Description: Analyzing artistic performances, social performances, archival remains, and memoirs, this study presents the activities of a group of artists operating in 1960s New York as a form of labor that both anticipates and postpones theater production proper.
Review Quotes: "My encounter with and experience of the book's first pages reflect my takeaway from the book in its entirety--a sometimes startling and refreshing collage-work of detailed close readings and performance critiques, meshed with wide-ranging theoretical analyses that are occasionally interrupted by the author's self-reflections." --The Drama Review
"Palladini develops truly fresh theorizations of the possible relations between labor, value, productivity, and capitalism, while presenting an extraordinarily rich and extensive set of materials on 1960s New York 'underground' performance. This work has the potential for broad impact beyond theater and performance studies; it is relevant to everyone engaged with cultural studies and critical theory, from queer and gender studies to critical human geography and other theoretically engaged humanistic social sciences. It will thus be a great resource for scholars within these fields, as well as for historians of New York City." --Miranda Joseph, author of Debt to Society: Accounting for Life Under Capitalism