Queer Gossip, Community Narrative, and Theatre History' outlines how the gossip surrounding Tennessee Williams's visit to Vancouver in 1980 has influenced the narratives of gay communities and in so doing contributed to queer theatre history in Canada. Stories of Williams inviting young men to his hotel room and asking them to read from the Bible inspired Sky Gilbert and Daniel MacIvor to each write a play based on these events. The essay argues that Gilbert and MacIvor transcend the localized specificity of the initial rumours and deploy gossip as a tool to articulate a process of sexual and cultural marginalization, thereby fostering a dialogue with the past. This dialogue marks a crucial and pedagogical task in gay and queer theatre to address the on-going needs of an ever-changing community.

Gindt has also recently been appointed book-review-editor of alt.theatre: cultural diversity and the stage, a Montreal-based journal whose mandate is to analyze the myriad intersections between theatre, performance, activism, politics and diversity.