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REPRESENTING THE REAL CONTEMPORARY DOCUMENTARIAN ANNA DEAVERE SMITH: A HISTORICAL CRITIQUE OF CROSS-CONVENTIONAL APPROACHES TO DOCUMENTARY THEATRE AND FILM By Heather Lidberg Documentary Studies I Professor Alexandra Anderson 28 January 2008 2 Introduction Much like many artistic movements during the 20th century film fell suit and began to investigate new conventions outside of the homogeneous modern sphere. Also flanking the formal medium of photography and film, theatre pursued new goals situated in implementing social, economic, and political transformations in what we now delineate as documentary philosophy. The historical and ideological movements in Germany, Russia, and North America cultivated new documentary principles and conventions. Consistently, the field of documentary has re/visited and debated the various approaches taken on by practitioners when dealing with the investigation, interpretation, and representation of non-fiction material. If we are to separate documentary from any medium or media we are to understand the genre and discourse as perhaps formally one that is “…pertaining to, consisting of, or derived from documents… based on or re-creating an actual event, era, life story, etc., that purports to be factually accurate.” 1 Interestingly enough popular culture has allowed for a greater distribution and acknowledgement of documentary film than that of its sibling, documentary theatre; however the history of documentary theatre can be seen as a reflection of documentary film traditions and conventions and shares similar ideological debates. “In much the same way that a documentary film weaves together fragments of cinematic evidence to create a non-fiction story, the documentary play [theatre] locates its dramatic text in language recorded from real life.” 2 As an example of how these histories have influenced the global stage of documentarians we employ the works of Anna Deavere (p~da–veer) Smith, the critical documentary theatre practitioner. Her among others have stepped into the documentary field as agents for social change alongside the traditional documentary landscape of film. Smith has not marched into this 3 new field without history; we are witnesses of the residual international political ideology that has taken place over the last 100 years. This shift has directly situated these new conventions as relevant and important ways in which we can educate and entertain the world as documentarians. Ideological Transformations: International Theatre and Film In 1926 during a review of the film “Moana”, directed by American filmmaker Robert Flaherty, John Grierson, known as the father of documentary, first coined the term documentary. Grierson, the British social scientist whose specialty resided within the psychology of propaganda became the leading man in discursive understandings of what documentary was and what it might look like. 3 In reflecting upon a large amount of ‘natural material’ that could be used to describe what documentary could necessitate, Grierson, listed footage that included newsreels to scientific engagement and much in between. “They all represent different qualities of observation, different intentions in observation, and, of course, very different powers and ambitions at the stage of organizing material.” 4 Even though this text is pulled from 1932, the ideologies within it represent the same propositions that documentarians are understood and contextualized by today. Grierson proposed to the world that documentary was the “creative treatment of actuality”, that was to move beyond the pure description of the natural and throw it smack dab within an art context, all the while of course grounded in the representation of the real.5 Principles that he set as guidelines for documentary work recommended documentarians approached the material in situ, which was seen as a commitment to delineating the greatest understanding of a subject. Furthermore great attention must be paid to the “description and drama” of the material, recognizing that although material is found within the real, how it is delivered becomes a conduit of interpretation.6 4 Robert Flaherty’s, “Nanook of the North” (1922) is historically seen as the example for early documentary film to follow. Flaherty’s film captures the life of an Inuit family of the North who performed for him their everyday vanishing ways of survival. Flaherty in 1915 had captured hours of documentary footage on the peoples of the North, however upon returning to Canada to edit, the material was lost in a house fire. Flaherty returned to the North and realized that a restaging of the long past traditions was