Engendering the Stage in the Age of Shakespeare and Beyond centres dialogue between scholars, students, and professional theatre practitioners to rethink gender on the early modern stage and its resonance for casting, staging, and design in contemporary classical theatre. Its scope extends beyond the confines of Shakespeare’s Globe and the myth of the all-male stage to explore the exciting possibilities of gendered performance evident on the stages of Europe and in the work of less-famous playwrights. Women and queer and trans artists and artisans were central to the theatres of early modern Europe, and this book’s collaborative exploration of this historical evidence opens exciting new avenues for theatrical production and research. It mobilizes shared insights by scholars and theatre practitioners who hold deep investments in gender equity in their respective workplaces and explores Two-Spirit and trans histories typically excluded in both theatre history studies and present-day performance repertoires. Engendering the Stage in the Age of Shakespeare and Beyond offers provocations arising from a five-day Performance as Research (PaR) workshop at the Stratford Festival. Featuring guest artist and actor commentary, a poem, a zine, scholarly essays and reflections, and three specially commissioned visual art pieces, the book adapts to print form the open and exploratory spirit of the workshop itself, inviting readers to embrace the possibilities of trans-disciplinary, provisional knowledges and knowledge dissemination that are central to PaR methodologies.

Table of Contents:
List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Abbreviations Part 1: Setting the Stage Introduction Peter Cockett and Melinda J. Gough 1. The Meeting of Art and Academia Keira Loughran Part 2: Beyond the Globe 2. Architectures of Gender E.M. Parry with Peter Cockett and Melinda Gough 3. We Exist When We Tell Our Stories Carmen Alvis Part 3: Energies, Evidence, Emergent Practices 4. Potential Energies in the Early Modern French Repertoire Ellen Welch 5. The PaRchive: Archiving Process in Practice-as-Research and the Work of Theatre History Callan Davies 6. A Note to Mary Frith SL Grange Part 4: Skill, Power, and Swordplay 7. Drawing Your Weapon Peter Cockett and Melinda J. Gough with Cole Alvis, Emma Frankland, Lily McEvenue, and Denise Oucharek 8. Casting The Roaring Girl: Embodied Skill, History, and Lived Experience Clare McManus Part 5: Stepping Beyond Binaries 9. "Mincing Steps" and "Manly Strides": Practicing Gendered Footwork on the Early Modern Stage Natasha Korda 10. Performing Gender "From the Ground Up" Peter Cockett and Melinda J. Gough with Emma Frankland, Lily McEvenue, André Morin, Marcus Nance, and Denise Oucharek 11. Two Shadows to One Shape E.M. Parry with Peter Cockett and Melinda J. Gough Part 6: Disruptive Boys 12. Boi-Actrx E.M. Parry with Peter Cockett and Melinda J. Gough 13. A Question to Be Asked: Boy Actors, Performance as Research, and Theatre History Roberta Barker and Lucy Munro Part 7: Rehearsing, Teaching, Translating 14. Calling across from Our Difference: Teaching (Gender) Nonconforming Characters in Early Modern English Drama Jessica Swain 15. Rehearsing The Lieutenant Nun: Translation in Action Edward McLean Test Part 8: Dreaming PaR Futures 16. To Degender is to Decolonize Madeleine Krusto and Kitoko Mai (Non)Conclusions Peter Cockett and Melinda J. Gough Bibliography Contributors Index