Sa mp le file Renaissance Festivals file le Sa mp This page intentionally left blank Renaissance Festivals Merrying the Past and Present Sa mp le file KIMBERLY TONY KOROL-EVANS McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Jefferson, North Carolina, and London OF file LIBRARY CONGRESS CATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA mp le Korol-Evans, Kimberly Tony, 1966– Renaissance festivals : merrying the past and present / Kimberly Tony Korol-Evans. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. Sa ISBN: 978-0-7864-4014-6 softcover : 50# alkaline paper ¡. Maryland Renaissance Festival — History. 2. Carnivals — United States. 3. Festivals — United States. I. Title. GV1835.5.K67 2009 394'.60973 — dc22 2009022107 British Library cataloguing data are available ©2009 Kimberly Tony Korol-Evans. All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Cover image: jousting at the Maryland Renaissance Festival, 2007 (photograph by Jeff Kubina); background ©2009 Shutterstock Manufactured in the United States of America McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Box 6¡¡, Je›erson, North Carolina 28640 www.mcfarlandpub.com mp le file The Past In Memoriam of the two Henrys in my life Henry Peter Korol 10 March 1922 to 7 May 2001 My father, who taught me always to “keep my eye on the donut and not on the hole.” This book is the donut I offer you. You are in my heart always. I love you, and I miss you. and William Huttel 11 January 1953 to 12 November 2001 His thirteen years portraying King Henry VIII at the Maryland Renaissance Festival will never be forgotten. You are legendary, “Big Mr. Bill King Henry.” I miss you, my colleague and my friend. and Sa The Present To my son, Wallace Casimir “Walkir” Korol, as he embarks on his performance career at the contemporary American Renaissance festival. Thank you for all your love and for all the time with me you gave up so I could write this book. file le Sa mp This page intentionally left blank Table of Contents ix Preface 1 Introduction: How Merriment Abounds 5 file Acknowledgments le 1. Seeking the New in the Old: A Brief History of the Contemporary American Renaissance Festival mp 2. Carnival Setting, Cultural Work 19 46 66 4. Living History at the MDRF : Performing Embodied Knowledge 95 Sa 3. A Stroll Through the Sensescape of the MDRF 5. Historical Elaboration: A Royal Day in Revel Grove 121 6. Performers, Patrons, and Playtrons: Interactions and Interfaces in the Intrastice 147 Afterword: “The Beer Is in the Pick-Up Truck”; or, “Put Down the Accent, Step Away from the Character and Nobody Gets Hurt!” 180 Notes 185 Bibliography 191 Index 199 vii file le Sa mp This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments Sa mp le file The creation of this book required the proverbial “cast of thousands,” but there are those who I need to specially acknowledge for their contributions. I want to give special acknowledgment to my mentor, Dr. Tracy C. Davis, who read these pages from their inception while I was still a doctoral candidate at Northwestern University. Two other NU faculty members, Dr. Bernard Beck and Dr. Linda Austern, each spent numerous hours working with me on the foundation of this book. Other members of the academy to whom I owe special acknowledgment include Dr. Carol Burbank; Dr. Margaret Drewal; Dr. Shulamith “Shuly” Lev-Aladgem; Dr. Ed Muir; and Dr. Jennifer Gunnels, my colleague, mentor, and friend. I offer my gratitude to commentators from the 2005 International Federation for Theatre Research (IFTR), 2005 American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR), 2005 Mid America Theatre Conference (MATC); and 2003 and 2004 Group for Early Modern Cultural Studies (GEMCS) conferences. Finally, I must recognize the late Dr. Dwight Conquergood, who introduced me to the co-performer/witness methodology and urged me to explore, engage, theorize, and deﬁne it. I also offer my appreciation to everyone at the Maryland Renaissance Festival. Thank you to the Smith family — Mr. Smith ( Jules Sr.), Jules Jr., Justin, Adam, and Mark — who allowed me access to the festival, and to Jaki Shives, with whom I worked closely during my time in the Maryland Renaissance Festival (MDRF) ofﬁce. To Carolyn Spedden, MDRF’s artistic director, thank you for your trust, and for being my director and friend. Thank you to all of the performers at the MDRF with whom I worked. Though I am certain to miss someone, I nonetheless must single out for recognition a few performers with whom I engaged extensively: Kate Cox and Roy Cox, who taught me more about embodied knowledge than I thought I could ever learn; Mary Ann Jung, who was a constant source of comfort during the long ix x Acknowledgments Sa mp le file rehearsal and performance process, especially when I was missing my son; Melissa McGinley, who, in