Prepared by Katie Chavez, August 2005
This Web resource investigates the ways that site-specific performance can provide a new dimension to the curating of historic sites. While historic sites have a long history of using performative techniques to bring the visitor experientially closer to a specific historical site, event, or community (the “living history museums” and Colonial Williamsburg and Plimoth Plantation come to mind), these traditional techniques only scratch the surface of performance in museum curation. This site draws on the discipline of performance studies to suggest some of the ways that performance theory can inform museum work. We hope that it will be valuable to individuals to those interested in using performance in museums and at historic sites and in bringing performance theories into the classroom.