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Will Daddario

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Will is a founding member and lead administrator of Performance Philosophy. His most recent book, co-authored with Matthew Goulish, is Pitch and Revelation: reconfigurations of reading, poetry, and philosophy through the work of Jay Wright (Punctum Books, 2022). His first monograph was Baroque, Venice, Theatre, Philosophy (Palgrave 2017). He is also co-editor of three anthologies: with Laura Cull Ó Maoilearca, Manifesto Now! Instructions for Performance, Philosophy, Politics (Intellect Press 2013); with Karoline Gritzner, Adorno and Performance (Palgrave 2014); with Harry Wilson, Rethinking
Roland Barthes through Performance: A desire for Neutral dramaturgy (Methuen/Bloomsbury 2023). He is co-editor of the Performance Philosophy book series (with Cull Ó Maoilearca and Alice Lagaay) and co-editor (with Cull Ó Maoilearca, Theron Schmidt, and Diana Damian Martin) of the Performance Philosophy Journal (performancephilosophy.org/journal).

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Books by Will Daddario

Pitch And Revelation

Pitch and Revelation: Reconfigurations of Reading, Poetry, and Philosophy through the Work of Jay Wright, 2022

Pitch and Revelation is the first book-length study of the poetry, prose, and dramatic literature... more Pitch and Revelation is the first book-length study of the poetry, prose, and dramatic literature of the African American poet Jay Wright (1934–). The authors premise their reading on joy as a foundational philosophical concept. In this, they follow Spinoza, who understood joy as that affect necessary for the construction of an intellectual love of God, leading into the infinite univocity of everything. Similarly, with Wright, joy leads to a visceral sense of what the authors call the great weave of the world. This weave is akin to the notion of entanglement made popular by physicists and contemporary scholars of Science Studies, such as Karen Barad, which speaks of the always ongoing, mutually constitutive connections of all matter and intellectual processes.

By exhibiting and detailing the joy of reading Wright, Pitch and Revelation intends to help others chart their own paths into the intellectual, musical, and rhythmical territories of Wright’s world so as to more fully experience joy in the world generally. Although the exhibitions of meaning making presented are instructive, they do not follow the “do as I do” or “do as I say” model of instructional texts. Instead,they invite the reader to “do along with us” as the authors make meaning from selections across Wright’s erudite, dense, rhythmically fascinating, endlessly lyrical, highly structured, and seemingly hermetic body of work.

Adorno and Performance (co-edited book)

by Karoline Gritzner and Will Daddario

Palgrave Macmillan, 2014

Adorno and Performance offers the first comprehensive examination of the vital role of performanc... more Adorno and Performance offers the first comprehensive examination of the vital role of performance within the philosophy of Theodor W. Adorno. Capacious in its ramifications for contemporary life, the term 'performance' here unlocks Adorno's dialectical thought process, which aimed at overcoming the stultifying uniformity of instrumental reason.

CV for Will Daddario (updated Feb. 2019)

What does it mean to grieve rightly? Might there be such a thing as an ethics of grief, a practic... more What does it mean to grieve rightly? Might there be such a thing as an ethics of grief, a practice of turning my full attention to the specificity of each loss so as to carry such loss in me and to become, in the words of Gilles Deleuze, worthy of what has happened to me? To Grieve answers these questions through the author’s personal and philosophical ruminations following the sudden deaths of his son, father, step-father, friend, grandmother, and cat. Attending specifically to the ways in which grief-space appears, grief-time imposes itself, and grief-language bends itself around the emotional acuity of the wound, this long-form essay nestles up against the unnamable and pauses to measure its heft.With a Foreword by Matthew Goulish.

An earlier version of this booklet is available on the Performance Philosophy journal: http://www.performancephilosophy.org/journal/article/view/10/27

Baroque, Venice, Theatre, Philosophy

This book theorizes the baroque as neither a time period nor an artistic style but as a collectio... more This book theorizes the baroque as neither a time period nor an artistic style but as a collection of bodily practices developed from clashes between governmental discipline and artistic excess, moving between the dramaturgy of Jesuit spiritual exercises, the political theatre-making of Angelo Beolco (aka Ruzzante), and the civic governance of the Venetian Republic at a time of great tumult. The manuscript assembles plays seldom read or viewed by English-speaking audiences, archival materials from three Venetian archives, and several secondary sources on baroque, Renaissance, and early modern epistemology in order to forward and argument for understanding the baroque as a gathering of social practices. Such a rethinking of the baroque aims to complement the already lively studies of neo-baroque aesthetics and ethics emerging in contemporary scholarship on (for example) Latin American political art.

Adorno and Performance

by Will Daddario, Mischa Twitchin, Ioana Jucan, Anthony Gritten, and Andrea Sakoparnig

The work of the leading Frankfurt School philosopher Theodor W. Adorno (1903-1969) continues to h... more The work of the leading Frankfurt School philosopher Theodor W. Adorno (1903-1969) continues to have an immense influence on contemporary cultural and critical theory, sociology, musicology, aesthetics, and political thought. Just as Adorno's theoretical approach spans a wide interdisciplinary terrain, so too does the emerging field of performance philosophy bring many disciplinary approaches together to articulate a renewed understanding of the practice of philosophy and the philosophical dimensions of performance. Adorno and Performance argues for the 'actuality' of Adorno's philosophy of art and dialectical criticism for the discipline of performance philosophy, where, following Max Pensky, the term actuality refers to both 'relevance for the present and its concerns' or 'up to date,' 'still in fashion.' The volume's essays work through Adorno's philosophy as it relates to theatre, drama, music, aesthetics, everyday life, the relation of art to society, theory to practice, and other domains of 'performance.' This book is part of the Performance Philosophy Book Series.

Papers by Will Daddario

Practising Neutral Dramaturgy(ies)

Methuen Drama eBooks, 2023

Manifesto Now! (Again!)

Intellect Books, Sep 1, 2013

Performance Philosophy 7(2) (2022): Imagining the open

Performance philosophy, Jun 13, 2022

Arts in the Netherlands. Her forthcoming publications include Interspecies Performance (2023) co-... more Arts in the Netherlands. Her forthcoming publications include Interspecies Performance (2023) co-edited with Flo Fitzgerald-Allsopp; and On Love and Not Knowing (2022)-on the work of Fevered Sleep-co-edited with Luke Pell, David Harradine and Sam Butler for Performance Research books. Will Daddario is a grief worker, performance philosopher, and theatre historiographer. With Matthew Goulish, he is the author of the forthcoming Pitch and Revelations: reconfigurations of philosophy, poetry, and reading through the work of Jay Wright. With his wife, Joanne Zerdy, he runs Inviting Abundance (invitingabundance.net), which is dedicated to helping people develop creative approaches to grief.

Deleuze and Beckett (BOOK REVIEW)

DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals), Dec 1, 2016

The Drama of Ideas: Platonic Provocations in Theater and Philosophy by Martin Puchner (review)

TDR, 2013

, and, of course, Plato. Its key term, "dramatic Platonism," carries the assertion that Platonic ... more , and, of course, Plato. Its key term, "dramatic Platonism," carries the assertion that Platonic idealism (i.e., the theory of the world of forms) loses all potency and legitimacy when not developed in tandem with an analysis of the bodies that express those forms in the material world. According to Puchner, Plato's philosophy is practical and dramatic, and we find it at work in his dialogues. When approached as dramatic texts, the dialogues reveal Plato as a reformist playwright (chapter 1). A book of enormous scope, fueled by extensive research and a lifelong enthusiasm for pursuing the connections between philosophy and theatre, The Drama of Ideas presents a model for a new generation of performance philosophers to scrutinize and build upon.

When You are What You Eat: Ruzzante and Historical Metabolism

Routledge, Jun 12, 2015

By examining the social, economic, and agricultural dimensions of sixteenth-century Padua and the... more By examining the social, economic, and agricultural dimensions of sixteenth-century Padua and the surrounding Veneto, we discern the crucial role of food and hunger in Ruzzante (aka Angelo Beolco)’s plays. Understanding food as an actant whose force appears both in the act of eating and in the hunger that results from its absence, we map the currents of that force through his theatre practice. Ultimately, we argue that our analysis of Ruzzante presents a case study of historical metabolism.

