14 Contemporary Theatre in the United States © Liz Lauren/Courtesy of the Goodman Theatre Copyright...
-
Upload
hester-cain -
Category
Documents
-
view
212 -
download
0
Transcript of 14 Contemporary Theatre in the United States © Liz Lauren/Courtesy of the Goodman Theatre Copyright...
![Page 1: 14 Contemporary Theatre in the United States © Liz Lauren/Courtesy of the Goodman Theatre Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction.](https://reader034.fdocuments.in/reader034/viewer/2022051821/5697c0121a28abf838ccc357/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
14Contemporary Theatre in the United States
© Liz Lauren/Courtesy of the Goodman Theatre
Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
![Page 2: 14 Contemporary Theatre in the United States © Liz Lauren/Courtesy of the Goodman Theatre Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction.](https://reader034.fdocuments.in/reader034/viewer/2022051821/5697c0121a28abf838ccc357/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
14-2
Traditional and Avant-Garde Theatre
• Traditional– Follows the pattern of plays from the past in
structure, theme, and approach• Sam Shepard, David Mamet, Horton Foote
• Avant-garde and experimental– Challenges preconceived ideas about drama
• Happenings• Multimedia• Environmental theatre• Poor theatre
![Page 3: 14 Contemporary Theatre in the United States © Liz Lauren/Courtesy of the Goodman Theatre Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction.](https://reader034.fdocuments.in/reader034/viewer/2022051821/5697c0121a28abf838ccc357/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
14-3
Postmodernism and Diversity
• Postmodernism– Anti-modern / rebellion against tradition– Deconstruction of classics, El Nogalar, – Mix of styles and traditions in single work
• Wooster Group / Julie Taymor
How would you define postmodernism?
How can diversity benefit from such work?
![Page 4: 14 Contemporary Theatre in the United States © Liz Lauren/Courtesy of the Goodman Theatre Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction.](https://reader034.fdocuments.in/reader034/viewer/2022051821/5697c0121a28abf838ccc357/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
14-4
What is Diversity?
• Various movements of performance that address multicultural, multiethnic, or gender related issues
• Most of these developed in the 1960s and 1970s to express social and political concerns of marginalized groups
• The development of diversity in performance continues to grow and thrive in American culture
• Still a struggle with established theaters.
![Page 5: 14 Contemporary Theatre in the United States © Liz Lauren/Courtesy of the Goodman Theatre Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction.](https://reader034.fdocuments.in/reader034/viewer/2022051821/5697c0121a28abf838ccc357/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
African American Theatre
• Two traditions of African American theatre: – Western theatre traditions– African and Caribbean
performance traditions
• Early barriers for black performers:– Cultural stereotypes
(servant roles)– Minstrel performance
as “black”
14-5
© T Charles Erickson
![Page 6: 14 Contemporary Theatre in the United States © Liz Lauren/Courtesy of the Goodman Theatre Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction.](https://reader034.fdocuments.in/reader034/viewer/2022051821/5697c0121a28abf838ccc357/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
African American Theatre
• Early African American theatre companies:– African Grove Theater (William Brown and
James Hewlett)– Lafayette Players (Anita Bush)
• Early African American performers:– Charles Gilpin, Paul Robeson, Ethel Waters– Find achievement in serious drama, aside
from “mammy” roles and comedic musicals
14-6
![Page 7: 14 Contemporary Theatre in the United States © Liz Lauren/Courtesy of the Goodman Theatre Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction.](https://reader034.fdocuments.in/reader034/viewer/2022051821/5697c0121a28abf838ccc357/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
14-7
African American Theatre
• 1930s—Federal Theatre Project– Built the new generation of African American theatre
performers and artists
• One of the key productions in advancing the recognition of African American playwrights and theatre artists:– Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun (1959)
• The current voices of African American theatre:– August Wilson – Fences, Joe Turner’s Come & Gone– George C. Wolfe – The Colored Museum– Suzan-Lori Parks, Lynn Nottage, Kia Corthron
![Page 8: 14 Contemporary Theatre in the United States © Liz Lauren/Courtesy of the Goodman Theatre Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction.](https://reader034.fdocuments.in/reader034/viewer/2022051821/5697c0121a28abf838ccc357/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
14-8
Asian American Theatre
• Rich heritage of performance traditions from three eastern cultures– India– China– Japan
• Background must be acknowledged as formative in developing the American version of Asian theatre
What does your background contribute to your understanding of performance?
