Guerrilla theatre, generally rendered "guerrilla theater" in the US, is a form of

guerrilla communication Guerrilla communication and communication guerrilla refer to an attempt to provoke subversive effects through interventions in the process of communication. It can be distinguished from other classes of political action because it is not based on ...

originated in 1965 by the San Francisco Mime Troupe, who, in spirit of the

Che Guevara Ernesto Che Guevara (; 14 June 1928The date of birth recorded on /upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Ernesto_Guevara_Acta_de_Nacimiento.jpg his birth certificatewas 14 June 1928, although one tertiary source, (Julia Constenla, quot ...

writings from which the term '' guerrilla'' is taken, engaged in performances in public places committed to "revolutionary sociopolitical change." The group performances, aimed against the

Vietnam war The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

and

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...

, sometimes contained nudity,

profanity Profanity, also known as cursing, cussing, swearing, bad language, foul language, obscenities, expletives or vulgarism, is a socially offensive use of language. Accordingly, profanity is language use that is sometimes deemed impolite, rud ...

and

taboo A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...

subjects that were shocking to some members of the audiences of the time. Guerrilla (Spanish for "little war"), as applied to theatrical events, describes the act of spontaneous, surprise performances in unlikely public spaces to an unsuspecting audience. Typically these performances intend to draw attention to a political/social issue through

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming ...

protest A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one. Protests can be thought of as acts of cooper ...

, and carnivalesque techniques. Many of these performances were a direct result of the radical social movements of the late 1960s through mid-1970s. Guerrilla Theater, also referred to as guerrilla performance, has been sometimes related to the agitprop theater of the 1930s,Filewod, Alan (2003) ''Modernism and Genocide'', in Richard Paul Knowles, William B. Worthen, Joanne Tompkin
''Modern drama: defining the field''
p.167 but it is differentiated from agitprop by the inclusion of

Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 1920 Dada flourished in Pari ...

performance tactics.

Origins

The term ''Guerrilla Theater'' was coined by Peter Berg, who in 1965 suggested it to R.G. Davis as the title of his essay on the actions of the San Francisco Mime Troupe, an essay that was first published in 1966.Peter Braunstein, Michael William Doyle (2002
''Imagine nation: the American counterculture of the 1960s and '70s''
p.93 note #9 Davis (1971) ''Rethinking guerrilla theater, 1971, 1985'' in Donald Lazer
''American media and mass culture: left perspectives''
p.599 The term "guerrilla" was inspired by a passage in a 1961

essay, which read:Gordon, Kelly Carolyn (2007) ''Guerrilla theater'', in Gabrielle H. Cody, Evert Sprinchorn (2007
''The Columbia encyclopedia of modern drama, Volume 1''
pp.568-9 Davis had studied

mime Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) is an Internet standard that extends the format of email messages to support text in character sets other than ASCII, as well as attachments of audio, video, images, and application programs. Message ...

and modern dance in the 1950s and had discovered commedia dell'arte. In autumn 1966 around 20 members of the San Francisco Mime Troupe broke off and started their own collective called the Diggers, who took their name from a group of 17th century radicals in England.

Guerrilla theater in practice

Guerrilla theater shares its origins with many forms of political protest and street theatre including

agitprop Agitprop (; from rus, агитпроп, r=agitpróp, portmanteau of ''agitatsiya'', "agitation" and ''propaganda'', " propaganda") refers to an intentional, vigorous promulgation of ideas. The term originated in Soviet Russia where it referred ...

(agitation-propaganda), carnival,

parades A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of ...

, pageants,

political protest A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one. Protests can be thought of as acts of coopera ...

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

, happenings, and, most notably, the

movement and

guerrilla art Guerrilla art is a street art movement that first emerged in the UK, but has since spread across the world and is now established in most countries that already had developed graffiti scenes. In fact, it owes so much to the early graffiti movem ...

