Explaining the name

Performance Studies is a course in which you study Performance Art.  The class was taught by Kim Harris, head of the theatre department.  We gave several performances throughout the semester, choosing selections or writing things in the style of Dramatic Literature, Poetry, Fiction.  That sort of thing.  I’ll read one of them for you later.

We performed for each other in lieu of taking tests.  Come finals week, since everyone in the class had already given their last performance, there was nothing to fill the final exam period.  Kim encouraged us to still come to class that day with the promise of cookies, carbonated beverages, [affecting an accent] and comments granting insight on our individual personal development during our time in the course.

[A shrug.]

I came to class that day, grabbed some food, and sat down.  Kim stood in front of the stage and began, saying several sentences about each person in the class.  Things like how pleased he was with how Person A had opened up and started to come out of their shell this semester and how he hoped they would continue getting past their fear of doing things in front of an audience.  Things like how Person B was a joy to have in the class because of their wit, charm, and mastery of comedic timing.

Then he got to me.

Addressing the rest of the class, he said, [imitating Kim] “Alex… Welp… Alex Tracy is performance art.”

[ALEX’s face twists in a “Hunh?” expression, inquiring arms raised]

“Thanks?  I think,” I replied.

During the semester, I had never really been able to define what performance art was.  It seemed a mutable thing, alien and weird – different for each person who experienced it.  I rarely understood the point a given artist was trying to make with their performance unless it was explicitly stated.  Impaling a dollar bill with a steamed carrot is an impressive feat, but, unless you tell me you are protesting the low wages of elementary school lunch ladies, I am probably just going to consider you a weirdo with a strange talent.

Performance art doesn’t make any sense unless you are on the same brainwave as the artist.  Performance art can be deliberately vague to allow many interpretations of meaning.  Performance art can be strange and eccentric for no apparent reason.  Performance art…

[A beat.]

[Grudgingly] Well, okay.  Maybe he’s got a point.

[Admitting] I am a rather performative person.  [Gesticulating broadly while slowly pacing the stage] My gestures are often very broad.  My responses are frequently exaggerated [a whispering aside, making the parentheses almost audible] (for dramatic effect).

It isn’t much of a stretch to then say that Alex Tracy is performance art… [unsure] Right?

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From an earlier draft of the play.  The self-deprecating, extremely self-conscious script was tossed out.  While the simpler version was better for my show, I think this more detailed version is still interesting.  Discussing the event later at a rehearsal for Glass Menagerie, it was decided that, if I ended up writing my senior show, its title would have to be "Alex Tracy is Performance Art."

And I did.  So it was.

The wikipedia article says that performance art can mean a lot of different things, but is generally "a performance presented to an audience."  Thank you, wikipedia.  With your vague definition, I can rest assured that I don't have to tie ostrich feathers to my fingers every other Friday morning.  Or something.

Alex Tracy is performance art...

It's an odd statement to make, if it indeed makes a meaningful statement.

But I am an odd one, so perhaps it fits.