In this section
@inbook{Hoover:2024:10.4324/9781003298045-14,
author = {Hoover, S and Simkins, DW and Deterding, S and Meldman, DF and Brown, A},
booktitle = {Routledge Handbook of Role Playing Game Studies},
doi = {10.4324/9781003298045-14},
pages = {227--242},
title = {THEATER AND PERFORMANCE STUDIES AND ROLE-PLAYING GAMES},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781003298045-14},
year = {2024}
}
TY - CHAP
AB - This chapter explores the intersection of theater and performance studies with role-playing games (RPGs), highlighting the historical and conceptual connections between these fields. It begins by outlining the practices and concepts within theater and performance studies, emphasizing the commonalities in lineage and function between performance, play, and ritual. The chapter discusses the characteristics of performance, such as restored behavior, enacted with an audience in mind, ritualized, producing new meanings, and made special. It also delves into the functions of performance, including reproducing or challenging social order, creating communitas, and depicting group myths. The concepts of liveness, embodiment, presence, and emergence in performance are also examined, shedding light on the unique and ephemeral nature of live events - a definition into which role-playing games fit. The chapter also provides a short historical survey of theater, focusing on Ancient Greek theater, Realism, and Postdramatic theater, drawing parallels between the ways these influence contemporary theater and RPGs. It discusses how RPGs share formal ties with these historical forms, emphasizing their shared characteristics and influences. The chapter concludes by emphasizing the potential for mutual enrichment between theater and performance studies and RPGs, encouraging a comparative and analytical approach to bring new life and interest to both fields.
AU - Hoover,S
AU - Simkins,DW
AU - Deterding,S
AU - Meldman,DF
AU - Brown,A
DO - 10.4324/9781003298045-14
EP - 242
PY - 2024///
SP - 227
TI - THEATER AND PERFORMANCE STUDIES AND ROLE-PLAYING GAMES
T1 - Routledge Handbook of Role Playing Game Studies
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781003298045-14
ER -
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