"[Wilshire] establishes a phenomenology of theatre, a theory of enactment, and a theory of appearance, none of which American theatre ... has ever had." Performing Arts Journal " ... Wilshire makes unique contributions to understanding major aspects of the human condition in its necessary search for selfhood." Process Studies "It is one of the American classics." Human Studies

• AcknowledgmentsProloguePart One: Theatre and the Reality of AppearanceI. What Is Theatre?II. What Is Phenomenology?III. Theory of EnactmentIV. Theory of AppearanceV. Variations On The Theatrical Theme of Standing In and Authorization1. The "World" of Oedipus Rex and the World of Its Theatre2. The "World" of Hamlet and the World of Its Theatre3. The "World" of Waiting for Godot and the World of Its Theatre4. Summary of the Variations and the Nature of a TextVI. Theatre as Metraphor and Play As DisclosureVII. Second Set of Variations on the Theatrical Theme of Standing In and Authorization1. Eugene Ionesco and the Potentiality of Being-with-Others in "Roles"—Fallenness2. Robert Wilson and the Potentiality of Projection of Possibility—Understanding3. Jerzy Grotowski and the Potentiality of Attunement to the World—MoodVIII. Theatre and the Question of the Truth of ArtPart Two: Reality and the SelfIX. Space, Time, and Identity of SelfX. Self as Body-SelfXI. Body-Self and Others: Cognition, Expression, Mimetic Response, and TransformationXII. Body-Self, Other Body-Selves, and Self-DeceptionXIV. Identity and Theatre-Like Disengagement From EngulfmentXV. Existence and Art: Self as Memorializaing Structure of PossibilitiesXVI. Summary and Prospects: Identity of SelfPart Three: The Limits of Appearance and the Limits of Theatrical MetaphorXVII. Theatre as MetaphorXVIII. The Truth of Art and the Limits of Theatre as MetaphorXIX. The Limits of Theatrical Metaphors1. The "Art of Life"2. Erving Goffman's "Role Theory"XX. The Limits of AppearanceIndex