Jimmy Noriega co-edits new book on queer US theatre

Jimmy A. Noriega, professor of theatre and chair of the Department of Theatre & Dance at The College of Wooster, is the co-editor of a new book on queer theatre. Fifty Key Figures in Queer U.S. Theatre was published by Routledge in the fall and co-edited with Jordan Schildcrout. The collection features over 40 contributors and seeks to expand the fields of theatre and queer studies.  

The collection moves from the era of the Stonewall Riots, a series of protests in 1969 as a response to a police raid of the Stonewall Inn, a gay club in New York City, until the present day. The collection features over 40 notable scholars whose essays bring a wide variety of queer theatre artists into conversation with each other. The book explores connections and differences in race, gender, physical ability, national origin, class, generation, aesthetic modes, and political goals, creating a diverse and inclusive study of 50 years of queer theatre. 

“One of the main goals of the collection is to expand the scholarship in the field to more accurately represent the diversity of artists and audiences that inhabit performance spaces across the U.S.,” Noriega said. The book hopes to subvert the exclusionary practices that have dominated the field in the past, which often resulted in a “canon” of predominantly white, cis-male theatre artists who worked primarily in New York City. Some of the featured artists in the book include Jeremy O. Harris, Michael R. Jackson, Nathan Lane, Tina Landau, Joan Lipkin, Cherríe Moraga, Daaimah Mubashshir, The NEA Four, Billy Porter, and BD Wong.  

“This book reflects almost two years of work,” said Noriega. “Jordan Schildcrout and I began our collaboration in November 2020, and our work continued throughout the pandemic. We are both ecstatic and proud that these essays are out in the world and hope that people will be inspired and moved by the many fabulous artists that are featured in the book.”  

Noriega previously co-edited Theatre and Cartographies of Power: Repositioning the Latina/o Americas with Analola Santana. It was published by Southern Illinois University Press in 2018.  

Posted in News on April 18, 2023.