What Acceptance Is

Public Philosophy Journal

This is a personal and philosophical reflection on the theme of acceptance as it relates to my gr... more This is a personal and philosophical reflection on the theme of acceptance as it relates to my grief journey following the deaths of my son and father (among others) in recent years. Its main premise is that acceptance is a state of being given, and, as such, we would do well to stop not accepting. To learn how to do this, I draw on a wide range of sources, from Christian and Persian mystics (Marguerite Porete, Simone Weil, Rumi, Hāfez), to rock singers (Jeremy Enigk, Eddie Vedder, Chris Cornell, Kurt Cobain, Maynard James Keenan), to architects (Rem Koolhaas). I also dive into the Ancient Greek etymology of the word “acceptance.” The overall result is a philosophical guide into acceptance.

What Acceptance Is

Public Philosophy Journal, 2023

This is a personal and philosophical reflection on the theme of acceptance as it relates to my gr... more This is a personal and philosophical reflection on the theme of acceptance as it relates to my grief journey following the deaths of my son and father (among others) in recent years. Its main premise is that acceptance is a state of being given, and, as such, we would do well to stop not accepting. To learn how to do this, I draw on a wide range of sources, from Christian and Persian mystics (Marguerite Porete, Simone Weil, Rumi, Hāfez), to rock singers (Jeremy Enigk, Eddie Vedder, Chris Cornell, Kurt Cobain, Maynard James Keenan), to architects (Rem Koolhaas). I also dive into the Ancient Greek etymology of the word "acceptance." The overall result is a philosophical guide into acceptance.

Springer International Publishing eBooks, 2022

Skills for Actors: Body Language Skills. Produced by First Light Video Publishing, 2008; 47 minutes. $99.00 (DVD). A Moving Presence: Ruth Zaporah and Action Theater. Directed by Kent De Spain. Insight-Media, 2009; 69 minutes. $65.00 (DVD)

TDR/The Drama Review, 2010

is currently working on a book based on his PhD dissertation on Jerzy Grotowski and North America... more

Baroque Venetian Theatre: Dialectics of Excess and Discipline in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

Pitch and Revelation

The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Urban Literary Studies, 2018

Pitch And Revelation

Pitch and Revelation: Reconfigurations of Reading, Poetry, and Philosophy through the Work of Jay Wright, 2022

Pitch and Revelation is the first book-length study of the poetry, prose, and dramatic literature... more Pitch and Revelation is the first book-length study of the poetry, prose, and dramatic literature of the African American poet Jay Wright (1934–). The authors premise their reading on joy as a foundational philosophical concept. In this, they follow Spinoza, who understood joy as that affect necessary for the construction of an intellectual love of God, leading into the infinite univocity of everything. Similarly, with Wright, joy leads to a visceral sense of what the authors call the great weave of the world. This weave is akin to the notion of entanglement made popular by physicists and contemporary scholars of Science Studies, such as Karen Barad, which speaks of the always ongoing, mutually constitutive connections of all matter and intellectual processes.

By exhibiting and detailing the joy of reading Wright, Pitch and Revelation intends to help others chart their own paths into the intellectual, musical, and rhythmical territories of Wright’s world so as to more fully experience joy in the world generally. Although the exhibitions of meaning making presented are instructive, they do not follow the “do as I do” or “do as I say” model of instructional texts. Instead,they invite the reader to “do along with us” as the authors make meaning from selections across Wright’s erudite, dense, rhythmically fascinating, endlessly lyrical, highly structured, and seemingly hermetic body of work.

Adorno and Performance (co-edited book)

by Karoline Gritzner and Will Daddario

Palgrave Macmillan, 2014

Adorno and Performance offers the first comprehensive examination of the vital role of performanc... more Adorno and Performance offers the first comprehensive examination of the vital role of performance within the philosophy of Theodor W. Adorno. Capacious in its ramifications for contemporary life, the term 'performance' here unlocks Adorno's dialectical thought process, which aimed at overcoming the stultifying uniformity of instrumental reason.

