Body as a testimony of resistance: Reading Kathryn Blume’s theatrical activism

Abstract

This article intends to explore the political act of transmitting victimhood and trauma into theatrical activism, thereby turning it into a tool to fight against the psycho-social consequences of post-9/11 terror. Kathryn Blume, a contemporary American feminist theatre activist, attains this through the use of testimonies incorporated into the plays as extended monologues of dissent. Her theatrical movement, ‘The Lysistrata Project’, and plays, most of which are verbatim testimonials, especially The Boycott (2007) and The Accidental Activist (2003), act as sites of resistance against American sociopolitical, cultural and environmental issues concerning the current global conflict after the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks.