BOOK REVIEW. CRISTINA MODREANU, PERFORMING WOMANHOOD IN EASTERN EUROPE: THE OTHER WHITE WOMAN
BOOK REVIEW. CRISTINA MODREANU, PERFORMING WOMANHOOD IN EASTERN EUROPE: THE OTHER WHITE WOMAN

Summary/Abstract: This review examines Cristina Modreanu’s Performing Womanhood in Eastern Europe: The Other White Woman as a major contribution to feminist theatre studies and Eastern European performance research. The book investigates the marginal position of women theatre practitioners in Romania and other post-socialist contexts, showing how their identities were shaped by patriarchy, socialism, censorship, and the delayed reception of Western feminist theory. Modreanu proposes the figure of “the other white woman” as a nuanced category through which Eastern European female alterity can be understood without reducing it to victimhood or exoticism. The review highlights the book’s intersectional approach, its attention to actresses, directors, and women creators, and its analysis of theatre as a space of resistance and cultural negotiation. It also notes the relevance of the study for understanding the post-communist transition, based on the influence of migration on Eastern European women creators, and on the understanding that the forms of marginalization experienced by these creators varied significantly depending on the specific local Eastern European cultural structures.

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