Living with Utopia: An ethnographic investigation of the anarchisms of the Living Theatre, 1994-1998

This dissertation examines the anarchist beliefs and practices of the current Living Theatre. The Living Theatre was founded by Judith Malina and Julian Beck in 1947, and Malina continues to lead the theatre after Beck's death in 1985.;Not every member of the company follows the tenets of anarchism, but every member is committed to pacifism. As such, the anarchist thinkers who most closely represent the ideology of the Living Theatre are Leo Tolstoy, Paul Goodman, and Peter Kropotkin.;The central question of this study is: can theatre cause social change? Since 1970, the Living has moved away from their infamous confrontational techniques associated with Paradise Now, and now employ techniques that include their audiences in their performances in a non-combative manner.;To answer the question of whether or not theatre can cause social change, I worked with the company on two plays: Not in My Name, a play that protests the death penalty, and which was performed outside in Times Square; and Utopia, a piece created for performance in theatres, which shows what the Living thinks utopia might look like if we could get there.;I conclude that no, theatre cannot cause social change. But by seeing the Living tap into certain feelings in our audiences, I claim that theatre can be a catalyst for social change where such possibilities already exist.