Chapter 15

 Asia,
Africa, and Latin America
 Theatres in India, China, and Japan
▪ Increasing interchange between Asian and Western
theatres
▪ Western theatre had a growing influence on modern
theatres in India, China, and Japan
▪ A return to traditional forms
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2

 Asia,
Africa, and Latin America
continued
 India
▪ Theatre declined with the advent of film in the first
part of the 20th century
▪ Theatre reemerged in the latter half of the 20th
century, mainly in amateur theatre
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3

 Asia,
Africa, and Latin America
continued
 China
▪ During the cultural revolution in the 1960s, theatrical
activity became more restricted
▪ Increasing emphasis on a few dance-dramas that
had heavy ideological or propagandistic content
▪ Since the death of Mao and the opening of China
to the West, Chinese traditions and western drama
have blended
▪ Popular traditional forms like Beijing Opera are
becoming popular again
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4

 Asia,
Africa, and Latin America
continued
 Japan
 Since the end of WWII, theatre has been healthy
 Three main branches of theatre:
 Nō, bunraku, and kabuki
 Shingeki – 20th century Japanese theatre that incorporated
western ideas about playwriting and theatre production
 Avant-garde or experimental
 Tadashi Suzuki: director centered with emphasis on
ensemble playing, physical movement and combining old
and new
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 Asia,
Africa, and Latin America
continued
 Theatres in the Middle East
▪ Greatly affected by the politics of the region
▪ Islam has strong prohibitions against theatre
▪ After WWII, there has been development of
professional theatre
▪ Influenced by Western practices and artists
▪ The rise of Islamic fundamentalism and
totalitarianism has curtailed, halted, controlled
theatrical activities
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6

 Asia,
Africa, and Latin America
continued
 African Theatre and Drama
▪ Early performances were connected with
ceremonies and rituals
▪ Today, use traditional forms and subverted forms of
popular western theatre
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 Asia,
Africa, and Latin America
continued
 African Theatre and Drama
▪ Reflect anticolonial struggles as well as attacks
against totalitarian regimes
▪ African theatre and society are divided
▪ Portuguese-speaking Africa – missionaries introduced
religious dramas to spread Catholicism.
▪ French-speaking Africa – influenced by traditional forms of
storytelling and music as well as French traditions
▪ English-speaking Africa – highly developed in the 1950s
because of universities and has had significant international
impact
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8

 Asia,
Africa, and Latin America
continued
 Wole Soyinka and Athol Fugard
▪ Most internationally renowned of all contemporary
African playwrights
▪ Both concerned with political and social equality
▪ Fugard’s work attacked apartheid (South African
racially segregated society)
▪ Soyinka’s work led to his arrest and imprisonment in
Nigeria in 1967
▪ Soyinka won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1986
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9

AFRICAN THEATRE: WOLE SOYINKA
A major African playwright of the past century is Wole Soyinka of Nigeria. A poet and author as well as a playwright, he won the Nobel Prize
for Literature in 1986. Prior to that, he had been imprisoned in Nigeria for his political views. Mixing traditional African ceremonial events with
modern themes and characters , the play shown here, “The Lion and the Jewel,” is a comedy about a man, (the lion), in a village in Yoruba
who persues a maid, (the jewel).
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 Asia,
Africa, and Latin America
continued
 Latin American Theatre
▪ After WWII, many Latin American dramatists began
to focus on the unique national issues and concerns
that confronted their countries
▪ All Latin American countries have significant
theatres and playwrights
▪ Augusto Boal – renowned Brazilian playwright,
director and theorist
▪ Wrote “Theatre of the Oppressed” (1975) – a manifesto for
revolutionary and socially conscious theater
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11


