Chris Grobe
@cgrobe.bsky.social
Theorist/historian of performance. ART OF CONFESSION (http://bit.ly/2BALZDt). Now writing on tech and the arts, politics and performance.
Reposted by Chris Grobe
September 22, 2025 at 12:46 PM
There’s nothing strange or “hypothetical” about this notion in a theater context. The idea that self-consciousness is the enemy and that actors need to travel some via negativa to strip it away — this is the post-Romantic consensus in actor training and acting theory.
Kleist "On the Marionette Theater" hits different in the chatbot era. Thirty years ago the notion that expression might be more fluent and graceful *without* self-consciousness was just an amusing Romantic-era hypothetical. Now, it's part of our daily routine. 15orient.com/files/kleist...
July 20, 2025 at 6:09 PM
There’s nothing strange or “hypothetical” about this notion in a theater context. The idea that self-consciousness is the enemy and that actors need to travel some via negativa to strip it away — this is the post-Romantic consensus in actor training and acting theory.
Submitted revisions of articles on back-to-back to days. As sports commentators would say, "He's on pace for 365 publications by July 15 of next year!"
July 17, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Submitted revisions of articles on back-to-back to days. As sports commentators would say, "He's on pace for 365 publications by July 15 of next year!"
Reposted by Chris Grobe
“Disability Works” turns 1 today! I’d like to celebrate by making sure it finds its way into the hands of even more readers. You can help by:
1) Requesting your library purchase a copy (link in bio)
2) Let me know if you assign it (I can zoom in!)
#disability #academicsky #historysky #booksky
1) Requesting your library purchase a copy (link in bio)
2) Let me know if you assign it (I can zoom in!)
#disability #academicsky #historysky #booksky
July 16, 2025 at 12:10 PM
“Disability Works” turns 1 today! I’d like to celebrate by making sure it finds its way into the hands of even more readers. You can help by:
1) Requesting your library purchase a copy (link in bio)
2) Let me know if you assign it (I can zoom in!)
#disability #academicsky #historysky #booksky
1) Requesting your library purchase a copy (link in bio)
2) Let me know if you assign it (I can zoom in!)
#disability #academicsky #historysky #booksky
Article submitted: my first essay on podcasts!
June 26, 2025 at 11:51 PM
Article submitted: my first essay on podcasts!
On the dangers of making your work “relevant” to AI:
“Like LLMs themselves, which deskill human writing and pollute the corpus of text on which LLMs continue to be trained, AI-relevant research also risks eroding its own foundations in now unfundable and ‘irrelevant’ research.”
“Like LLMs themselves, which deskill human writing and pollute the corpus of text on which LLMs continue to be trained, AI-relevant research also risks eroding its own foundations in now unfundable and ‘irrelevant’ research.”
June 24, 2025 at 11:33 AM
On the dangers of making your work “relevant” to AI:
“Like LLMs themselves, which deskill human writing and pollute the corpus of text on which LLMs continue to be trained, AI-relevant research also risks eroding its own foundations in now unfundable and ‘irrelevant’ research.”
“Like LLMs themselves, which deskill human writing and pollute the corpus of text on which LLMs continue to be trained, AI-relevant research also risks eroding its own foundations in now unfundable and ‘irrelevant’ research.”
what a way to find out that AI is trained exclusively on my writing
Working with a student on her story, I recommend using an em-dash. She says she can't, because professors will think she's using AI. She says that's a tell now. Is it? Is the hopeless race to outsmart AI causing us to lose bits of language and punctuation?
June 1, 2025 at 11:50 PM
what a way to find out that AI is trained exclusively on my writing
Coming soon (but hopefully with my name spelled correctly) ... "Too Much, Too Late: On Academic Responses to Generative AI"
May 7, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Coming soon (but hopefully with my name spelled correctly) ... "Too Much, Too Late: On Academic Responses to Generative AI"
APPLY! For the third year running, Shannon Steen and I will be co-leading an ASTR working session on "The Performance of Politics," this year around the theme of "institutions." Please spread the word.
site.pheedloop.com/event/astr20...
site.pheedloop.com/event/astr20...
PheedLoop
PheedLoop: Hybrid, In-Person & Virtual Event Software
site.pheedloop.com
May 1, 2025 at 1:12 PM
APPLY! For the third year running, Shannon Steen and I will be co-leading an ASTR working session on "The Performance of Politics," this year around the theme of "institutions." Please spread the word.
site.pheedloop.com/event/astr20...
site.pheedloop.com/event/astr20...
Typing out a text message to myself (my way of keeping certain things handy), I nearly jump out of my skin when those three dots appear. Someone is typing! (I am.)
Anyway, a psychoanalyst would have a field day with this.
Anyway, a psychoanalyst would have a field day with this.