CV for Will Daddario (updated Feb. 2019)

What does it mean to grieve rightly? Might there be such a thing as an ethics of grief, a practic... more What does it mean to grieve rightly? Might there be such a thing as an ethics of grief, a practice of turning my full attention to the specificity of each loss so as to carry such loss in me and to become, in the words of Gilles Deleuze, worthy of what has happened to me? To Grieve answers these questions through the author’s personal and philosophical ruminations following the sudden deaths of his son, father, step-father, friend, grandmother, and cat. Attending specifically to the ways in which grief-space appears, grief-time imposes itself, and grief-language bends itself around the emotional acuity of the wound, this long-form essay nestles up against the unnamable and pauses to measure its heft.With a Foreword by Matthew Goulish.

An earlier version of this booklet is available on the Performance Philosophy journal: http://www.performancephilosophy.org/journal/article/view/10/27

Baroque, Venice, Theatre, Philosophy

This book theorizes the baroque as neither a time period nor an artistic style but as a collectio... more This book theorizes the baroque as neither a time period nor an artistic style but as a collection of bodily practices developed from clashes between governmental discipline and artistic excess, moving between the dramaturgy of Jesuit spiritual exercises, the political theatre-making of Angelo Beolco (aka Ruzzante), and the civic governance of the Venetian Republic at a time of great tumult. The manuscript assembles plays seldom read or viewed by English-speaking audiences, archival materials from three Venetian archives, and several secondary sources on baroque, Renaissance, and early modern epistemology in order to forward and argument for understanding the baroque as a gathering of social practices. Such a rethinking of the baroque aims to complement the already lively studies of neo-baroque aesthetics and ethics emerging in contemporary scholarship on (for example) Latin American political art.

Adorno and Performance

by Will Daddario, Mischa Twitchin, Ioana Jucan, Anthony Gritten, and Andrea Sakoparnig

The work of the leading Frankfurt School philosopher Theodor W. Adorno (1903-1969) continues to h... more The work of the leading Frankfurt School philosopher Theodor W. Adorno (1903-1969) continues to have an immense influence on contemporary cultural and critical theory, sociology, musicology, aesthetics, and political thought. Just as Adorno's theoretical approach spans a wide interdisciplinary terrain, so too does the emerging field of performance philosophy bring many disciplinary approaches together to articulate a renewed understanding of the practice of philosophy and the philosophical dimensions of performance. Adorno and Performance argues for the 'actuality' of Adorno's philosophy of art and dialectical criticism for the discipline of performance philosophy, where, following Max Pensky, the term actuality refers to both 'relevance for the present and its concerns' or 'up to date,' 'still in fashion.' The volume's essays work through Adorno's philosophy as it relates to theatre, drama, music, aesthetics, everyday life, the relation of art to society, theory to practice, and other domains of 'performance.' This book is part of the Performance Philosophy Book Series.

Practising Neutral Dramaturgy(ies)

Methuen Drama eBooks, 2023

Manifesto Now! (Again!)

Intellect Books, Sep 1, 2013

Performance Philosophy 7(2) (2022): Imagining the open

Performance philosophy, Jun 13, 2022

Arts in the Netherlands. Her forthcoming publications include Interspecies Performance (2023) co-... more Arts in the Netherlands. Her forthcoming publications include Interspecies Performance (2023) co-edited with Flo Fitzgerald-Allsopp; and On Love and Not Knowing (2022)-on the work of Fevered Sleep-co-edited with Luke Pell, David Harradine and Sam Butler for Performance Research books. Will Daddario is a grief worker, performance philosopher, and theatre historiographer. With Matthew Goulish, he is the author of the forthcoming Pitch and Revelations: reconfigurations of philosophy, poetry, and reading through the work of Jay Wright. With his wife, Joanne Zerdy, he runs Inviting Abundance (invitingabundance.net), which is dedicated to helping people develop creative approaches to grief.

Deleuze and Beckett (BOOK REVIEW)

DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals), Dec 1, 2016

The Drama of Ideas: Platonic Provocations in Theater and Philosophy by Martin Puchner (review)

TDR, 2013

, and, of course, Plato. Its key term, "dramatic Platonism," carries the assertion that Platonic ... more , and, of course, Plato. Its key term, "dramatic Platonism," carries the assertion that Platonic idealism (i.e., the theory of the world of forms) loses all potency and legitimacy when not developed in tandem with an analysis of the bodies that express those forms in the material world. According to Puchner, Plato's philosophy is practical and dramatic, and we find it at work in his dialogues. When approached as dramatic texts, the dialogues reveal Plato as a reformist playwright (chapter 1). A book of enormous scope, fueled by extensive research and a lifelong enthusiasm for pursuing the connections between philosophy and theatre, The Drama of Ideas presents a model for a new generation of performance philosophers to scrutinize and build upon.

