“Andrew Friedman and Eero Laine have brought together an impressive group of emerging and leading theatre and performance studies scholars. This book is remarkably sound and elegantly written, with chapters that reflect the authors’ deep, and often playful, engagement with ‘theatre things.’ Recentering the conversation about theatrical objects on human behaviors by asking ‘how can theatre things help audiences make meaning?’ Theatre Things invites readers to rethink the theatregoing experience.”

“Finally, theatre things get their own book-length study! Andrew Friedman and Eero Laine have brought together a stunning contributor list comprising some of our field's foundational scholars and most exciting new voices. Each case study contributes in surprising and unique ways to ongoing conversations about the materiality of the theatre and the phenomenology of objects.”

“Theatre Things offers pithy, poignant investigations into myriad objects that accompany spectators through a performance. The program, actors’ headshots, the seat upholstery, the concessions for sale, and more, contribute tangible effects to the meaning-making magic of performance’s ephemerality. A revelatory, teachable examination of our transformative contact with performance’s ‘stuff.”’

“Theatre Things provides students with a lively and accessible introduction to the theatre historian’s craft, featuring contributions from many of the field’s leading voices. This thoughtfully curated collection expands the boundaries of theatre history, moving beyond plays, players, and playhouses to consider the objects, large and small, from which the theatrical experience is constructed.”