April 21, 2025 at 1:51 AM
Typing out a text message to myself (my way of keeping certain things handy), I nearly jump out of my skin when those three dots appear. Someone is typing! (I am.)
Anyway, a psychoanalyst would have a field day with this.
Anyway, a psychoanalyst would have a field day with this.
The necessary antidote is this excellent op-ed by theater scholar (and dean of the arts) Harvey Young.
As he points out, the humanities are imperiled — on purpose — when the most expensive part of universities loses its funding.
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/03/12/o...
As he points out, the humanities are imperiled — on purpose — when the most expensive part of universities loses its funding.
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/03/12/o...
March 18, 2025 at 2:26 PM
The necessary antidote is this excellent op-ed by theater scholar (and dean of the arts) Harvey Young.
As he points out, the humanities are imperiled — on purpose — when the most expensive part of universities loses its funding.
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/03/12/o...
As he points out, the humanities are imperiled — on purpose — when the most expensive part of universities loses its funding.
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/03/12/o...
Looking in vain for an acknowledgment that the humanities exist and matter — to society, to universities, to individuals — in this column written by people who clearly benefitted extensively from them.
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/15/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/15/o...
Opinion | Colleges Are Under Attack. They Can Fight Back. (Gift Article)
This is a moment to trumpet the strengths of higher education and address its weaknesses.
www.nytimes.com
March 15, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Looking in vain for an acknowledgment that the humanities exist and matter — to society, to universities, to individuals — in this column written by people who clearly benefitted extensively from them.
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/15/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/15/o...
Reposted by Chris Grobe
The Trump administration has terminated $800 million in grants to Johns Hopkins University, spurring the nation’s top spender on research and development to plan layoffs and cancel health projects
Johns Hopkins Plans Staff Layoffs After $800 Million Grant Cuts
Local and international health research efforts are already winding down as the university braces for even more potential cuts.
www.wsj.com
March 11, 2025 at 9:03 PM
The Trump administration has terminated $800 million in grants to Johns Hopkins University, spurring the nation’s top spender on research and development to plan layoffs and cancel health projects
Reposted by Chris Grobe
As a JHU professor who works on other stuff, the role my colleagues play in global health is extraordinary and completely irreplaceable. The Trump administration is tossing our collective ability to deal with global problems onto a roaring bonfire.
They're going to fucking wreck the university with one of the best hospital systems in the goddam world
The Trump administration has terminated $800 million in grants to Johns Hopkins University, spurring the nation’s top spender on research and development to plan layoffs and cancel health projects
March 12, 2025 at 1:04 PM
As a JHU professor who works on other stuff, the role my colleagues play in global health is extraordinary and completely irreplaceable. The Trump administration is tossing our collective ability to deal with global problems onto a roaring bonfire.
Reposted by Chris Grobe
The AAUP wholly condemns this punitive weaponization of federal grant funding. This attempt to discipline & control a university campus is a transparent hallmark of authoritarian rule & harshly violates the central mission of education to serve the public good.
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/07/n...
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/07/n...
White House Cancels $400 Million in Grants and Contracts to Columbia
The Trump administration blamed the university’s failure to protect Jewish students from harassment during protests last year over the war in Gaza.
www.nytimes.com
March 10, 2025 at 5:42 PM
The AAUP wholly condemns this punitive weaponization of federal grant funding. This attempt to discipline & control a university campus is a transparent hallmark of authoritarian rule & harshly violates the central mission of education to serve the public good.
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/07/n...
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/07/n...
Trump’s Razor (stupidest reason = true) suggests that his administration hadn’t clocked that Khalil has a green card and are now forced to retrofit their policy to match the case. A big mistake provides a big opportunity for those of us who don’t want student visas used to censor political speech.
He’s here lawfully. He’s got a pregnant U.S. citizen wife. He was taken without a warrant or any form of due process. And he’s being punished for speaking his mind. As far as I can tell, the facts of this case are good for the good guys. We have to get them out there and repeat them often.
March 10, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Trump’s Razor (stupidest reason = true) suggests that his administration hadn’t clocked that Khalil has a green card and are now forced to retrofit their policy to match the case. A big mistake provides a big opportunity for those of us who don’t want student visas used to censor political speech.
Happy “Uneven U” Day to those who celebrate!
(To those who don’t understand what I mean, let me preach you the gospel of teaching essay-writing via the uneven U!)
(To those who don’t understand what I mean, let me preach you the gospel of teaching essay-writing via the uneven U!)
February 20, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Happy “Uneven U” Day to those who celebrate!
(To those who don’t understand what I mean, let me preach you the gospel of teaching essay-writing via the uneven U!)
(To those who don’t understand what I mean, let me preach you the gospel of teaching essay-writing via the uneven U!)