her ﬁrst year at the MDRF, became an integral part of my performance day and a wonderful sounding board; Diane Wilshere, who loves history as much as I do; Lisa Ricciardi-Thompson, who offered unparalleled insights into the festival and its raison d’être; Laura Kilbane, a performer as well as a fellow scholar, who listened patiently to my attempts to theorize my work; Timothy McCormick, who on Sunday nights would share a bottle of Zin with me and discuss anything theatrical but the book, hereby reminding me that all of this work is about a love of theatre; Michael Winchester and Jeff Bryant, my daily robbers; and to Larry and Paula Peterka, the most academic non-“ofﬁcial” scholars I have ever met, who, along with Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Kenneth, took me into their home, fed me, clothed me (Paula made my costume), and housed me during inclement weather. I offer my most sincere appreciation to Paula, with whom I had endless conversations about festival, Tudor history, and most important, our sons; your pragmatic yet humorous voice of reason grounded me when I was lonely, lost, and confused during my research. Many patrons at the MDRF whose names I never even knew contributed heavily to this work. However, I am compelled to mention by name the following: Judy Streeb, whose words and introductions were invaluable; Craig Rhymer, whose videotapes were an invaluable asset; and performers Liz Herman and Joe Shelby, whose references opened doors for me with patrons that my Northwestern credentials did not. I also wish to thank the vendors who participated in this study for their unique views. I also owe a debt of gratitude to my new-found friends from the Midwest festivals — especially Di JohnsonTaylor, Becky Grotts, and Susi Matthews Cannon for their insights. Also, I thank the hundreds of thousands of patrons who enter the gates of Revel Grove and other festival sites every year; it is your continued patronage of this venue and the others like it that made this book not only possible, but necessary. To the fabulous Carrie Jane Cole, your support during the research and writing of this book was instrumental in keeping me relatively sane, and your photographs in this work are integral to a better understanding of the intrastice. I could never have completed my ethnography without the help of a very special friend, Gwynn Valentine Fulcher, who nannied my son while I was away compiling my initial research. To my Northwestern University compatriots: Christina McMahon, for “unpacking” the co-performer/witness concept with me; Stefka Mihaylova, for always believing in me and being my biggest supporter and fan; Jesse Njus, my early modern colleague; Dan Smith, for calming my angst on more occasions than I can count. I wish also to thank Marie DeBenedictis, for her work as a reader, and Greg DeBenedictis for his support during the time I was researching this book. To P. Anthony Mast and Acknowledgments xi Sa mp le file Brenda Carstensen, friends new and old, who supported me through the process, and to Alicia James, whose work in the classroom made it possible for me to have the time to ﬁnish the ﬁnal edits. Finally, and most of all, I wish to thank my family. To my brothers — John, Ken, and Dave Korol — for talking to me about anything BUT my book. I do not think you all know how much those conversations — usually about sports — meant to me. To Patricia Korol, my maman, thank you for loving me for me. To my sisters, Jude and Jean Korol: your support, your love, your commitment to family, and your belief in me would all have been more than anyone could hope for, but you also gave unselﬁshly to your nephew, Walkir. Your constant love for my son and your continuous care for him are beyond compare. Thank you so much. My sister-in-law, Laura McDowell (lmdstudio), was a godsend as she took all of the pictures taken by Dr. Cole and changed their format to make them printable in this work. To Mark A. Korol-Evans — my husband, my partner, my friend, my research assistant — I am eternally grateful for your continual support, your gentle guidance, your calm control, your persistent encouragement, and your inﬁnite love. Last, and yet ﬁrst and foremost, my thanks to Walkir — Wallace Casimir Korol — my son, my light, my reason for being. Your hugs and kisses and cuddles and schnuggles at the end of a long day of reading, researching, or writing made it all worthwhile. Nothing in this world is as important as your love for me or my love for you. Thank you, Walkir, for helping me become a better person and a better mommy. I love you. file le Sa mp This page intentionally left blank Preface Sa mp le file This book focuses on the Maryland Renaissance Festival (MDRF) and examines how performers and patrons in a carnivalesque setting experience intrasticiancy — the