Overview

Late Stage: Theatrical Perspectives on Age and Aging represents the first comprehensive anthology to critically interrogate the intersection of age studies with theater and performance studies. Undoing the notion of a singular, continuous self as we age—an assumption that negatively positions old age in opposition to youth—this volume challenges biological imperatives imposed by essentialist views of aging. Late Stage reconceptualizes age as an additional dimension of identity constituted through the sociocultural systems that shape the material body over time. The collection portrays aging as a dynamic and evolving process, countering ageist narratives of decline and stereotypes that homogenize later life as a fixed, undesirable state. By exploring themes such as intergenerational dialogue, elder sexualities, late style, casting practices, age-related caregiving, and artistic longevity, contributors reposition later life into complex narratives that resist normative age scripts. Drawing on gender studies, queer and feminist theory, and disability studies, the collection bridges performance analysis with theoretical frameworks and collectively addresses how aging is experienced, represented, and resisted across time and cultures. Late Stage explores key works by canonical and contemporary figures such as Anton Chekhov, Henrik Ibsen, Caryl Churchill, Clare Barron, Naomi Iizuka, Tracy Letts, David Lindsay-Abaire, Judith Malina, Robbie McCauley, Florian Zeller, and Peggy Shaw. With its innovative approach, Late Stage serves not only as a critical text for courses on performance and age, but as a call to action for expanding conversations around age in theater and society.

Full Product Details

Author:   Benjamin Gillespie ,  Cindy Rosenthal ,  Elinor Fuchs ,  Elinor Fuchs
Publisher:   The University of Michigan Press
Imprint:   The University of Michigan Press
Weight:   0.454kg
ISBN:  

9780472077960

ISBN 10:   0472077961
Pages:   332
Publication Date:   09 March 2026
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming
Availability:   Not yet available  
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Table of Contents

List of Figures Acknowledgements Foreword Introduction: time she stopped Benjamin Gillespie and Cindy Rosenthal Part I. Dramaturgies of Aging and Late Style 1. a. Estragement: Towards an “Age Theory” Theatre Criticism b. Rehearsing Age Elinor Fuchs 2. Aging and the Time of Estragement in Chekhov’s Drama Yana Meerzon 3. Pathologizing Aging Femininity: The Mad Older Woman in Tracy Letts’ August: Osage County and Florian Zeller’s The Mother Nuria Casado-Gual and Inesa Schevchenko-Hotsuliak 4. Caryl Churchill’s Late Style R. Darren Gobert Part II. (Re)Casting Age 5. Age-conscious Casting: Comedy and the Middle-Aged Ingenue Valerie Barnes Lipscomb 6. Differential Ageism: Aging and Asian American Identity in Out of Time Dorothy Chansky 7. Haunted by the Specters of What They Will Become: St(age) Directions and the Default Body Bess Rowen 8. Aging from Queer and Trans Perspectives: laGeste’s Gardenia-10 Years Later (2021) Heunjung Lee Part III. Autobiography and the Aging Body/Self 9. “The Triumph of Time”: Utopic Visions of Judith Malina’s Late Performances Cindy Rosenthal 10. I Feel Memories In My Body More Than Ever Robbie McCauley and Daniel Alexander Jones 11. Rehearsing for Revolution: Autobiographical Performance Arouses Utopian Performativity in Sonic Elder Julia Henderson 12. Queering Age and Memory/Loss in Peggy Shaw’s Ruff Benjamin Gillespie Part IV. Time, Empathy, and Care 13. The Melody of Aging: Interview with Bonnie Marranca Hillary Miller 14. Age Simulation: The Ultimate Dress Rehearsal Scott Magelssen 15. Bringing Down the Curtain: Robotic Animals and Technologies of Aging Jennifer Parker-Starbuck 16. At this Time (Or My Friend Elinor) Anne Davis Basting

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Author Information

Benjamin Gillespie is Assistant Professor of Theatre History & Performance Studies at Santa Clara University and co-editor of the Journal of American Drama and Theatre. Cindy Rosenthal is Professor of Drama and Dance at Hofstra University. She is the author of Ellen Stewart Presents: Fifty Years of La MaMa Experimental Theatre, and co-editor of The Sixties, Center Stage: Mainstream Popular Performances in a Turbulent Decade and Restaging the Sixties: Radical Theaters and Their Legacies. Elinor Fuchs was Professor Emerita of Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism at Yale University. She was the co-editor of Land/Scape/Theater.

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