in order which followed a more dramatized film experience. The actors in the film were long time friends with Flaherty and agreed to be in the film recognizing the importance of archiving their historical life of the past. Flaherty shot his scenes in ideal film lighting conditions (not necessarily ideal for the actions of the Inuit) and had his actors dress in attire from their ancestors to reenact various scenes. This film is still used today as a historical documentary film that showcases the Artic people and their encounters with nature.7 It also highlights how documentarians of the past used representation as a tool for creating truth. Documentary film beginnings are also sited in Russia, in the 1920’s, under the direction of editor and poet, Dziga Vertov. Vertov, much like his friend and colleague John Grierson, in response to the overtly stylized fictional representations of the Russian bourgeois (Grierson also objurgated the rising popularity of dramatic films) in the cinema, theorized, “…what he called kino-pravda, a ‘film-truth’ cinema of real life captured by the camera.”8 In 1929 Vertov’s “Man with the Movie Camera” was produced. His attempt was to capture the everyday life in the Soviet Union from morning to evening. Shot in a way that highlighted the abilities of the camera and cameraman. This film is a montage that utilizes new filming techniques such as Dutch angles and double exposures. It was the intention of Vertov to capture life from all angles which he believed would create a film “…free of ego, the chaotic profusion of imagery, humor, and 5 tumbling catalogue of events and characters could only be Vertov’s.”9 The result of this film also showcased the abilities of camera editing and how these techniques can be used to prophetize the filmmakers intentions, a sort of new truth, that of the auteur. German film documentarian, Leni Riefenstahl’s, film “Triumph of the Will” (1936) is seen as a historical propaganda film for Germany’s Nazi regime. Riefenstahl worked alongside the Third Reich as their main film director and used her talents to create support for the Nazi moment during this time. The intention of this film was to propose to the world Adolph Hitler as a ‘God’-like character, which we see when Hitler descends from the heavens above. This film is considered one of the greatest documentaries of all time not only because of its historical significance but also for Riefenstahl’s masterful use of music and moving image.10 During this same time German playwright’s Bertolt Brecht and Erwin Piscator delivered to audiences of Germany the concept of Epic Theatre. As a backlash to the political propaganda that was circulating Germany and in a post war attempt to disseminate factual information through art in the form of theatre, both playwrights approached theatre with a documentary eye. Both integrated political ideology within the stage by using film footage and historical referential material of the time. 11 For Piscator it was “‘…the first time a production where the political document is the sole base for text and scenic work’” and his attempt was to contextualize German sentiment through the customs of documentary. 12 His effort to turn the conventional theatre space of stage and audience to that of a convention hall was achieved in his 1925 production, Trotz alledem!. Upon his reflection of this particular work Piscator coined the term “documentary theatre”. 13 Fellow German dramaturge, Bertolt Brecht, contributions to theatre is notable and his ideologies still resonate in current documentary theatre. Most significantly Brecht in his Marxist 6 ideology created the Epic Theatre, “[o]r, as Brecht put it, by the ‘culinary’ theatre ‘the audience is entangled in the action on stage,’ a process which is bound to ‘exhaust their power of action.’ The epic theatre, on the other hand, arouses their power of action and ‘extorts decisions from them.’” 14 If we are to focus on definitive ideologies that are well weighted within the scope of documentary then we must bare mention of three Brechtian specifics: dialectical materialism, alterable world, and verfremdungseffekt (or alienation effect). 15 Dialectical materialism for Brecht was to enunciate the contradictions found within the ever-changing society that we live in. The social conditions that become apparent are moments within the contextualization of time and condition, all of which are transformative. It is this same approach that we must begin to understand human emotive, opinions, and attitudes.16 The notion of alterable world to Brecht indicated a world that was willing and ready at a moment’s time to structurally transition. 