Experimentation and Departures from Realism Continued
 Existentialism and Theatre of the Absurd
▪ Inspired by political unrest and a desire to question political
authority
▪ Existentialism – term applied to plays illustrating a
philosophy whose modern advocate was Jean-Paul Sartre and
which holds that there are no longer any fixed standards or
values
▪ Articulated by Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus
▪ Existence has little meaning
▪ God does not exist; humanity is alone in an irrational universe
▪ Only significant thing we can do is accept responsibility for our
own actions
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 Experimentation
and Departures from
Realism Continue continued
 Existentialism and Theatre of the Absurd
▪ Theatre of the absurd
▪ Combined existentialist philosophy with revolutionary,
avant-garde dramatic form
▪ Much of what happens in life is ridiculous or absurd and
cannot be explained logically
▪ This ridiculousness or absurdity should be reflected in
dramatic action
▪ Samuel Beckett, Jean Genet, Eugene Ionesco and Edward
Albee are some famous absurdist playwrights
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 Existentialism and Theatre of the Absurd
▪ Theatre of the absurd cont’d
▪ Their plays present our existence as futile or nonsensical,
including our relationships and language
▪ To reinforce this theme, their plots often move in a circle,
ending the way they began
▪ Characters are not realistic
▪ Settings are strange and unrecognizable
▪ Language is sparse and characters fail to communicate
▪ Most famous absurdist play is “Waiting for Godot,” by
Samuel Beckett
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 Experimental Theatre
▪ In 1960’s and ‘70’s, experiments in Europe and US
went in many different directions – a reflection of the
fragmentation of modern life. Experiments included:
▪ Happenings – nonliterary or unscripted event using a
scenario that allows for chance occurrences
▪ Multimedia – use of electronic media, such as slides, film,
video in live theatrical productions
▪ Environmental Theatre – branch of avant garde theater
stressing the environment in which a performance takes
place.
 Term coined by American director, Richard Schechner, in
the 1960s.
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 Environmental Theatre cont’d
▪ Treat entire theater space as a performance area,
suggesting any division between performer and
audience is artificial
▪ Jerzy Grotowski was a major influence on
Schechner.
▪ Poor Theater – term coined by Grotowski to describe his
theater, which was stripped to the bare essentials. Emphasis
is on actors, not scenery or special effects.
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 Eclectics
 Many European directors have borrowed and
experimented with avant-garde theatre techniques
▪ Peter Brook – his “Marat/Sade” borrowed from Artaud’s
“Theater of Cruelty,” and his “Midsummer Night’s Dream”
borrowed from Meyerhold and the circus
▪ Some work only in alternative environments
▪ Others have brought their style to national theatre
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18

