For more than two decades, feminist theater troupes, playwrights, comedians, and performance artists have challenged convention, raised consciousness, and provoked controversy. Acting out is the first collection of essays to critically examine the impact that these performers, from the Women´s Experimental Theater in the 1970s to contemporary artists such as Madonna, Karen Finley, Cherrie Moraga, Holly Hughes, and Anna Deavere Smith, have had on Angloamerican culture.