CONGRESS CANCELED Performing Joan: Interpreting the Maid on Screen, on Stage, and in the Streets

Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University

Description

Joan of Arc continues to captivate filmmakers, most recently Bruno Dumont, whose headbanging heroine mixes medieval and metal in Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc (2017) and Joan of Arc (2019). Joan has also made a Broadway comeback via three recent productions: David Byrne’s rock musical Joan of Arc: Into the Fire (2017) the 2018 revival of Shaw’s Saint Joan, and Jane Anderson’s Mother of the Maid (2018). Participatory street theater such as Orléans’ yearly Fêtes de Jeanne d’Arc or the procession’s campier New World cousin, a Joan-themed carnival parade in New Orleans, also shape the Maid’s evolving legacy.

This panel seeks papers that explore the origins, processes, and reception of Joan in performance. What performative aspects characterize the primary documents that inspired subsequent retellings of Joan’s story? Why do certain patterns emerge in Joan’s onstage and onscreen afterlives? And how do different authors and actors approach the creative task of communicating Joan’s relevance to new audiences? What purposes do these performances serve for those who conceive of or take part in them? Finally, how are the productions that Joan inspires received? Scott Manning

 
May 7th, 1:30 PM

CONGRESS CANCELED Performing Joan: Interpreting the Maid on Screen, on Stage, and in the Streets

Schneider 1280

Joan of Arc continues to captivate filmmakers, most recently Bruno Dumont, whose headbanging heroine mixes medieval and metal in Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc (2017) and Joan of Arc (2019). Joan has also made a Broadway comeback via three recent productions: David Byrne’s rock musical Joan of Arc: Into the Fire (2017) the 2018 revival of Shaw’s Saint Joan, and Jane Anderson’s Mother of the Maid (2018). Participatory street theater such as Orléans’ yearly Fêtes de Jeanne d’Arc or the procession’s campier New World cousin, a Joan-themed carnival parade in New Orleans, also shape the Maid’s evolving legacy.

This panel seeks papers that explore the origins, processes, and reception of Joan in performance. What performative aspects characterize the primary documents that inspired subsequent retellings of Joan’s story? Why do certain patterns emerge in Joan’s onstage and onscreen afterlives? And how do different authors and actors approach the creative task of communicating Joan’s relevance to new audiences? What purposes do these performances serve for those who conceive of or take part in them? Finally, how are the productions that Joan inspires received? Scott Manning