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Author Seizer, Susan.

Title Stigmas of the Tamil stage : an ethnography of Special Drama artists in South India / Susan Seizer
Published Durham : Duke University Press, 2005

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Description 1 online resource (xxii, 440 pages) : illustrations
Series ACLS Fellows' publications
Contents PART ONE The history and organization of special drama. 1. Legacies of discourse: special drama and its history. 2. Prestige hierarchies in two and three dimensions: drama notices and the organization of special drama. 3. Discipline in practice: the actors sangam -- PART TWO Comedy. 4. The buffoon's comedy: jokes, gender, and discursive distance. 5. The buffoon-dance duet: social space and gendered place. 6. The Aṭipiṭi scene: laughing at domestic violence -- PART THREE Lives. 7. The drama tongue and the local eye. 8. The roadwork of actresses. 9. Kinship Muṟai and the stigma on actors -- Epilogue -- Appendix 1: Sangam rules -- Appendix 2: Tamil transliteration of Buffoon Selvam's monologue, 1 April 1992
Summary A study of the lives of popular theater artists, Stigmas of the Tamil Stageis the first in-depth analysis of Special Drama, a genre of performance unique to the southernmost Indian state of Tamilnadu. Held in towns and villages throughout the region, Special Drama performances last from 10 p.m. until dawn. There are no theatrical troupes in Special Drama; individual artists are contracted specially for each event. The first two hours of each performance are filled with the kind of bawdy, improvisational comedy that is the primary focus of this study; the remaining hours present more markedly staid dramatic treatments of myth and history. Special Drama artists themselves are of all ages, castes, and ethnic and religious affiliations; the one common denominator in their lives is their lower-class status. Artists regularly speak of how poverty compelled their entrance into the field. Special Drama is looked down upon by the middle- and upper-classes as too popular, too vulgar, and too mixed. The artists are stigmatized: people insult them in public and landlords refuse to rent to them. Stigma falls most heavily, however, on actresses, who are marked as public women by their participation in Special Drama. As Susan Seizers sensitive study shows, one of the primary ways the performers deal with such stigma is through humor and linguistic play. Their comedic performances in particular directly address questions of class, culture, and gender deviationsthe very issues that so stigmatize them. Seizer draws on extensive interviews with performers, sponsors, audience members, and drama agents as well as on careful readings of live Special Drama performances in considering the complexities of performers lives both on stage and off
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 415-431) and index
Notes Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212 MiAaHDL
Print version record
digitized 2010 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve pda MiAaHDL
Subject Ethnology -- India -- Tamil Nadu
Theater -- Anthropological aspects -- India -- Tamil Nadu
Theater and society -- India -- Tamil Nadu
Folklore -- Performance -- India -- Tamil Nadu
POLITICAL SCIENCE -- Public Policy -- Cultural Policy.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Anthropology -- Cultural.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Popular Culture.
Ethnology
Folklore -- Performance
Manners and customs
Theater and society
Theater -- Anthropological aspects
Tamil Nadu.
Toneel.
Volkscultuur.
SUBJECT Tamil Nadu (India) -- Social life and customs
Subject India -- Tamil Nadu
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9780822386193
0822386194