Against queer theory's long-suffering romance with mourning and melancholia and a national agenda that urges homosexuals to renounce pleasure if they want to be taken seriously, Acts of Gaiety seeks to reanimate notions of "gaiety" as a political value for LGBT activism by recovering earlier mirthful modes of political performance. The book mines the archives of lesbian-feminist activism of the 1960s–70s, highlighting the outrageous gaiety—including camp, kitsch, drag, guerrilla theater, zap actions, rallies, manifestos, pageants, and parades alongside "legitimate theater”-- at the center of the social and theatrical performances of the era. Juxtaposing figures such as Valerie Solanas and Jill Johnston with more recent performers and activists including Hothead Paisan, Bitch and Animal, and the Five Lesbian Brothers, Sara Warner shows how reclaiming this largely discarded and disavowed past elucidates possibilities for being and belonging. Acts of Gaiety explores the mutually informing histories of gayness as politics and as joie de vivre, along with the centrality of liveliness to queer performance and protest.

Sara Warner is Associate Professor of Performing and Media Arts at Cornell University.

— -

— ASTR Barnard Hewitt Award

"Acts of Gaiety is a wonderful reframing of the politics of pleasure, away from self-indulgent negative affects, in contemporary queer studies." 
—Marcie Bianco, Lambda Literary Review— Marcie Bianco, Lambda Literary

— The Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) Outstanding Book Award

"Acts of Gaiety is a great read. Filled with excellent research that sets the various theater productions in context and accompanied by a compelling historical account of the conjunctions of riot and revelry in LGBT liberation movements, it will make an impact on a number of different fields."
—Judith Halberstam, USC

— Judith Halberstam, USC

"Acts of Gaiety is a rollicking ride. Sara Warner revises both lesbian feminist histories, emphasizing riotous, joyful action rather than earnest righteousness, and queer theoretical trends, stressing pleasurable politics over loss and the death drive. And who wouldn't want to spend the day reading about the Lavender Menace, Valerie Solanas, the Five Lesbian Brothers, and Hothead Paisan?" 
—Lisa Duggan, New York University— Lisa Duggan, NYU