Performance and the Disney Theme Park Experience
Publication Title:
Performance and the Disney Theme Park Experience
Co-editor:
Tom Robson
Publisher:
Palgrave Macmillian
Publishing Date:
July 3, 2025
About the Book (from the Publisher): In Performance and the Disney Theme Park Experience (2nd ed.) Tom Robson, assistant teaching professor in the Cornerstone Integrated Liberal Arts program, and his co-editor, Jennifer A. Kokai of the University of South Florida, refocus the park experience around its most important asset: the tourist. Using performance theory, this collection of essays argues that the agency tourists have to shape their own experiences is far greater than scholars typically acknowledge.
About the editor: Tom Robson received his Ph.D. in Theatre History, Theory, and Literature from Indiana University in 2011. Before joining Cornerstone, he served for twelve years on the faculty of the Millikin University School of Theatre & Dance. His primary research interest is in the intersection of Disney theme parks and performance studies. Recent books include Performance and the Disney Theme Park Experience: The Tourist as Actor (Palgrave MacMillan, 2019) and Disney Parks and the Construction of American Identity: Tourism, Performance, Anxiety (Lexington Books, 2024), both written with Jennifer A. Kokai.