“Towards Theatre”

Chapter Two : “Towards Theatre” discusses important figures and works in drama and art during the twentieth century that paved the way for participatory opera. Bertolt Brecht’s overwhelming desire to disassociate himself from (what he considered) sensation-driven and passive audiences towards intellectually and critically engaged audiences led him to his theory of “epic theater” and his Lehrstücke, or “learning plays.” In 1938, Antonin Artaud published his influential Le théâtre et son double that introduced his Theatre of Cruelty, a theater designed to “touch life.” Included in this chapter is a discussion of relevant site-specific visual and performance art, Happenings, Fluxus, and environmental and experimental theater. Among the variety of works this chapter touches upon, I include discussions of Brecht’s early Lehrstücke and avant-garde experiments such as R. Murray Schafer’s twelve-part music drama cycle, Patria (1966–). This section explores the development and goals of environmental theater and site-specificity in a variety of artistic genres, articulating how their practices honed the techniques and dialogue surrounding audience-centric works—principles and approaches that are later reflected in participatory opera.