Submitted an article AND a reader’s report on the same day
a cartoon of a lion with the words " and so we are all connected in the great circle of life " below it
ALT: a cartoon of a lion with the words " and so we are all connected in the great circle of life " below it
media.tenor.com
January 11, 2025 at 1:10 AM
Submitted an article AND a reader’s report on the same day
Also, it's important to remember that smart people (incl. Jamelle Bouie himself) saw right away that the protests were both violent/criminal AND silly/playful.
Some folks belatedly "discovered" the silliness of it all, and used it to "disprove" the violent criminality. But ofc they're compatible!
Some folks belatedly "discovered" the silliness of it all, and used it to "disprove" the violent criminality. But ofc they're compatible!
January 6, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Also, it's important to remember that smart people (incl. Jamelle Bouie himself) saw right away that the protests were both violent/criminal AND silly/playful.
Some folks belatedly "discovered" the silliness of it all, and used it to "disprove" the violent criminality. But ofc they're compatible!
Some folks belatedly "discovered" the silliness of it all, and used it to "disprove" the violent criminality. But ofc they're compatible!
I must confess, I’m getting close to leaving this party (Bluesky), too.
“I heard about people who’d deleted their accounts and thought: but how do they know things? Reading voraciously and expansively, of course — a much more arduous prospect than waking up and logging on.”
I mean, oof. Also, yes.
“I heard about people who’d deleted their accounts and thought: but how do they know things? Reading voraciously and expansively, of course — a much more arduous prospect than waking up and logging on.”
I mean, oof. Also, yes.
“How do you live a digital life whose primary byproduct isn’t resentment? The most straightforward way: you stop posting. You leave the party.”
Posting Less
Everyone's Doing It
annehelen.substack.com
December 15, 2024 at 8:06 PM
I must confess, I’m getting close to leaving this party (Bluesky), too.
“I heard about people who’d deleted their accounts and thought: but how do they know things? Reading voraciously and expansively, of course — a much more arduous prospect than waking up and logging on.”
I mean, oof. Also, yes.
“I heard about people who’d deleted their accounts and thought: but how do they know things? Reading voraciously and expansively, of course — a much more arduous prospect than waking up and logging on.”
I mean, oof. Also, yes.
“To be able to say to every purveyor of conversational systems what artists know through long practice, and what the history of ELIZA teaches: that whenever art feels foreign to conversation design, the field has in fact become a stranger to itself.”
December 4, 2024 at 2:23 PM
“To be able to say to every purveyor of conversational systems what artists know through long practice, and what the history of ELIZA teaches: that whenever art feels foreign to conversation design, the field has in fact become a stranger to itself.”
Reposted by Chris Grobe
for their final projects, my dramaturgy students had to find a play and advocate for its production in toronto. the play had to be (1) NOT american, british, or canadian; (2) NOT by ibsen, strindberg, chekhov, brecht, beckett, molière, the ancient greeks.
they found some incredible plays. 🧵
they found some incredible plays. 🧵
November 29, 2024 at 12:51 AM
for their final projects, my dramaturgy students had to find a play and advocate for its production in toronto. the play had to be (1) NOT american, british, or canadian; (2) NOT by ibsen, strindberg, chekhov, brecht, beckett, molière, the ancient greeks.
they found some incredible plays. 🧵
they found some incredible plays. 🧵
As with the Writer’s Guild strike, so too with this: AI will be shaped by the collective action of artists who act on their shared interests as a class of creative laborers.
"On Tuesday, a group of Sora testers released a version of the tool publicly alongside a manifesto decrying OpenAI’s program as exploitative and 'more about PR and advertisement.'”
variety.com/2024/digital...
variety.com/2024/digital...
OpenAI Shuts Down Sora Access After Artists Released Video-Generation Tool in Protest: ‘We Are Not Your PR Puppets’
OpenAI suspended access to the Sora generative-AI video system after artists in an alpha-test program released it publicly in protest.
variety.com
November 28, 2024 at 3:53 PM
As with the Writer’s Guild strike, so too with this: AI will be shaped by the collective action of artists who act on their shared interests as a class of creative laborers.
With Linda McMahon(!!!) reportedly tapped for Secretary of Education, I guess this book just became required reading for educators ...
www.seagullbooks.org/professional...
www.seagullbooks.org/professional...
Professional Wrestling
Professional Wrestling: Politics and Populism asks how professional wrestling is implicated in the current resurgence of populist politics, whether right-wing and Trump–inflected, or leftist and socia...
www.seagullbooks.org
November 20, 2024 at 3:30 AM
With Linda McMahon(!!!) reportedly tapped for Secretary of Education, I guess this book just became required reading for educators ...
www.seagullbooks.org/professional...
www.seagullbooks.org/professional...