🧭 Summary: What Makes Performance Studies Special

– Richard Schechner

✳️ About the Author

• Richard Schechner (b. 1934) is a pioneering American performance theorist,

theatre director, and professor.
• He founded the Department of Performance Studies at New York University’s
Tisch School of the Arts.
• Schechner’s works such as Essays on Performance Theory (1976), Between Theater
and Anthropology (1985), and Performance Theory shaped the field.
• He is known for concepts like “restored behavior” (all behavior can be repeated or
rehearsed) and “environmental theatre”, which removes barriers between
performer and audience.

✳️ Key Ideas of Performance Studies

• Performance Studies is an interdisciplinary academic field combining theatre,

anthropology, sociology, psychology, and cultural studies.
• It expands theatre beyond entertainment to include rituals, ceremonies, sports,
politics, healing, and everyday life.
• It studies performance as action, behaviour, and cultural expression, not just as
staged art.

✳️ Main Concepts Explained

1. Performance as Action:

Everything we do — rituals, sports, politics, and daily interactions — can be seen as a form
of performance.

2. Restored Behavior:

Actions can be rehearsed, repeated, or modified; they are “performed” behaviours that
can be studied.

3. Interdisciplinarity:
Performance Studies merges multiple fields — from visual arts and music to anthropology
and gender studies.

4. Global and Cross-Cultural Approach:

It studies performances across cultures — both Western and non-Western — and values
participation, observation, and cultural exchange.

5. Fieldwork and Participation:

Schechner highlights “participant observation”, borrowed from anthropology, as a

method where the researcher becomes part of the culture studied.

6. Performance Continuum:

All human actions — from theatre to daily life — lie on a continuum of performance. There
is no single definition of performance; even rituals, sports, and internet behaviour can be
seen as performances.

7. Inclusiveness and Diversity:

Performance Studies is open-ended; it includes multiple disciplines and rejects rigid

boundaries.

✳️ Contributions of Other Scholars

• Clifford Geertz: Cultural analysis is always incomplete; it is a continuous process

of interpretation.
• Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett: Performance Studies is “more than the sum of its
parts”; it unites music, dance, art, and literature into one field without separating
them by medium.

✳️ Significance

• Schechner made performance an object of serious academic study — not just

theatre but human behavior itself.
• Performance Studies challenges traditional hierarchies and promotes a global,
inclusive, and evolving discipline.
• It connects theory and practice, art and life, showing that performance is a lens
through which we understand the world.
Paragraph Questions

1. Who is Richard Schechner and what are his contributions to

Performance Studies?

Richard Schechner is an American theatre director, performance theorist, and professor

at New York University. He is the founder of Performance Studies as an academic
discipline. Schechner’s major works include Essays on Performance Theory (1976) and
Performance Theory (1988). He introduced important concepts such as restored behavior
(repeated, rehearsed actions) and environmental theatre, which involves the audience
directly in the performance. Schechner’s approach transformed theatre from an art of
entertainment to a broad, interdisciplinary field that studies all forms of human behavior
— ritual, politics, sport, and daily life.

2. What is the meaning of ‘restored behavior’ in Schechner’s theory?

‘Restored behavior’ is one of Richard Schechner’s key ideas. It means that all human
behavior is performed, and can be rehearsed, repeated, or modified. For example, rituals,
greetings, and social roles are performed repeatedly according to cultural norms. This
concept connects theatre with everyday life — just as actors rehearse roles, people
“perform” roles in society. Schechner uses this idea to show that performance is not
limited to the stage; it includes all patterns of human action that express culture and
identity.

3. Explain the interdisciplinary nature of Performance Studies.

Performance Studies is interdisciplinary because it draws methods and ideas from many
academic fields — theatre, anthropology, sociology, psychology, media studies, cultural
studies, and more. It combines both artistic and scientific perspectives to study
performance as a social and cultural act. This inclusiveness allows scholars to analyze
rituals, sports, music, and even online activities as performances. As Schechner and
Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett argue, Performance Studies is “more than the sum of its
parts” because it integrates various disciplines to understand human behavior and
creativity in a holistic way.
4. What is meant by the ‘performance continuum’?

