Seeking a

Abstract

This senior project, informed by work in Theatre and Performance as well as Anthropology, recounts the adaptation of and dramaturgical work on Shakespeare's "As You Like It", with an ecocritical and anti-capitalist outlook. Said work is supported by case studies of three working class artists in New York state, detailing their experiences navigating the precarity and "disappointments" seemingly intrinsic to the arts, and the state of the arts industry against the backdrop of a failing world. This is followed by a critical analysis of 'Affective Labor' by theorist Michael Hardt, and a reimagining of modes of artistic labor in order to work towards a more affective and equitable practice.