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Article
Theodramatic Themes and Showtime in Nassim Soleimanpour’s White Rabbit Red Rabbit
Catholic Studies Faculty Publications
  • Charles A. Gillespie, Sacred Heart University
Document Type
Peer-Reviewed Article
Publication Date
1-1-2020
Abstract

This essay engages the experimental playwright Nassim Soleimanpour’s White Rabbit Red Rabbit alongside the theological dramatic theory of Hans Urs von Balthasar. Every Soleimanpour play can only happen once. Actors receive the script as they begin the show; any given actor must perform Soleimanpour’s drama as a cold reading unique in history. I propose “Showtime” to theorize this theatrical temporality, exemplified by White Rabbit Red Rabbit and shared by von Balthasar’s theology, on analogy to stage space. This article further examines the play’s themes of identity, self-sacrifice, free obedience, and writing about time through a “theodramatic structural analysis” keyed to von Balthasar. Soleimanpour expands Balthasarian theodramatics in unexpected and unintended directions. So too did the performance of White Rabbit Red Rabbit I attended in 2016 that featured Wayne Brady as the actor. This essay concludes with analysis of that performance and how it places this essay’s theodramatic structural analysis into contexts of race and the history of anti-Black racism in the United States.

Comments

This article belongs to the Special Issue Religion and Theatrical Drama.

DOI
10.3390/rel11100499
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Citation Information

Gillespie, C. A. (2020). Theodramatic themes and showtime in Nassim Soleimanpour’s White rabbit red rabbit. Religions, 11(10), 499. Doi: 10.3390/rel11100499