An Alchemy of Living Culture: Collected Writings on Double Edge Theatre: Theatre Makers Stacy Klein Methuen Drama

An Alchemy of Living Culture

Collected Writings on Double Edge Theatre

An Alchemy of Living Culture

Collected Writings on Double Edge Theatre

Description

This volume captures the theatrical and cultural practice to have come out of Double Edge Theatre, which Stacy Klein founded in 1982. It showcases the company's dedication to collective artistic creativity, cultural survival and sustained, equitable organization-building, with Klein's artistic and social vision at its centre.
Featuring interviews, artists' statements, essays and speeches in which Klein articulates the mission of Double Edge Theatre as it evolves, the volume captures the democratic spirit and boundary-pushing theatrical work the company has championed.

In doing so, it celebrates the company's connections across the globe, including its collaborations with Eastern European, Scandinavian and South American theatres, such as Grenland Friteater (Norway) and Diablomundo (Argentina) and its links with rich theatrical traditions, such as the Laboratory Theatre, poor theatre, street theatre and circus). It also documents Double Edge's exploration of the intersections between cultural, traditional and spiritual practice, which extends to their work with Jupiter Performance Studio, the SITI Company, Open Flame Theatre, Ohketeau Cultural Center and the Drogobych Synagogue in the Carpathian mountains of Ukraine, as well as the inspirations of artists Marc Chagall and Leonora Carrington.
The book features a scholarly introduction by Jonathan P. Eburne that situates Klein's writing in the broader landscape of theatre history.

An Alchemy of Living Culture offers first-hand insights into the pragmatic, as well as the visionary, aspects of experimental creation and speaks to a broad and multi-national community of theatre-makers.

Preface (Stacy Klein): Hidden Territories/ Republic of Dreams

Introduction (Jonathan P. Eburne): Stacy Klein and Double Edge Theatre

Double Edge Theatre Timeline, 1982-2023

1. Training with Double Edge Theatre: An Address (2022)

Search Determines Form: Foundational Writings

2. Proposal for the Staging of Maureen Duffy's Rites (1981)
3. Three Artist Statements (1992 - 2002)

An Artists' Ensemble: On Autonomy and Collectivity

4. Letter from Sardegna (1985)
5. Do We Search for Theatre? (1986)
6. The Living Actor (1986)
7. On the “Magic Theatre” (1993-1997)
8. Director's Mirror: On Collaboration (1997)

Art, Living Culture, Art Justice

9. Culture Can Still be Alive (1991)
10. Letter to CGN Editors, “I no longer consider myself feminist” (c. 1987)
11. Art, an Endangered Species (1993)
12. Notes from the Director on Authentic Culture and Double Edge (1995) and related texts about Ukraine
13. Art Justice at the Double Edge Theatre (2018)
14. Excerpt from interview with Maria Shevstova (2021)
15. Excerpt from “Double Edge Theatre in Its Ashfield Community: An Interview with Stacy Klein,” (2020) (previously published in The Drama Review Vol. 64, Issue 4 (248), Winter 2020)
16. On the Okheteau Cultural Center (2022)

Training

17. Selections from Training Speeches (1980s-2010s).
18. “The Impulse to Train: An Interview with Stacy Klein about the Beginnings of Double Edge Training” (previously in Howlround Theatre Commons, 2015)
19. Excerpt from an interview on Rena Mirecka and physical training (c. 2012)
20. Excerpt from “To Think Intergenerationally” Consortium of Theatre Practices (2000)

On Double Edge in and as Theatre History

21. Excerpts from diaries and journals
22. Under the Perfume of Analysis (On Eugenio Barba), 1988
23. Excerpt from an interview with Maria Shevtsova (2011)
24. On the Polish Theatre (c. 1993)
25. Excerpt from “Why Devise, Why Now? Creating the Impossible” (previously published in Theatre Topics, 2005)

Appendix 1: Cycles and Spectacles: Double Edge Performances 1982-2023
Appendix 2: Remodelling Theatre

Afterword (Stacy Klein)

Bibliography

Index

Product details

Published	30 Oct 2025
Format	Hardback
Edition	1st
Extent	256
ISBN	9781350449367
Imprint	Methuen Drama
Illustrations	10 bw illus
Dimensions	216 x 138 mm
Series	Theatre Makers
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing