Volume 2.2

Carolyn Roark At its earliest inception, this issue was going to be dedicated to examining queer approaches to religion through performance. But then, on Valentine’s Day 2008, NPR aired a piece entitled “The Joy of Christian Sex Toys,” which highlighted the efforts of online retailer Book 22, purveyors of intimacy aids to married Christian couples.

Volume 2.1

Carolyn Roark Theatre making is, at heart, a utopian endeavor. With every production, we strive to make a perfect world— precisely lit, evocatively costumed, populated with irresistible characters, following a flawless story arc. Even if you don’t believe in the perfectibility of our own reality, it is what we aim for on stage. No surprise

Volume 1.2

Carolyn Roark Some months ago, Hazem Azmy and I were discussing the movement of ideas between “East” and “West”—those two mythical zones that fit so well into the binary classification system persisting in public discourse. Even though it elides, even denies, the polymorphous character of our world, you still see it in media outlets, on

Volume 1.1

Carolyn Roark I begin with the obvious—I am certain that readers and puzzled librarians noticed upon picking up this volume that the masthead bears the name Ecumenica rather than the Baylor Journal of Theatre and Performance. As editor, let me assure you that our scholarly mission and commitments remain the same. The change of name,

Interview with Ann Magnuson

by W.C. Meier In this interview, conducted 13 June 2012, Dr. Wendy Clupper Meier talks with NYC East Village 80s icon, cult movie darling, performance artist, and chanteuse Ann Magnuson about her career, artistic inspirations, and growing up in a Christian church in West Virginia. Arguably, Magnuson’s work has been largely neglected in theatre scholarship because

Interview with Sunil Pokharel

Questioning Caste: Performance, Parody, and the Political Economy of a Hindu State by Mark West   During a recent talk in his of?ce at the Gurukul School of Theatre, a rustic performing arts center on a wooded hilltop overlooking Kathmandu, Sunil Pokharel’s words mixed with the morning calls of crows just outside his window. Normally