![Page 9: 14 Contemporary Theatre in the United States © Liz Lauren/Courtesy of the Goodman Theatre Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction.](https://reader034.fdocuments.in/reader034/viewer/2022051821/5697c0121a28abf838ccc357/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
14-9
Contemporary Asian American Theatre
• Difficulty of challenging cultural stereotypes• 1960s and 1970s, time
of change in cultural awareness– East West Players /
David Henry Hwang\– Young Jean Lee
Rajiv Joseph– Ayad Akhtar’s Disgraced-– Most produced play
© Sara Kulwich/The NY Times/Reflux
![Page 10: 14 Contemporary Theatre in the United States © Liz Lauren/Courtesy of the Goodman Theatre Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction.](https://reader034.fdocuments.in/reader034/viewer/2022051821/5697c0121a28abf838ccc357/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Hispanic Theatre
• Types of contemporary Hispanic theatre:– Chicano theatre
• West and southwest of the U.S. (El Teatro Campesino—agitprop theatre and Luis Valdéz)
– Cuban American theatre• Nilo Cruz, Eduardo • Machado and
(Maria Irene Fornés)
– Nuyorican theatre• Puerto Rican culture
centered in New York
14-10
© T Charles Erickson
![Page 11: 14 Contemporary Theatre in the United States © Liz Lauren/Courtesy of the Goodman Theatre Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction.](https://reader034.fdocuments.in/reader034/viewer/2022051821/5697c0121a28abf838ccc357/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Native American Theatre
•Ritual tradition and communal celebration as ground for theatre
– Native American Theatre Ensemble– Spiderwoman Theatre, Native Voices at The
Autry
•Still struggling for recognition and acceptance
14-11
![Page 12: 14 Contemporary Theatre in the United States © Liz Lauren/Courtesy of the Goodman Theatre Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction.](https://reader034.fdocuments.in/reader034/viewer/2022051821/5697c0121a28abf838ccc357/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Feminist Theatre
• Evolves from the struggle for women’s rights in the 1960s and 1970s
• Early women playwrights: – Hrosvitha (tenth-century nun)– Aphra Behn’s The Rover (1600s)– Rachel Crothers, Susan Glaspell, Sophie
Treadwell, and Lillian Hellman (early twentieth century)
– Alternative American Classics
14-12
![Page 13: 14 Contemporary Theatre in the United States © Liz Lauren/Courtesy of the Goodman Theatre Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction.](https://reader034.fdocuments.in/reader034/viewer/2022051821/5697c0121a28abf838ccc357/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Feminist Theatre
• Modern feminist playwrights:– Maria Irene Fornés (Fefu and Her Friends)– Beth Henley (Crimes of the Heart) – Marsha Norman (‘night Mother)– Wendy Wasserstein (The Heidi Chronicles) – Caryl Churchill (Top Girls and Cloud Nine)– Paula Vogel (How I Learned to Drive)– Lynn Nottage, Susan Lori-Parks
14-13
![Page 14: 14 Contemporary Theatre in the United States © Liz Lauren/Courtesy of the Goodman Theatre Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction.](https://reader034.fdocuments.in/reader034/viewer/2022051821/5697c0121a28abf838ccc357/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Gay and Lesbian Theatre
• Distinct movement with historical threads• Theatre tradition of cross-dressing in
performance; veiled references to sexual preference – The Children’s Hour (Hellman)
• The Boys in the Band (1968)—connected to the beginning of the modern gay rights movement
• Kushner’s Angels in America• Richard Greenberg’s Take me Out
14-14
![Page 15: 14 Contemporary Theatre in the United States © Liz Lauren/Courtesy of the Goodman Theatre Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction.](https://reader034.fdocuments.in/reader034/viewer/2022051821/5697c0121a28abf838ccc357/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Gay and Lesbian Theatre
• Major playwrights: – Terrence McNally (Love! Valor! Compassion!) – Harvey Fierstein (Torch Song Trilogy)– Larry Kramer (The Normal Heart)– Tony Kushner (Angels in America)
• Gender-bending theatre companies
• Social issues such as AIDS and gay rights
14-15
![Page 16: 14 Contemporary Theatre in the United States © Liz Lauren/Courtesy of the Goodman Theatre Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction.](https://reader034.fdocuments.in/reader034/viewer/2022051821/5697c0121a28abf838ccc357/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Political Theatre
• Concerns itself with political ideas, causes, and
individuals
• In U.S., increased during time of Vietnam War
– Hair -1970s student struggle
– Ariel Dorfman (Death and the Maiden)
• Other examples:
– Eve Ensler (The Vagina Monologues)
– Heather Raffo (9 Parts of Desire)
– Jessica Blank, Erik Jensen (Exonerated)
14-16
![Page 17: 14 Contemporary Theatre in the United States © Liz Lauren/Courtesy of the Goodman Theatre Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction.](https://reader034.fdocuments.in/reader034/viewer/2022051821/5697c0121a28abf838ccc357/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Performance Art
• Common method for diversity theatre to manifest itself, but not tied to a particular diverse population
• Historical influences:– Avant-garde experiments of early twentieth
century – Antonin Artaud and Jerzy Grotowski– Jackson Pollock– Happenings of the 50s and 60s
14-17
![Page 18: 14 Contemporary Theatre in the United States © Liz Lauren/Courtesy of the Goodman Theatre Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction.](https://reader034.fdocuments.in/reader034/viewer/2022051821/5697c0121a28abf838ccc357/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Performance Art
• Self-expression with a particular agenda, usually solo pieces tied to expressions of art, dance, theatre, “the body,” etc.
• Spalding Gray / Bill Irwin / Danny Hoch /Anna Deavere Smith / John Leguizamo / Eric Bogosian/Margaret Cho/ Sarah Jones/
• Global, Eclectic and Diverse theatre today.
14-18