ABSTRACT

This study examines the near 40-year publishing history of Literature in Performance: A Journal of Literary and Performing Art (1980–1988) and Text and Performance Quarterly (1989-present) for evidence of shifting trends in performance scholarship. The history of this journal is inextricable from the development of performance studies in communication, as its changing content and structure reveal pivotal developments and “turns” in the field. We map these trends – toward literature, feminist thought, queer performance, multi/cultural performance, media, and the personal turn – before speculating about the current and future trajectories of performance studies in communication.