The performance continuum refers to Schechner’s idea that all human actions can be
understood as performances — from theatre, dance, and rituals to sports, politics, and
even everyday gestures. There is no strict line separating art from life. A football player’s
victory dance, a political speech, or a religious ceremony — all are performances within
this continuum. Schechner rejects the traditional Western view that performance only
occurs in theatre. Instead, he argues that performance includes all acts of expression,
ritual, and communication.

5. What are the main ideas of Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett and Clifford

Geertz in relation to Performance Studies?

Clifford Geertz believes that cultural analysis is never complete — understanding

culture is an ongoing process of interpretation. His ideas influence Performance Studies by
encouraging scholars to see performance as a continuous, evolving act.

Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett argues that Performance Studies is more than the sum
of its inclusions — it unites theatre, dance, art, and literature into one study. She
emphasizes that performance has no single medium; it uses all artistic forms (sound,
movement, narrative, image) to express meaning. Both scholars reinforce Schechner’s
view that performance is multidisciplinary and dynamic.

Essay Questions

1. Discuss Richard Schechner’s contribution to the development of

Performance Studies.

Richard Schechner is a pioneer who established Performance Studies as an independent

discipline linking theatre, anthropology, and cultural studies. Before Schechner, theatre
was seen mainly as entertainment. He redefined it as a way to understand human
behavior, ritual, and society.
Schechner introduced the idea of “restored behavior”, which sees all actions — from
acting to rituals — as performances that can be repeated or rehearsed. His concept of
environmental theatre broke the physical and social barriers between actors and
audience, making performance participatory.

He founded the Performance Studies Department at NYU and authored key texts such as
Essays on Performance Theory and Performance Theory. His experiments with Dionysus in
69 (1968) and his study of Indian Natya Shastra influenced his understanding of emotional
expression and body training.

Schechner’s vision expanded the scope of theatre to include ritual, healing, politics, and
daily life, making performance a universal phenomenon. Today, his interdisciplinary
framework shapes how scholars, artists, and anthropologists study performance globally.

2. Explain how Performance Studies combines art, anthropology, and

everyday life.

Performance Studies, as founded by Richard Schechner, bridges artistic expression and

social behavior. It does not confine performance to theatre but expands it to rituals,
ceremonies, sports, and even daily interactions.

From art, it borrows creativity and symbolism; from anthropology, it adopts fieldwork and
participant observation. Scholars study not only staged performances but also social
performances — festivals, political rallies, and religious rituals.

Schechner argues that performance is a form of cultural behavior — a way humans

express values and identity. Artists like Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett emphasize that
performance has no fixed medium; it integrates music, dance, literature, and visual art.

By studying both art and everyday life, Performance Studies reveals the performative
nature of all human action. It turns observation of culture into active participation and
interpretation, showing how performance shapes and reflects society.
3. Analyze the interdisciplinary and global significance of Performance
Studies.

Performance Studies is globally significant because it embraces diversity, collaboration,

and cultural exchange. It unites methods from theatre, anthropology, sociology, and art
to study human expression in all its forms.

The discipline examines Western and non-Western traditions, treating both as equally
important. Schechner’s use of fieldwork encourages cross-cultural understanding through
participant observation, where the researcher becomes part of the performance.

Globally, Performance Studies addresses issues like globalization, identity, and power. It
challenges colonial boundaries by including marginalized voices — indigenous, queer, and
postcolonial performers.

By combining academic research and artistic practice, Performance Studies becomes a

tool for exploring political, social, and emotional realities. Its interdisciplinary nature
allows it to adapt to new media, digital culture, and activism. Thus, it remains a living,
evolving field that connects art, theory, and life on a worldwide scale.