This dissertation explores mid-twentieth century US stand-up comedy recordings and how they elaborate upon definitions of the avant-garde in theatre and performance studies. Weaving theories of comedy, aesthetics, radical performance, and sound studies, I argue for the reconceptualization of the avant-garde as an intellectual impulse outside of the parameters of...
This project will describe, in part, the central theoretical problem of the avant-garde, in phenomenological, theoretical, and ultimately ontological terms. The object of this chapter will be to acquire an understanding of the tension between the improvised phenomenality of the avant-garde, and its assumption and hypostatization into discourse. In doing...