 American
Alternative Theatre
 Regional Theatre
▪ Nonprofit versus commercial
▪ Employ professional performers, directors, and
designers
▪ Present dramas from the past as well as new plays
▪ In recent years, the chief source of new works in
the U.S.
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 American
Alternative Theatre continued
 Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway, and
Alternative Regional Theatres
▪ Off-Broadway
▪
▪
▪
▪
A less expensive alternative to commercial Broadway
Began in the 1950s
Smaller than Broadway theatres
Offered more opportunity for producing serious classics and
experimental works
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
American Alternative Theatre
continued
 Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway, and Alternative Regional
Theatres
▪ Off-Off-Broadway
▪
▪
▪
▪
Less expensive than off-Broadway
Produced wherever inexpensive space is available
Low price and a wide variety of offerings
Much experimental work takes place here
 Robert Wilson and Richard Foreman
 The Living Theater, Open Theater, Wooster Group
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
American Alternative Theatre
continued
 Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway, and Alternative Regional
Theatres
▪ Off-Off-Broadway
▪ Counter parts of off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway
 Located in other major cities
 Alternatives to the larger, established regional theatres and
can gear to interests of specific groups (Hispanic, GLBT,
African-American, feminist, etc.
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
American Alternative Theatre
continued
 Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway, and Alternative Regional
Theatres
▪ Two Contemporary Theater Artists with roots in
Alternative
▪ Both explore American mythology, violence of American society and
degeneration
 Sam Shepard – fuses surreal and absurdist. “Buried Child” won
Pulitzer in 1979. Also “True West” and “Fool for Love”
 David Mamet – Naturalistic language and settings with
recognizable characters but not clear exposition or dramatic
resolution like in traditional realism. “Oleanna,” “Glengarry Glen
Ross,” “American Buffalo”
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 Two
important forms of theater that came
to prominence after WW II:
 African American Theatre
 Musical Theatre
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
African American Theatre – long history and impact
on our contemporary theater
 African American Theatre from 1900 to 1950
▪ Rhythms of ragtime had a strong influence
▪ Bob Cole and William Johnson created, produced, and
directed first black musical, “A Trip to Coontown” (1898)
▪ Bert Williams and George Walker and their wives
joined composers and writers to produce musicals
like “In Dahomey” (1902) and “Abyssinia” (1906).
▪ First time, African-Americans acting on a Broadway stage
without burnt-cork makeup, speaking without dialect and
dressed in high fashion.
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
African American Theatre
 African American Theatre from 1900 to 1950
▪ Formation of African American stock companies
▪ Lafayette Players – most significant, founded by Anita Bush
in 1914-1932; over 250 productions and employed a number
of black stars.
▪ 1920s—black performers and writers made inroads
▪ 20 plays with black themes presented on Broadway; 5 of
them written by African-Americans, including “Shuffle Along”
▪ Also some important black actors in drama like Charles
Gilpin, Paul Robeson and Ethel Waters
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
African American Theatre
 African American Theatre from 1900 to 1950
▪ Depression forced black performers to find other
ways to make a living or create their own theater
▪ A few off Broadway productions like folk musical “Run Little
Children” (1933) and “Mulatto” (1935) by Langston Hughes
▪ 1930s—the Federal Theatre Project
▪ Meant to help theatre artists through the Depression
▪ Employed thousands of African American writers,
performers, and technicians
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
African American Theatre
 African American Theatre from 1900 to 1950
▪ 1940s included stage adaptation of controversial
novel “Native Son” by Richard Wright directed by
Orson Welles for his Mercury Theater
▪ Paul Robeson had a record run of 296
performances on Broadway in “Othello” and “Anna
Lucasta,” adapted by Abram Hill
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 African
American Theatre continued
 African American Theatre since 1950
▪ 1950s—an explosion of black theatre
▪ “Take a Giant Step” by Louis Patterson, about growing up in
an integrated neighborhood, premiered in 1953
▪ Greenwich Mews Theater, an off-Broadway Theater, began
casting plays without regard to race and staged “Trouble in
Mind” by Alice Childress, the first play by an AfricanAmerican woman to receive a commercial production.
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 African
American Theatre continued
 African American Theatre since 1950
▪ 1950s—an explosion of black theatre
▪ Perhaps most important production in postwar era was the
1959, “Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry directed by
Lloyd Richards, first black director on Broadway
 Richards went on to head Yale School of Drama
 Nurtured talents of black playwrights like August Wilson,
“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Joe Turner’s Come and
Gone” “The Piano Lesson” and many more
▪ 1960-1990s—theatre reflected the struggle for civil
rights
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 African
American Theatre continued
 African American Theatre since 1950
▪ 1960-1990s—theatre reflected the struggle for civil
rights
▪ 1964, “Dutchman” by LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka)
▪ Many other significant black dramatists during these two
decades including Charles Fuller: he wrote “A Soldier’s Play”
which won the Pulitzer Prize for drama
▪ 1970, Black Theatre Alliance listed over 125 producing
groups and larger African-American audience at Broadway
theaters
▪ 70s had more commerical African-American Broadway
productions like “The Wiz,” “Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope”
and “Bubbling Brown Sugar”
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 African
American Theatre continued
 African American Theatre since 1950
▪ 1980s and onward, African-American artists
continued to make a significant impact on
commercial and non-commercial theater
▪ George C. Wolfe – writer/director
▪ “Jelly’s Last Jam” and “Bring in da Noise, Bring in da Funk”
on Broadway
▪ “The Colored Museum”
▪ Directed “Angels in America”
▪ Kenny Leon – founded True Colors Theater in
Atlanta in 2002 and directed “A Raisin in the Sun”
on Broadway in 2004
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 African
American Theatre continued
 African American Theatre since 1950
▪ Numerous prominent contemporary female AfricanAmerican playwrights like:
▪
▪
▪
▪
Suzan Lori-Parks
Pearl Cleage
Cheryl West
Kia Corthron
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33

