ABSTRACT
The original inspiration for this chapter was an invitation to speak at a conference held in Berlin, Germany, in October 2009 on the politics of space: theatre and topology. I was delighted when I learned the venue for the conference, the recently established Institute for Cultural Inquiry, better known as ici Berlin. What fascinated me was the fact that the institute logo, normally printed in lowercase letters, encouraged another reading—the French word “ici,” so that in French the logo reads “Here. Berlin.” What, it seemed to me, could be more appropriate for that conference than to meet “here,” ici, to consider some of the fascinating implications of the particular kinds of here-ness involved in theatrical production and performance.
