“Look at Me!” Performing the Body and Self on Stage

The paper aims to explore some exemplary pieces of dramatic literature from antiquity and the Renaissance and especially from modern and postmodern works such as The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, ‘Night Mother by Marsha Norman and A Movie Star Has to Star in Black and White by Adrienne Kennedy through the lens of body, disability and gender studies. While the paper mainly focuses on these three plays, it is not restricted to them. The pieces illustrate how the stage representation of physically or mentally challenged characters has changed and the process through which disabled performance has transferred into performative acts.