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34

 American
Musical Theatre
 Antecedents
▪ In the 19th century, music accompanied the action
of melodramas
▪ Other forms of singing and dancing entertainment:
▪ Vaudeville
▪ Burlesque
▪ Operetta – a romantic musical piece featuring melodic solos,
duets and choruses interspersed with spoken dialogue
 Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance (1879)
 Victor Herbert’s Naughty Marietta (1910)
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 American
Musical Theatre continued
 Antecedents
▪ George M. Cohan’s musicals in early part of the
century had more realistic dialogue and moved a
step closer to today’s “book” musicals.
▪ Musical – broad category that includes opera, operetta,
musical comedy and other musical plays
▪ Book – spoken, as opposed to sung, portion of the text of a
musical play
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 American
Musical Theatre continued
 Antecedents
▪ Truly native American musicals began to emerge
▪ Featured a typically frivolous story and enduring songs
 Show Boat (1927) – songs integrated into plot, and serious
subjects including the love story between a black woman
and a white man
 Porgy and Bess (1935) – set in African-American
community, even more realistic than "Showboat." Score so
powerful that some consider it an opera.
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 American
Musical Theatre continued
 The High Point of American Musicals
▪ Oklahoma! (1943)
▪ Praised for seamlessly fitting
together story, music, lyrics,
and dances so that tone,
mood, and intention become
a unified whole
▪ South Pacific
▪ The Sound of Music
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 American
Musical Theatre continued
 Some say “Fiddler on the Roof” (1964) marks the end
of this era of book musicals
 American Musicals After 1975
▪ After Hair, the musical scene became increasingly
fragmented
▪ Ascendancy of the choreographer as the director in
1970s and 1980s
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
Jerome Robbins (West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof)
Gower Champion (Hello Dolly!, 42nd Street )
Bob Fosse (Sweet Charity, Pippin )
Susan Stroman (The Producers)
Kathleen Marshall (Anything Goes)
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 American
Musical Theatre continued
 American Musicals After 1975
▪ Reawakening of the American Form
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
Rent (1996)
Wicked (2003)
Light in the Piazza (2005)
Avenue Q (2003)
The Book of Mormon (2011)
Spiderman: Turn off the Dark (2011)
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40

 American
Musical Theatre continued
 American Musicals After 1975
▪ Adaptations of films into stage musicals:
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
The Producers (2001)
Hairspray (2003)
Monty Python’s Spamalot (2005)
Billy Elliott (2005)
The Lion King (1997)
Aida (1999)
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41

RECENT AMERICAN MUSICALS
The new musical The Book of Mormon successfully combines traditional musical theatre elements with contemporary edgy comments and
observations. It concerns a group of Mormon missionaries who visit the African country of Uganda and much of the humor stems from the
clash of cultures. Written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the music by Robert Lopez. The actors are (l-r) Rema Webb, Andrew Rannelis
and Josh Gad
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42


Canada and Australia
 Developments in theatre that have paralleled the




complexity found in international theatre
Before WWII, commercial theaters and some
“little theaters”
Many regional theatres established in ‘50s and
‘60s
Avant-garde companies and theatres in late ‘60s
to today
Playwrights and theatre artists have dealt with
issues related to these countries’ diverse
populations
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43

 The
future of theatre
 The live performer: human contact between audience




and performer will continue to meet a profound,
fundamental need
Human impulse to create theatre: humans have a
universal impulse to create theatrical activity
Theatre will continue with new works alongside a rich
mixture of plays from the past
Theatre will be as complex and fragmented as the
world in which it exists
Theatre will continue to focus on human concerns
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44