ABSTRACT
This chapter examines In the Pony Palace/FOOTBALL as a sports play to reveal its feminist critique of sports. It is an experimental play, a performance that, through its insistent feminine aesthetics, critiques the masculinity of New York City’s theatrical avant-garde. The chapter shows that, despite its Marxist feminist sports politics, this performance does not use the Brechtian performance strategies typically associated with materialist feminism. It looks at how this play, as a representation of the dynamics of a high school sports team, critiques the gender and sexual politics of popular representations of high school sports, specifically those in the acclaimed television series, Friday Night Lights. A comparison of In the Pony Palace/FOOTBALL to two Season One episodes of Friday Night Lights demonstrates how Tina Satter’s play celebrates the beloved show at the same time that it critiques the essentialist gender ideology embedded in televisual representation of sports.