17 His vision was to insist upon society’s responsibility of bring action to voice and ideas. Therefore it would be the accountability of the theatre to create a motive for this to take place. Finally Brecht created a site in which audiences were to be made human (again) and where he could convince or entice them to make a socially conscience decision about what was being presented on stage; exploiting his philosophy of the alienation effect. 18 Brecht used the Epic Theatre as a place for the representing the real to audiences which he believed enable them to relate to the subject as something of recognition but at the same time Brecht, “ ‘…treat[ed] social situations as processes, and trace[d] out all their inconsistencies’ in terms of justice on trial or ‘in the process.’” 19 Therefore by highlighting the difference in recognition audiences were left in a state of the unfamiliar. 20 Brecht saw this as an opportunity to stimulate social, political, and economic change within the medium of documentary theatre. 21 7 An American writer, Mike Gold who worked alongside Brecht, began creating a worker’s theatre born out of the living newspapers of Germany and Russia. 22 The U.S. government in 1935 funded a major national project that employed the living newspaper theatre technique. As a part of the Work Project’s Administration, the Federal Theatre Project was cultivated to incite an interaction with the workers and the state, post-Great Depression. 23 Elmer Rice headed up this project up until 1939 when the controversial subject matter forced him to resign and the project was closed by an act of Congress. 24 The global theatre movement that took place during 1919-1940 was influenced by Germany and Russia, although many have taken credit for its incarnation. Zerka Moreno, an American, also utilized the formalities of this type of documentary theatre, however insisted that it was a “Theatre of Spontaneity” or “Impromptu” or “Dramatized Newspaper” separating any connections with the Marxist movements abroad. 25 Moreno was interested in conveying the feelings, connections, and wisdoms of humanity and did not fancy the attempt to disseminate ‘news reel’ type information or official reports like his Russian and German colleagues. 26 In the mid 1950’s after technological advancements in sound, documentary filmmaking made a transition in the guise of Cinéma Vérité and Direct Cinema. Both of these new genres in documentary transformed the relationship between subjects and technology. Direct Cinema was taking place in North America; filmmakers like Fred Wiseman and the Maysles Brothers, whose attempt to capture non-fiction followed an observational approach. Their intentions were to let life take place on screen as it happened; however honourable the attempt, one could not help but change their behaviour when followed by a camera. “Authenticity declines as the camera becomes more prominent than those being filmed and they become conscious actors in their own story. Though this situation has a truth of its own, it is no longer life caught unawares.”27 8 French filmmaker, Jean Rouch, on the other hand, proposed filming in a way that challenged participant involvement. His commitment to Cinéma Vérité (cinema truth) highlighted the relationship between director and subject and he saw it as a relational opportunity that allowed for the probing of events by the auteur.28 In alignment with the transition in documentary film and theatre, John Cassavetes situated a new ideology of truth and representation that suggested, “…personal identity is not fixed, but something made and discovered in vital negotiation with others.”29 Thematically there was a wide swath of documentary films being made during this time; the “Salesman” (1969) was directed by the Maysles Brothers, which looked at the lives of bible salesmen in Florida. “Titicut Follies” (1967), directed by Fred Wiseman, sought after highlighting the mal treatment of criminally institutionalized members of society in Massachusetts. Barbara Kopple’s “Harlan County” (1976) followed the mining strikes in Kentucky.30 Because of technological advances there was a movement to produce more ‘character’ driven documentaries that sought after exposing the truths of everyday people. During the mid-1960s, German theatre also emerged as a tool for public investigations into topics such as: Auschwitz, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, and the Catholic Churches attitudes towards the Holocaust.31 “They sought after exposing the political forces behind historical events.” 32 Playwrights Peter Weiss, Heinar Kipphardt, and Rolf Hochhuth became the auteur of such plays. 