A Companion to Twentieth-Century American Drama

ISBN-13: 9781405163682 / Angielski / Miękka / 2007 / 608 str.

David Krasner

Opis

This Companion provides an original and authoritative survey of twentieth-century American drama studies, written by some of the best scholars and critics in the field.

• Balances consideration of canonical material with discussion of works by previously marginalized playwrights


• Includes studies of leading dramatists, such as Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Eugene O'Neill and Gertrude Stein
  
• Allows readers to make new links between particular plays and playwrights
  
• Examines the movements that framed the century, such as the Harlem Renaissance, lesbian and gay drama, and the solo performances of the 1980s and 1990s
  
• Situates American drama within larger discussions about American ideas and culture

Recenzje

“This Companion provides an original and authoritative survey of twentieth–century American drama studies, written by some of the best scholars and critics in the field.”  (Stephen Baker Hot Fiction Books, 31 December 2012)

“This volume includes more than 30 meticulously researched essays, some with illustrations, by the best–known contemporary experts on American drama and theater … Highly recommended. All collections; all levels.”
Choice

Spis treści

List of Illustrations x

Notes on Contributors xii

Foreword by Molly Smith xvii

Acknowledgments xix

1. Introduction: The Changing Perceptions of American Drama 1
David Krasner

2. American Drama, 1900–1915 3
Mark Evans Bryan

3. Ethnic Theatre in America 18
Rachel Shteir

4. Susan Glaspell and Sophie Treadwell: Staging Feminism and Modernism, 1915–1941 34
J. Ellen Gainor and Jerry Dickey

5. American Experimentalism, American Expressionism, and Early O’Neill 53
Deanna M. Toten Beard

6. Many–Faceted Mirror: Drama as Reflection of Uneasy Modernity in the 1920s 69
Felicia Hardison Londré

7. Playwrights and Plays of the Harlem Renaissance 91
Annemarie Bean

8. Reading Across the 1930s 106
Anne Fletcher

9. Famous Unknowns: The Dramas of Djuna Barnes and Gertrude Stein 127
Sarah Bay–Cheng

10. Eugene O’Neill: American Drama and American Modernism 142
David Krasner

11. Fissures Beneath the Surface: Drama in the 1940s and 1950s 159
Thomas P. Adler

12. Tennessee Williams 175
Brenda A. Murphy

13. Expressing and Exploring Faith: Religious Drama in America 192
Peter Civetta

14. The American Jewishness of Arthur Miller 209
Murray Biggs

15. Drama of the 1960s 229
Christopher Olsen

16. Fifteen–Love, Thirty–Love: Edward Albee 247
Steven Price

17. The Drama of the Black Arts Movement 263
Mike Sell

18. Sam Shepard and the American Sunset: Enchantment of the Mythic West 285
Leslie A. Wade

19. Staging the Binary: Asian American Theatre in the Late Twentieth Century 301
Daphne Lei

20. August Wilson 318
Harry J. Elam, Jr.

21. Native American Drama 334
Ann Haugo

22. John Guare and the Popular Culture Hype of Celebrity Status 352
Gene A. Plunka

23. Writing Beyond Borders: A Survey of US Latina/o Drama 370
Tiffany Ana Lopez

24. ‘‘Off the Porch and into the Scene’’: Southern Women Playwrights Beth Henley, Marsha Norman, Rebecca Gilman, and Jane Martin 388
Linda Rohrer Paige

25. David Mamet: America on the American Stage 406
Janet V. Haedicke

26. 1970–1990: Disillusionment, Identity, and Discovery 423
Mark Fearnow

27. Maria Irene Fornes: Acts of Translation 440
Andrew Sofer

28. From Eccentricity to Endurance: Jewish Comedy and the Art of Affirmation 456
Julia Listengarten

29. Repercussions and Remainders in the Plays of Paula Vogel: An Essay in Five Moments 473
Ann Pellegrini

30. Lesbian and Gay Drama 486
Jill Dolan

31. American Drama of the 1990s On and Off–Broadway 504
June Schlueter

32. Solo Performance Drama: The Self as Other? 519
Stephen J. Bottoms

33. Experimental Drama at the End of the Century 536
Ehren Fordyce

Index 552

O autorze

David Krasner is an instructor in Theatre Studies, English, and African American Studies at Yale University. He is the author of Resistance, Parody, and Double Consciousness in African American Theatre, 1895–1910 and A Beautiful Pageant: African American Theatre, Drama, and Performance in the Harlem Renaissance (2002). He has twice won the Errol Hill Award from the American Society for Theatre Research for the best book or essay on African American theatre history. He has also worked as a professional actor and director.

Blurb

This Companion provides an authoritative survey of twentieth–century American drama studies. Comprising over 30 original essays written by some of the best scholars and critics in the field, it emphasizes research and in–depth analysis, and is informed by debates drawn from past and present dramaturgical discussions.

The volume balances studies of leading dramatists, such as Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Eugene O’Neill, and Gertrude Stein, with discussion of previously marginalized playwrights. The contributors examine the movements and themes that framed these playwrights’ work, such as the Harlem Renaissance, lesbian and gay drama, and the solo performances of the 1980s and 1990s. They also situate twentieth–century American drama within larger discussions about American ideas and culture, allowing readers both to get an overview and to make new connections between particular plays and playwrights.