Taking a cue from influential French philosopher Jacques Ranciere, who in The Emancipated Spectator rejects the idea of the passive, ignorant, duped spectators in need of instruction to become active, Stuart A. Day's goal in Outside Theater is to highlight written words and performances that exemplify effective strategies, past and present, to reveal and promote civic engagement, to provoke disruptions, or to highlight fissures--and opportunities--in oppressive social structures.

Through the study of one or two primary models per chapter, as well as multiple examples in...