Abstract
This chapter explores the potential value of addressing the theatrical practices of collective creation and directing alongside the philosophical concepts of immanence and transcendence, particularly as the former are manifested in the work of the Living Theatre and Goat Island, and as the latter are construed in the work of Gilles Deleuze. Also touching briefly on Carmelo Bene and Grotowski’s critique of collective creation, the chapter explores immanent authorship in relation to Living Theatre productions such as Paradise Now and Goat Island’s approach to collaboration. The chapter provides an introduction to Deleuze’s concept of immanence, noting its resonance with notions of self-organization and emergence. Resising dualities of mind/matter, self/other and subject/object, the chapter ultimately argues that collective creation and directing cannot be opposed. Rather, all forms of authorship in performance involve a mixture of both immanent and transcendent tendencies.