When You are What You Eat: Ruzzante and Historical Metabolism

Routledge, Jun 12, 2015

By examining the social, economic, and agricultural dimensions of sixteenth-century Padua and the... more By examining the social, economic, and agricultural dimensions of sixteenth-century Padua and the surrounding Veneto, we discern the crucial role of food and hunger in Ruzzante (aka Angelo Beolco)’s plays. Understanding food as an actant whose force appears both in the act of eating and in the hunger that results from its absence, we map the currents of that force through his theatre practice. Ultimately, we argue that our analysis of Ruzzante presents a case study of historical metabolism.

What Acceptance Is

Public Philosophy Journal

This is a personal and philosophical reflection on the theme of acceptance as it relates to my gr... more This is a personal and philosophical reflection on the theme of acceptance as it relates to my grief journey following the deaths of my son and father (among others) in recent years. Its main premise is that acceptance is a state of being given, and, as such, we would do well to stop not accepting. To learn how to do this, I draw on a wide range of sources, from Christian and Persian mystics (Marguerite Porete, Simone Weil, Rumi, Hāfez), to rock singers (Jeremy Enigk, Eddie Vedder, Chris Cornell, Kurt Cobain, Maynard James Keenan), to architects (Rem Koolhaas). I also dive into the Ancient Greek etymology of the word “acceptance.” The overall result is a philosophical guide into acceptance.

What Acceptance Is

Public Philosophy Journal, 2023

This is a personal and philosophical reflection on the theme of acceptance as it relates to my gr... more This is a personal and philosophical reflection on the theme of acceptance as it relates to my grief journey following the deaths of my son and father (among others) in recent years. Its main premise is that acceptance is a state of being given, and, as such, we would do well to stop not accepting. To learn how to do this, I draw on a wide range of sources, from Christian and Persian mystics (Marguerite Porete, Simone Weil, Rumi, Hāfez), to rock singers (Jeremy Enigk, Eddie Vedder, Chris Cornell, Kurt Cobain, Maynard James Keenan), to architects (Rem Koolhaas). I also dive into the Ancient Greek etymology of the word "acceptance." The overall result is a philosophical guide into acceptance.

Springer International Publishing eBooks, 2022

Skills for Actors: Body Language Skills. Produced by First Light Video Publishing, 2008; 47 minutes. $99.00 (DVD). A Moving Presence: Ruth Zaporah and Action Theater. Directed by Kent De Spain. Insight-Media, 2009; 69 minutes. $65.00 (DVD)

TDR/The Drama Review, 2010

is currently working on a book based on his PhD dissertation on Jerzy Grotowski and North America... more

Baroque Venetian Theatre: Dialectics of Excess and Discipline in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

Pitch and Revelation

The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Urban Literary Studies, 2018

«Lemma»: Jay Wright’s Idiorrhythmic American Theater

Pamiętnik Teatralny, 2021

This essay presents Jay Wright’s play Lemma as a historiographical challenge and also as a piece ... more This essay presents Jay Wright’s play Lemma as a historiographical challenge and also as a piece of idiorrhythmic American theater. Consonant with his life’s work of poetry, dramatic literature, and philosophical writing, Lemma showcases Wright’s expansive intellectual framework with which he constructs vivid, dynamic, and complex visions of American life. The “America” conjured here is steeped in many traditions, traditions typically kept distinct by academic discourse, such as West African cosmology, Enlightenment philosophy, jazz music theory, Ancient Greek theater, neo-Baroque modifications of Christian theology, pre-Columbian indigenous ways of knowing, etymological connections between Spanish and Gaelic, the materiality of John Donne’s poetry, and the lives of enslaved Africans in the New World. What is the purpose of Wright’s theatrical conjuration? How do we approach a text with such a diverse body of intellectual and literary sources? The author answers these questions and ...