. Although this movement is widely studied in Theater History classrooms, the amount of research and documentation of guerrilla theater is surprisingly lacking. The term, "Guerrilla Theater" seems to have emerged during the mid-1960s primarily as an upshot of activist Radical Theater groups such as

The Living Theatre The Living Theatre is an American theatre company founded in 1947 and based in New York City. It is the oldest experimental theatre group in the United States. For most of its history it was led by its founders, actress Judith Malina and painter/p ...

, San Francisco Mime Troupe,

Bread and Puppet Theater The Bread and Puppet Theater (often known simply as Bread & Puppet) is a Political radicalism, politically radical puppet theater, active since the 1960s, based in Glover, Vermont . The theater was co-founded by Elka and Peter Schumann. Peter is ...

, El Teatro Campesino, and the Free Southern Theater. It also has important roots in

Allan Kaprow Allan Kaprow (August 23, 1927 – April 5, 2006) was an American painter, assemblagist and a pioneer in establishing the concepts of performance art. He helped to develop the " Environment" and " Happening" in the late 1950s and 1960s, as well ...

's " happenings". The first widely documented guerrilla performances were carried out under the leadership of Abbie Hoffman and the

Youth International Party The Youth International Party (YIP), whose members were commonly called Yippies, was an American youth-oriented radical and countercultural revolutionary offshoot of the free speech and anti-war movements of the late 1960s. It was founded o ...

(Yippies). One of their most publicized events occurred on August 24, 1967, at the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed ...

where Hoffman and other Yippies threw dollar bills onto the trading floor below. Creating a media frenzy, the event was publicized internationally. In his later publication, ''Soon to be a Major Motion Picture'' (1980), Hoffman refers to his television appearances with specially planned subversive tactics as "guerrilla theater."Brockett, Oscar. ''History of the Theatre''. 7th ed. Needham Heights, Massachusetts: Simon & Schuster, 1995, pg. 575. Guerrilla theater was used as a protest demonstration by the anti-war organization

Vietnam Veterans Against the War Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) is an American tax-exempt non-profit organization and corporation founded in 1967 to oppose the United States policy and participation in the Vietnam War. VVAW says it is a national veterans' organization ...

. An article from the summer of 1971 published in the glossy magazine '' Ramparts'' detailed one such performance in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Post-1970s performance theater

Another guerrilla performance group that continued the use of the term was the Guerrilla Girls. This group of feminist artist-activists was established in New York City in 1985 with the purpose of bringing attention to the lack of female artists in major

art galleries An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...

and

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

s. The Guerrilla Girls began their work through guerrilla art tactics which broadened to include guerrilla theater. Some common practices in their guerrilla theater techniques that have been replicated by other groups include appearing in costume, using assumed names, and disguising their identity.

Guerrilla theater groups

The origins and legacy of guerrilla theater can be seen in the work of these political/performance groups: * ACT UP *

Billionaires for Bush Billionaires for Bush was a culture jamming political street theater organization that satirically purported to support George W. Bush, drawing attention to policies which were perceived to benefit corporations and the super-wealthy. The group would ...

* Billionaires for Wealthcare *

* The Church of Euthanasia * Circus Amok * Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army * El Teatro Campesino * Free Southern Theater *

Reclaim the Streets Reclaim the Streets also known as RTS, are a collective with a shared ideal of community ownership of public spaces. Participants characterise the collective as a resistance movement opposed to the dominance of corporate forces in globalisa ...

Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping is a radical performance community based in New York City. The Stop Shopping Choir is accompanied by a comic preacher, Reverend Billy, portrayed by performer William (Billy) Talen. The philosophy of ...

* San Francisco Mime Troupe *

Situationism The Situationist International (SI) was an international organization of social revolutionaries made up of avant-garde artists, intellectuals, and political theorists. It was prominent in Europe from its formation in 1957 to its dissolution ...

(Yippies) * FEMEN

Footnotes

External links