33 The intention was to investigate the State forces that created these collective memories and how their ideologies created understandings of events. The movement was to situate interpretation as the primary model in which we understand our world; by referencing ourselves as a part of the larger whole we begin to emphasize the supposition that history creates for society or question the institutionalization of knowledge. 34 9 Although, Marxist discourse was strong in Germany, it was not the case in the U.S. Experimental theatre, poetic drama, and theatre of the absurd relished in America influenced by the discourse of Russian playwright Constantin Stanislavsky in the form of method acting (known as naturalistic acting in America). 35 Stanislavsky’s liberal humanistic approach to acting is still today taught across the North America. He saw “… human nature as transcultural and transhistorical, and view[ed] a character’s identity as having an essential core of interior objectives and the character’s (or actor’s) bodily acts as the outward manifestations of the character’s interior identity.” 36 Therefore, the human commonality should be used to develop the actor’s intentions within the character; this connection becoming the valid voice of the ‘other’. 37 Following the 1980s documentary has seen an unprecedented explosion of material and topics. Themes from the autobiographical explorations of feminists, exposes of the war in Iraq, Native American boarding school crisis’s, and the postmodernist essays in film format have all reached out to give many truths to new voices. The greatest debates have occurred over the authority of documentary film and theatre and where the truth exists for this medium. Some brief examples of documentary films that were created included Canadian filmmaker Nettie Wild, directing the film called “A Place Called Chiapas” (1998), which exposed the Mexican revolution from the peasant resistance. Chris Durlacher’s “George Orwell: A Life in Pictures” (2003) uses an actor to relay to audiences the life of George Orwell. It creates a very real dialogue with the inner thoughts of an artist in look and feel that presents to the audience nothing short of the truth.38 Although these are only a few examples of documentaries during this time the overarching thematic approaches looked at reinterpreting historical events, personal perspective, 10 and a new globalized voice. The audiences are currently forced to pay greater attention to their world and have made their ways back into the seats of festivals and theatres hungry for truth and knowledge. Documentary filmmakers have expanded their research into new worlds and representing these worlds has become an art form. The technological limitations of the past have been diminished and cost has become very low for creating documentary work, which has also contributed to the rise in popularity and diversity. For “Germany new documentary theatre is based on directors’ projects (as opposed to the presentation of playwrights in established state or community theatres) and is focused on unsolved problems of the present (not on the past).” 39 Contemporary works of Hans-Werner Kroesinger raises the issues of representation, perspective, deconstruction, mediated understanding, and reality. 40 Kroesinger has situated documentary theatre as the validation of knowledge (primary and secondary) through art, more specifically through theatre. 41 He concerns himself with the agencies that produce true documents and how this media affects meaning in the consumers. 42 Challenged by the overwhelming onset of the new globalized world, Kroesinger perpetuates “…the meaning and shape are not in the events, but in the systems which make those past ‘events’ into present historical ‘facts’” 43 He further protests that we must contest the over simplification of ideologies that have in the past victimized the issues, perspectives, and people. 44 For Kroesinger it will be the final decision of the audience to render their own solutions when given the opportunity to make decisions and analyze what is produced for their consumption. 45 In the United States the post-structuralist movement has taken hold and new ways of performance, identity, and representation are being sought out, like that of documentary film. One method that has situated itself with the field of Anthropology is the ethnodrama or 11 enthnotheatre. Researchers of qualitative data are now utilizing the dramatic stage to disseminate their findings of field. 46 We are moving into a time where the anthropologist or ethnographer is not just a “… storyteller, he or she is a story-reteller.” 