La Scuola grande di San Rocco

This is a description and analysis of the interior of La Scuola Grande di San Rocco in Venice. I ... more

Parable to Paradigm to Ideology: Thinking through (the Jesuit) Theatre

Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, 2010

A Public of One: Jesuit Discipline in the Theatre of the World

Ecumenica

when in England, constantly confess[ed] the Catholic Faith, [but as a result] he was conducted to... more when in England, constantly confess[ed] the Catholic Faith, [but as a result] he was conducted to the gallows, where, as in a public arena, he represented the great spirit of Christ, and said to the Spectators: Non est theatralibus scenis vita nostra dissimili" (Ottonelli 354). 1 This Latin phrase, "A theatrical scene and our life are not dissimilar," uttered by the Jesuit Campion before his death, and cited by another Jesuit priest, Giovanni Domenico Ottonelli, in his seemingly antitheatrical treatise, offers a rich paradox for theatre historians and scholars of performance. On the one hand, these words would seem to express an elective affinity between the Jesuit Order and theatrical practice, as if the Jesuits recognized a harmony between acting in accordance with the Word of God and the labor of the actor to interpret a script upon a stage. On the other hand, when placed in the context of other sixteenth-and seventeenth-century Jesuit writings, this affinity between the Jesuit Order and theatrical practice stands out as an odd exception. In the very document where this reference to Campion arises, for example, the Jesuit author hurls calumny and invective toward actors of his day, seemingly to dissuade them from continuing to lead what he describes as a wanton lifestyle. Far from constituting an irresolvable paradox, however, I believe that this polarity establishes both a molar and a molecular dimension of theatrical practice within the Jesuit Order. Whereas the molar, or wide-angle, dimension presents a starkly antagonistic stance toward actors and acting, and it is usually this dimension that first appears when encountering Jesuit writings in the archives, the molecular, or microscopic, dimension presents a more nuanced understanding of Jesuit performance and Jesuit theatrical life. The molecularity of Jesuit theatre appears when one pierces through the façade of Jesuit antitheatricality and maps the techniques of conversion deployed by the Jesuits, the strategic use to which Jesuits put theatrical techniques, and the performative rhetoric deployed by Jesuit authors. Instead of reading Jesuit writings as either for or against theatrical practice, then, it is helpful to engage with both the molar façade of Jesuit theatricality and the molecular repertoire of Jesuit conversion, with how Jesuit theatre appears at first glance and then with the complex substructure beneath that surface appearance.

‘Concentrated, Polysemous, Literary Act’: Every House has a Door Reads Jay Wright’s Three Matadores Play

Contemporary Theatre Review, 2018

In an interview conducted in 1984, the African-American poet Jay Wright answers questions posed t... more In an interview conducted in 1984, the African-American poet Jay Wright answers questions posed to him by literary scholar and creator of Callaloo literary magazine, Charles H. Rowell. The answer to the first question, the text of which constitutes the second of four solos performed as a kind of preparatory tuning in Every House has a Door’s The Three Matadores Play (2015–17), presents a unique definition of poetry: ‘Poetry is a concentrated, polysemous, literary act which undertakes the discovery, explication, interpretation, exploration and transformation of experience.’ This essay, the one you are reading right now, presents a thick thinking through of the specific literary act undertaken by both Jay Wright’s longform poem The Presentable Art of Reading Absence (2008) and The Three Matadores Play, which is the name given by Every House has a Door to a dramatic dialogue embedded within that text. It will become apparent that we are in deep waters here. Wright’s poetry is dense, mu...

The Open Field of Performance Philosophy

Performance Philosophy

This editorial introduces issue 4.2 of the Performance Philosophy journal. As a culmination of an... more This editorial introduces issue 4.2 of the Performance Philosophy journal. As a culmination of an "open call" for proposals, this edition prompts the reflection, "What is open?" The editorial pursues that question in order to map the open field of Performance Philosophy as it currently presents itself in this historical moment.

Baroque, Venice, Theatre, Philosophy

Baroque, Venice, Theatre, Philosophy

2023 CV - Will Daddario

CV for Will Daddario, updated Spring 2023

Teaching Philosophy

[Review] Deleuze and Beckett

This is a book review of the Wilmer/Žukauskaitė volume, Deleuze and Beckett.