Coda: Sticking to the Wall

Abstract

This coda provides a response to and assessment of the essays in this collection, which take a creative stance by focusing attention on performance itself, as opposed to the composition on one hand or the audience on the other. The effect of such work is to nudge the performance scholar/ethnographer further along the path to becoming an ethnographic and/or performance critic. The scholars here take a very courageous leap on stage where they share the stage with the artist(s) in question. This collection contributes to the evolution of scholarly appreciation for performance—and the arts—by focusing on the stories surrounding creative work. Creative work is made important by the stories that surround it, that say, “I was there”—physically, politically, or emotionally. These stories “stick”—they hold our attention, they engage, they endure. By taking the writing of stories seriously, as the authors here clearly do, our work in performance criticism and ethnography will stick.