Shawyer dissertation May 2008 final version - The University of ...

similar to the very same ones used by the system’s approved political parties. After all,what were the political conventions of the Democratic or Republican parties exceptcarefully planned events with speeches, nominations, delegate voting, and organizedhierarchies of committees and chairmen? Even though these too can be consideredperformances according to a performance studies definition of performance as actionsintended to influence others, the Yippies embraced specifically a kind of performancethat that depended on an improvised and open-ended theatricality. Whereas the politicalperformances at conventions are carefully choreographed to communicate a very specificmessage, the Yippies rejected these kinds of structured performances. Rather than play bythe rules of the system, the Yippies used an improvised and largely unpredictabletheatricality.This kind of improvised theatricality later used by the Yippies was also part of thePentagon exorcism. Although at its center the exorcism relied on the small group ofhippie exorcists who had rehearsed the chanting for an audience of media just the weekbefore in New York, the performance was open to participation and adaptation by others.As the thousands of demonstrators marched past the north parking lot toward the sit-inlocation, they had the option of stopping to participate in the exorcism themselves. Andalthough the exorcism began with The Fugs playing music, it had no clear end point. Itended when the observing crowd, media, and even the exorcists drifted away to witnessother parts of the demonstration, such as the showdown between protesters and themilitary police guarding the Pentagon steps.87