47 We see this new convention adjoining the movement of documentary theatre. At present time documentary theatre is defined as: Those who … specific events, systems of belief, and political affiliations precisely through the creation of their own versions of events, beliefs, and politics by exploiting technology that enables replication; video, film, tape recorders, radio, copy machines, and computers are the sometimes visible, sometimes invisible, technological means of documentary theatre. While documentary theatre remains in the realm of handcraftpeople assemble to create it, meet to write it; gather to see it-it is a form of theatre in which technology is a primary factor in the transmission of knowledge. 48 Within the context of documentary theatre we become witnesses to testimonies given on stage through the conduit of lived experiences or (re)presentation of those experiences. The actors are now testifiers rather than witnesses themselves. The onus of modern authoritative truth is not necessarily what is called into question; rather the onus of representation of this truth is raised. 49 Theatre documentarian, Anna Deavere Smith summarizes our crisis in all documentary mediums, “Who do our actors speak for? Who can they speak for? They should speak for whom?” 50 Anna Deavere Smith Smith was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. She attended Beaver College, in Philadelphia. Transitioning during the 1970s from the West coast and back she eventually settled in New York performing in off-Broadway productions and teaching at Yale, NYU, and Carnegie Mellon. 51 Her Work Yes, my entry into theatre is political. Largely because of my race and gender. I am political without opening my mouth. My presence is political. The way I negotiate my presence becomes political. If I tried to deny my politicalness, I would be even more political. Personally I believe that all art is political. 52 12 Smith draws upon documentarian traditions and an oral history approach developed by Studs Terkel, an American playwright and historian. 53 She has been working on a longitudinal project entitled “On the Road: A Search for American Character”. A series that has gained popularity through two major productions “Fires in the Mirror: Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and Other Identities” (1993) and “Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992” (1994). 54 “Fires in the Mirror: Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and Other Identities” (1993) was created out of interviews that she conducted pertaining to 3 days of rioting that ensued in Brooklyn, New York in the racially divided residential area of Crown Heights. In August of 1991, two young black children while playing outside were hit by Jewish driver in the Crown Heights area. An ambulance drove by the severely wounded children while taking the offender to hospital. 55 It would be this incident that spurred on a violent riot between the Orthodox Hasidic sect and the Crown Height’s black majority, and would be the back drop to Smith’s documentary theatre production in 1993. 56 “Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992” (1994) was also produced from interviews conducted by Smith with residents of Los Angeles following the riots of 1992. Several white officers from the Los Angeles Police Department following a car chase beat Rodney King. The whole incident was video tapped by local George Holliday. Even with the witnesses video the officers were not found guilty of brutality. Following the deliberation massive riots began on April 29th, 1992 in the streets of Los Angeles, killing 53 people. 57 Smith in her interviewing technique encourages each person to find their own rhythm and passion, “[t]he very moment that language fails them. In the very moment that they have to be more creative than they would have imagined in order to communicate. It’s the very moment that they have to dig deeper that the surface to find words.” 58 13 In hopes of finding the truth that exists within the everyday citizen when trying to understand a larger tragedy, Smith situates the utmost importance on word, which is central to all of her work. She uses her “word plays” to break down the lines that are created by institutions and politics, in attempt to subjugate the oversimplification that often occurs during times of struggle. 59 Smith’s work is not about drawing attention to our consistencies, rather emphasizing our differences, internal and external, what she deems as “fault lines”. 60 Smith after conducting numerous interviews in both productions, edits down (much like in documentary film) to those people she deems are important subjects for the development of each documentary play. 61 It is at this point that Smith spends countless days turning the interviews into monologues and rehearsing by imitation, slowly, Smith achieves the subject’s inner voices, mannerisms, and gestures. Finally the audience is given the opportunity to witness the testimonies of these people and we begin to situate our own inner darkness as the dividing line of ‘us’ and ‘them’ disappears and we are left with only human. 