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 Subversion, subversive effects through interventions in the process of communication. It can be distinguished from other classes of political action because it is ...

originated in 1965 by the

San Francisco Mime Troupe The San Francisco Mime Troupe is a theatre of political satire which performs free shows in various parks in the San Francisco Bay Area and around California, founded in 1959. Despite its name, the group does not perform silent mime, but each ye ...

, who, in spirit of the

Che Guevara Ernesto "Che" Guevara (14th May 1928 – 9 October 1967) was an Argentines, Argentine Communist revolution, Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, Guerrilla warfare, guerrilla leader, diplomat, and Military theory, military theorist. A majo ...

writings from which the term ''

guerrilla Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, Partisan (military), partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include Children in the military, recruite ...

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

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

and

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

, sometimes contained

nudity Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing. While estimates vary, for the first 90,000 years of pre-history, anatomically modern humans were naked, having lost their body hair, living in hospitable climates, and not ...

profanity Profanity, also known as swearing, cursing, or cussing, is the usage of notionally word taboo, offensive words for a variety of purposes, including to demonstrate disrespect or negativity, to relieve pain, to express a strong emotion (such a ...

and

taboo A taboo 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, offensive, sacred or allowed only for certain people.''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 exposin ...

protest A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration, or remonstrance) is a public act of objection, disapproval or dissent against political advantage. Protests can be thought of as acts of cooperation in which numerous people cooperate ...

, and carnivalesque techniques. Many of these performances were a direct result of the radical

social movement A social movement is either a loosely or carefully organized effort by a large group of people to achieve a particular goal, typically a Social issue, social or Political movement, political one. This may be to carry out a social change, or to re ...

s of the late 1960s through mid-1970s. Guerrilla Theater, also referred to as guerrilla performance, has been sometimes related to the

agitprop theater A political drama can describe a play, film or TV program that has a political component, whether reflecting the author's political opinion, or describing a politician or series of political events. Dramatists who have written political dramas inc ...

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 anti-establishment art movement that developed in 1915 in the context of the Great War and the earlier anti-art movement. Early centers for dadaism included Zürich and Berlin. Within a few years, the movement had s ...

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

, 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 A mime artist, or simply mime (from Greek language, Greek , , "imitator, actor"), is a person who uses ''mime'' (also called ''pantomime'' outside of Britain), the acting out of a story through body motions without the use of speech, as a the ...

and modern dance in the 1950s and had discovered

commedia dell'arte Commedia dell'arte was an early form of professional theatre, originating from Theatre of Italy, Italian theatre, that was popular throughout Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries. It was formerly called Italian comedy in English and is a ...

. 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 , portmanteau of ''agitatsiya'', "agitation" and ''propaganda'', "propaganda") refers to an intentional, vigorous promulgation of ideas. The term originated in the Soviet Union where it referred to popular media, such as literatu ...

(agitation-propaganda),

carnival Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that occurs at the close of the Christian pre-Lenten period, consisting of Quinquagesima or Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, and Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Carnival typi ...

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 some variety of ...

, pageants,

political protest Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of status or resources. The branch of social science that studies poli ...

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 ...

happening A happening is a performance, event, or situation art, usually as performance art. The term was first used by Allan Kaprow in 1959 to describe a range of art-related events. History Origins Allan Kaprow first coined the term "happening" i ...

s, 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 around 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 mov ...

. 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 ...

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

, El

Teatro Campesino El Teatro Campesino ( Spanish for "The Farmworker's Theater") is a Chicano theatre company in California. Performing in both English and Spanish, El Teatro Campesino was founded in 1965 as the cultural arm of the United Farm Workers and the Ch ...

, and the

Free Southern Theater The Free Southern Theater (FST) was a community theater group founded in 1963 at Tougaloo College in Madison County, Mississippi, by Gilbert Moses, Denise Nicholas, Doris Derby, and John O'Neal. The company manager was Mary Lovelace O'Neal, Mary Lo ...

. It also has important roots in

Allan Kaprow Allan Kaprow (August 23, 1927 – April 5, 2006) was an American performance artist, installation artist, painter, and assemblagist . He helped to develop the " Environment" and "Happening" in the late 1950s and 1960s, as well as their theory. ...

's "

s". The first widely documented guerrilla performances were carried out under the leadership of

Abbie Hoffman Abbot Howard Hoffman (November 30, 1936 – April 12, 1989) was an American political and social activist who co-founded the Youth International Party ("Yippies") and was a member of the Chicago Seven. He was also a leading proponent of the ...

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 on D ...

(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, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

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 non-profit organization and corporation founded in 1967 to oppose the United States policy and participation in the Vietnam War. VVAW is a national veterans' organization that campaigns for ...

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

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Post-1970s performance theater

Another guerrilla performance group that continued the use of the term was the

Guerrilla Girls Guerrilla Girls is an anonymous group of Feminist movements and ideologies, feminist, female artists devoted to fighting sexism and racism within the art world. The group formed in New York City in 1985, born out of a picket against the Museum of ...

. 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 long ...

and

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

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 AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) is an international, grassroots political group working to end the AIDS pandemic. The group works to improve the lives of people with AIDS through direct action, medical research, treatment and advocacy, ...

* Billionaires for Bush * Billionaires for Wealthcare *

* The Church of Euthanasia * Circus Amok *

Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army The Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army (also known as CIRCA and Clown Army) was an anti-authoritarian left-wing activist group primarily active from 2003-2005 in the United Kingdom. The Clown Army used clowning and non-violent tactics t ...

El Teatro Campesino El Teatro Campesino (Spanish language, Spanish for "The Farmworker's Theater") is a Chicano theatre, theatre company in California. Performing in both English language, English and Spanish language, Spanish, El Teatro Campesino was founded in 1965 ...

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 globalisati ...

* Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping *

* Situationism *

(Yippies) *

FEMEN Femen (stylized in all caps; Russian and Ukrainian: Фемен, Belarusian: Фэмэн) is a Ukrainian radical feminist activist group whose goal is to protect women's rights. The organization became internationally known for organizing con ...

Footnotes

External links