state created by the overlapping of the actuality of twentyﬁrst-century America and the historical record of sixteenth-century England. Anthropologist Victor Turner’s studies of liminality explore temporal-spatial conﬂuence, and my study of the intrastice builds upon his work and provides for differing levels of immersion within the performances at the MDRF. The theatrical convention that spectators are able to “willingly suspend disbelief ” is the foundation of study of the intrastice, and it is also what allows for the audience to “play at belief ” and “actively create belief.” I explore the manner in which spectators frame the contiguous performances at the festival and thus inﬂuence the level of intrasticiant immersion. A history of the festival movement in the United States contextualizes the carnivalesque and its contributions to intrasticiancy, and an exploration of the sensescape at the MDRF and how it contributes to the temporal-spatial intrastice expands current landscape and soundscape scholarship. This work augments previous research on living history by considering both the tactile nature of these performances and the importance of embodied knowledge to their representation, while analyzing the difference between living history and historical elaboration and the resulting effects on intrasticiancy. I examine how actor-patron improvisational interaction imparts a deeper understanding of non-scripted performances within the milieu the MDRF offers and consider how the interface as a system of communication contributes to the understanding of the negotiation that exists between performer and spectator at theatrical events. My analysis of immediate post 11 September 2001 performance illustrates how actors complete cultural work in a carnivalesque setting during a time of crisis. Finally, I consider the ways different 1 2 Preface Sa mp le file patrons frame the MDRF to illuminate roles spectators play and how those choices inﬂuence immersion within the intrastice. My exploration of the Maryland Renaissance Festival and other contemporary American Renaissance faires contributes to opening new areas of academic study. By examining such concepts as the sensescape, intrasticial immersion, historical elaboration, and the co-performer/witness, I establish that contemporary American Renaissance festivals are worthy of serious scholarship, and I hope that in doing so I combat some of the prejudice against these faires which exists within the academy. I contribute to the literature on Renaissance festivals a brief history of the contemporary faires and provide a solid foundation upon which members of the academy can build further scholarship. In addition, my study of the performance at the MDRF the weekend following 11 September 2001 exempliﬁes how festival performers do cultural work in the carnival setting during a time of crisis. This study augments previous research on living history by considering both the tactile nature of these performances and the importance of embodied knowledge to their representation. Building upon scholarship about “sitespeciﬁc” performances such as Colonial Williamsburg, Gettysburg, and Plimoth Plantation, this study establishes that living historians can stage meaningful shows in created spaces. Furthermore, by demonstrating the differences between living history and historical elaboration, I provide a new way for scholars to analyze historically-based performances. Prior scholarship has focused on questions of “accuracy” and “authenticity” within living history venues, while this study concentrates on the levels of intrasticial immersion that occur when patrons experience the very different performances of living history and historical elaboration. My examination of the sensescape of Revel Grove supplies an alternative way to read a research site. While the privileged senses of sight and sound remain important aspects of the overall scene, by analyzing how smell, taste, and touch effect spectators’ reactions to an environment, I offer a more detailed method of analyzing social environments, both within and outside the theatrical discipline. While Erving Goffman’s frame analysis provides a nexus to examine individual choices, it does not recognize that the overall sensescape in which those decisions are made inﬂuences the participants’ level of intrasticial immersion. For example, the prospect of dining at a restaurant with a 1920s theme may encourage some patrons to dress in clothing similar to the pre–Depression-era style, while planning to eat at a local burger joint fosters no desire to don clothing particular to a period or style. Thus, the theory of the sensescape makes available a relevant method for sociological and anthropological examination of spaces in which work and leisure coincide: theme restaurants, sporting arenas, local pubs.