62 Trans-media Documentarian Issues Gender, Identity, and Race Naturalistic models of acting incorporate Aristotelian notions of character development based within the tradition understand a person as the sum total of the individual’s actions. The liberal humanistic approach to the character-actor relationship renders the identity of the character second fiddle to that of the performer. This power dynamic negates the identity of the character to nothing less than the culmination of the characters actions. 63 Furthermore critiques of this method highlight that the self-oriented approach to acting creates nothing more than the blatancy, proverbial sense, and believability of a character. The character becomes suffocated by the limited range of possible identities that it can exist as. 64 14 Although the Naturalist model is still the leading role in American theatrical ideology, anti-Naturalistic traditions have been explored, alongside the European movement. For the poststructuralist Smith, the shift was propelled by her distaste with acting based in “psychological realism”. 65 Much of this transition for Smith was situated in her allied approach to Judith Butler’s work on identity theory. Butler theorizes that identities are “…are radically theatrical and performative, constituted by repeated poses, postures, acts, and gestures … phenomenon of daily life or ‘exteriority’ becomes ‘interior’ identity.” 66 Similar to Brecht, Butler sees gender as something that exists as an act of repetition. Gender exist as something beyond transcultural or transhistorical, it becomes agitated aggregate. Anna Deavere Smith uses this performative nature of gender to perform within the sphere of another’s “…verbs, actions, self-actions”. 67 She uses the constant negotiation of self through words and our interaction with those words. 68 Performance and Memory Some critics have situated Smith’s performances as that of an Asian, African, or Native American ritualist, she steps outside of the conventions directed by the Euro-American models of acting. Intellectually Smith never leaves the stage or the character that she embodies. The embodiment that Smith utilizes is that of deep mimesis, “…a process opposite to that of ‘pretend.’ To incorporate means to be possessed by, to open oneself up thoroughly and deeply to another being.” 69 The gap between self and other becomes a space in which the audience is allowed to explore. Furthermore this gap is highlighted by the non-linear structure of the plays that she creates. 70 Smith monologues her subjects in an attempt to take a slice of life from their stories. This allows Smith to intuitively show the audience both the persona and social insight of those that 15 she plays; the truth through societal members. 71 Smith knowingly forces the audience to approach each character with open eyes and ears. She dances the viewers into people’s lives that would normally never be approached, due to racial, political, economic, or class differences. 72 In the process we become more accountable to each other’s griefs and grievances and thus enter into a difficult negotiation of ethical, social, and political demands. Reconciling the competing claims of different stories, however, becomes especially problematic when each side invokes the rhetoric of holocaust to frame its tale, not least because the effort to “work through” trauma toward personal or social reconciliation runs headlong into the imperative to remain true to the lost. 73 The other-orientated approach that Smith brings to the stage could be seen as a Brechtian poststructuralist model. She never goes, as far as to wholly transform into the character, rather it is her that is at the foundation of each performances character. If this was the case the audience to would be at the bottom of each character, rather the intention is for the character to be at the base of the character. 74 Conclusion Smith has approach documentary theatre with an open mind and heart. She is a profit for what we consider the ‘other’ and for what we consider ‘self’. ‘Us’ and ‘them’ are no longer relevant ideologies in terms of post-modernity. Her ideologies implemented through the medium of documentary theatre are exactly a call to action, like other documentarians in the field of film. She asks those that have become institutionalized through society various mediums to step outside. The activism is seeking to transcend institutionalized pupils of traditional arts who are mirrors of the mainstream ideology. For Smith, collaboration with a larger community is required to silence or speak above that of the noise of the State. It is not just enough to ‘play’ anymore; that there is a greater responsibility for all artists to strive for; that is to represent the truth. 