Urban Street Theatre

I am driving home from campus, thinking about our first English 499 class. What is a good example of performance in everyday life? In the midst of my thoughts I see, out of the corner of my eye, a man in a white t-shirt and baggy pants stepping into the street. I think, “He’s not stopping, he is going to walk out into the street in the middle of traffic.” As I shriek to a stop to make way for this aggressive jaywalker, I realize this is a perfect example of performance in everyday life. I hear other drivers honk and yell at the young man, but he repels the jeers by straightening his back with self confidence. I watch him as he calmly and coolly struts in front of the furrowed brows of annoyed drivers, and I almost expect him to take a bow on the other side. Whether he knows it or his drive-through audience knows it, this is a theatrical experience.

The ritualistic performances we play out in our everyday life are tied, in many cases, to the social power structure around us. We collectively buy into the power structure of our society and play our role within it (sometimes eagerly and sometimes begrudgingly). The repetitive nature of ritual as it relates to social hierarchy is meant, in some ways, to desensitize a population into complacency. But ironically, a consequence of ritualized desensitization is that it gives the individual a substantial amount of freedom. At every level, we are free to improvise the role assigned to us and perform within the predetermined power structure and cultural script, just as an actor does not merely learn the lines of a play but has the leeway and flexibility to interpret the character he or she inhabits.

In the United States, the overlying social structure is reinforced through daily performance in a variety of settings. Examples include stopping for police, calling physicians “Dr.,” not swearing in front of mom and even giving a bully your lunch money. Another such setting may be a city street. In this case, the actors are usually young men or women. The scene that they act out is simple enough: a slow, defiant jaywalk that forces traffic to a halt. It is a short performance lasting only seconds, but nevertheless it is a compelling power play against the social hierarchy. It is a power play directed at those who are higher up in the social pecking order. It is a way for the have-nots to assert their limited power as human beings. By jaywalking, they create an unspoken script that says, “I may have nothing, but I am still a living person who cannot be ignored or run over. By my slow purposeful stride, I am asserting all the social power I have, and you must yield!”