75 16 The 20th century theatrical movements across Germany, Russia, and North America have influenced contemporary documentary theatre, which properly parallels historical transitions situated in documentary film. It is in these conventions of the past that we are able to evaluate the works of Anna Deavere Smith: actor, director, auteur, and professor. The holistic approach employed by Smith becomes an interesting reflection of past and present and pushes the boundaries that locate gender, race, identity, performance, and memory within the subject of both theatre and film documentary mediums. Beyond the brilliance that Smith brings to the stage, we are forced to reflect upon our roles as documentarians more importantly as artists of representation. We are asked to explore what it is to represent a subject and while approaching the representation of the subject, where is the truth. 17 Bibliography "Brilliant Careers: Voice of America." Salon.com. http://archive.salon.com/bc/1998/cov_0bc2.html (accessed 12/12, 2007). Almanac. American Theatre, July/August, 2007. 27. "Porte Parole Documentary Theatre." http://www.porteparole.org/doc-theatre/index.php?lang=en (accessed 12/07, 2007). Barnouw, Erik. Documentary a History of the Non-Fiction Film. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1993. Bruzzi, Stella. New Documentary. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Routledge, 2006. Casson, John W. "Living Newspaper: Theatre and Therapy." The Drama Review 44, no. 2 (Summer, 2000): 107-123. Denzin, Norman K. "The Reflexive Interview and a Performative Social Science." Qualitative Research 1, no. 1 (April, 2001): 23-46. Dictionary.com. "Dictionary.Com Unabridged (v 1.1)." Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/documentary (accessed January 15, 2008). Gray, Madison. "The L.A. Riots: 15 Years After Rodney King." Time in partnership with CNN. http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/la_riot/article/0,28804,1614117_1614084,00.html (accessed 12/12, 2007). Grierson, John. "First Principles of Documentary." Camera Quarterly (Winter, 1932): 35-46. Irmer, Thomas. "A Search for New Realities Documentary Theatre in Germany." The Drama Review 50, no. 3 (Fall, 2006): 16-28. Jay, Gregory. "Other People's Holocausts: Trauma, Empathy, and Justice in Anna Deavere Smith's Fires in the Mirror." Comparative Literature Studies 48, no. 1 (Spring, 2007): 119150. Lewis, Barbara. "The Circle of Confusion: A Conversation with Anna Deavere Smith." Kenyon Review 15, no. 4 (Fall, 1993): 54-65. Martin, Carol. "Bodies of Evidence." The Drama Review 50, no. 3 (Fall, 2006): 8-15. 18 Matsuoka, Naomi. "Murakami Haruki and Anna Deavere Smith: Truth by Interview." Comparative Literature Studies 39, no. 4 (2002): 305-313. Nagel, Erica. "An Aesthetic of Neighborliness: Possibilities for Integrating Community-Based Practices into Documentary Theatre." Theatre Topics 17, no. 2 (September, 2007): 153-168. Politzer, Heinz. "How Epic is Bertolt Brecht's Epic Theater?" Modern Language Quarterly 23, no. 2 (June, 1962): 99-115. Rabiger, Michael. Directing the Documentary. 4th ed. Burlingon, MA: Focal Press, 2004. Saldañ and Johnny a. "Dramatizing Data: A Primer." Qualitative Inquiry 9, no. 2 (April 2003, 2003): 218-236. Schechner, Richard. "Anna Deavere Smith Acting as Incorporation." The Drama Review 37, no. 4 (Winter, 1993): 63-64. Smith, Anna Deavere. "Not so Special Vehicles." Performing Arts Journal 50, (May September, 1995): 77-89. Stanely, Sandra Kumamoto. "Teaching the Politics of Identity in a Post-Identity Age: Anna Deavere Smith's Twilight." MELUS 30, no. 2 (Summer, 2005): 191-208. Thompson, Debby. ""is Race a Trope?": Anna Deavere Smith and the Question of Racial Performativity." African America Review 37, no. 1 (Spring, 2003): 127-139. 19 Notes 1 Dictionary.com, "Dictionary.Com Unabridged (v 1.1)," Random House, Inc., http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/documentary (accessed January 15, 2008). 2 "Porte Parole Documentary Theatre," http://www.porteparole.org/doctheatre/index.php?lang=en (accessed 12/07, 2007). 3 Michael Rabiger, Directing the Documentary, 4th ed. (Burlingon, MA: Focal Press, 2004), 20. 4 John Grierson, "First Principles of Documentary," Camera Quarterly (Winter, 1932), 35. 5 Stella Bruzzi, New Documentary, 2nd ed. (New York, NY: Routledge, 2006), 8. 6 Grierson, First Principles of Documentary, 38 7 Rabiger, Directing the Documentary, 20-21 8 ibid., 19 9 ibid., 22 10 ibid., 26 11 Thomas Irmer, "A Search for New Realities Documentary Theatre in Germany," The Drama Review 50, no. 3 (Fall, 2006), 17. 12 ibid., 18 13 ibid., 18ibid., 20 14 Heinz Politzer, "How Epic is Bertolt Brecht's Epic Theater?" Modern Language Quarterly 23, no. 2 (June, 1962), 101. 15 Politzer, How Epic is Bertolt Brecht's Epic Theater?, 104ibid., 99ibid., 100ibid., 113ibid., 101Thompson, "is Race a Trope?": Anna Deavere Smith and the Question of Racial Performativity, 130 16 Politzer, How Epic is Bertolt Brecht's Epic Theater?, 104 17 ibid., 100 18 ibid., 113Thompson, "is Race a Trope?": Anna Deavere Smith and the Question of Racial Performativity, 130 19 ibid., 130 20 ibid., 130 21 Politzer, How Epic is Bertolt Brecht's Epic Theater?, 113 22 Note that German Erwin Piscator, Russian Joseph Losey, and American Elmer Rice (among others), have taken credit for creating the “living newspaper” theatre. The basic ideology was to take news stories or dailies and present them to the audience impromptu daily. It was a spontaneous way making society pay attention to the events of the world. John W. Casson, "Living Newspaper: Theatre and Therapy," The Drama Review 44, no. 2 (Summer, 2000), 112. 23 ibid., 112 24 ibid., 112 25 ibid., 111 26 ibid., 121 27 ibid., 29 28 ibid., 28 29 ibid., 31 30 ibid., 33-35 31 Thomas Irmer, "A Search for New Realities Documentary Theatre in Germany," The Drama Review 50, no. 3 (Fall, 2006), 16. 32 ibid., 16 20 33 ibid., 17 ibid., 17 35 Debby Thompson, ""is Race a Trope?": Anna Deavere Smith and the Question of Racial Performativity," African America Review 37, no. 1 (Spring, 2003), 128. 36 ibid., 128 37 ibid., 128 38 ibid., 37-39 39 Irmer, A Search for New Realities Documentary Theatre in Germany, 19 40 ibid., 21 41 ibid., 20 42 ibid., 21ibid., 22 43 ibid., 21 44 ibid., 23 45 ibid., 24 46 Johnny Saldana, "Dramatizing Data: A Primer," Qualitative Inquiry 9, no. 2 (2003), 218. 47 ibid., 223 48 Carol Martin, "Bodies of Evidence," The Drama Review 50, no. 3 (Fall, 2006), 9. 49 Irmer, A Search for New Realities Documentary Theatre in Germany, 18 50 Anna Deavere Smith, "Not so Special Vehicles," Performing Arts Journal 50 (May September, 1995), 82. 51 "Brilliant Careers: Voice of America," Salon.com, http://archive.salon.com/bc/1998/cov_0bc2.html (accessed 12/12, 2007). 52 Smith, Not so Special Vehicles, 80 53 Naomi Matsuoka, "Murakami Haruki and Anna Deavere Smith: Truth by Interview," Comparative Literature Studies 39, no. 4 (2002), 305. 54 ibid., 305Barbara Lewis, "The Circle of Confusion: A Conversation with Anna Deavere Smith," Kenyon Review 15, no. 4 (Fall, 1993), 54.Thompson, "is Race a Trope?": Anna Deavere Smith and the Question of Racial Performativity, 127Gregory Jay, "Other People's Holocausts: Trauma, Empathy, and Justice in Anna Deavere Smith's Fires in the Mirror," Comparative Literature Studies 48, no. 1 (Spring, 2007), 119. 55 Lewis, The Circle of Confusion: A Conversation with Anna Deavere Smith, 54 56 ibid., 54Matsuoka, Murakami Haruki and Anna Deavere Smith: Truth by Interview, 305Jay, Other People's Holocausts: Trauma, Empathy, and Justice in Anna Deavere Smith's Fires in the Mirror, 119 57 Madison Gray, "The L.A. Riots: 15 Years After Rodney King," Time in partnership with CNN, http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/la_riot/article/0,28804,1614117_1614084,00.html (accessed 12/12, 2007). 58 Saldana, Dramatizing Data: A Primer, 223 59 Matsuoka, Murakami Haruki and Anna Deavere Smith: Truth by Interview, 309Richard Schechner, "Anna Deavere Smith Acting as Incorporation," The Drama Review 37, no. 4 (Winter, 1993), 64.Matsuoka, Murakami Haruki and Anna Deavere Smith: Truth by Interview, 313 60 Thompson, "is Race a Trope?": Anna Deavere Smith and the Question of Racial Performativity, 133 34 21 61 Matsuoka, Murakami Haruki and Anna Deavere Smith: Truth by Interview, 305 ibid., 305Jay, Other People's Holocausts: Trauma, Empathy, and Justice in Anna Deavere Smith's Fires in the Mirror, 119 63 ibid., 128ibid., 132 64 ibid., 129 65 ibid., 128 66 ibid., 132 67 ibid., 133 68 ibid., 133 69 Schechner, Anna Deavere Smith Acting as Incorporation, 63 70 Thompson, "is Race a Trope?": Anna Deavere Smith and the Question of Racial Performativity, 130 71 Saldana, Dramatizing Data: A Primer, 224 72 Schechner, Anna Deavere Smith Acting as Incorporation, 64 73 Jay, Other People's Holocausts: Trauma, Empathy, and Justice in Anna Deavere Smith's Fires in the Mirror, 121 74 Thompson, "is Race a Trope?": Anna Deavere Smith and the Question of Racial Performativity, 130 75 ibid., 79ibid., 81 62