1. Chapter 15

2.  Social
unrest and violence
 Genocide in Bosnia, Rwanda, and the Sudan
 Torture of prisoners
 Presidential scandals
 Middle Eastern violence and instability
▪ September 11, 2001, attacks
▪ Saddam Hussein deposed from power
▪ Continued conflict between the Israelis and
Palestinians
▪ Barack Obama, first African-American President
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3.  Asian
American Theatre
 In the 19th and first half of the 20th century,
Asians appeared in drama as stereotypes
 Asian-focused theatre groups formed in the
latter half of the 20th century
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4.  Asian
American Theatre
continued
 These groups fostered a more accurate
Asian-American identity on stage
▪ East West Players, Los Angeles (1965)
▪ Asian Exclusion Act, Seattle (1973)
▪ Asian-American Theatre Workshop, San Francisco
(1973)
▪ Ma-Yi Theatre Company, New York (1989)
▪ Mu Performing Arts, Minneapolis (1992)
▪ David Henry Hwang, ‘M. Butterfly”
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5.  Latino-Latina
Theatre
 Can be divided into three categories:
▪ Chicano Theater
▪ Cuban American Theater
▪ Puerto Rican or Nuyorican Theater
 All three address experience of Hispanics living
in U.S.
 Sometimes written in Spanish but are usually in
English or a combo of both
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6.  Latino-Latina
Theatre
 Chicano theatre
▪ Originated primarily in the west and southwest
▪ Came to prominence during the 1960s civil rights
movement
▪ Luis Valdéz (1940– ) and the El Teatro
Campesino (“farmworkers’ theatre”)
▪ Zoot Suit (1978)
▪ Roosters (1987) by Milcha Sanchez-Scott (1955–
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)
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7.  Latino-Latina
Theatre
continued
 Cuban American theatre
▪ The Federal Theater Project resulted in 14 Cuban
American plays from 1936-37
▪ Developed chiefly in Florida
▪ Maria Irene Fornes (1930– ) “Mud,” “Fefu and Her
Friends”
▪ Nilo Cruz (1960– ), won Pulitzer Prize in 2003 for “Anna in
the Tropics”
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8.  Latino-Latina
Theatre
continued
 Puerto Rican or Nuyorican theatre
▪ Nuyorican refers to Puerto Rican culture, primarily in
New York but elsewhere as well
▪ Playwrights with a Puerto Rican background began to be
produced in the 1960s and 1970s by groups like:
 Teatro Repertorio Español
 The Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre
 New York Public Theatre
 The Nuyorican Poets’ Café – produced many Hispanice
playwrights including Miguel Pinero ("Short Eyes")
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9.  Native
American Theatre
 No theatre tradition as we know it
 Instead, theatrical elements were found in
ancient rituals and communal celebrations
 Many native ceremonies outlawed by the
American government in the 19th century
 Forced to go “underground”
 Companies identify with their nations, not
under the generic term “Native American”
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10. 
Native American Theatre continued
 American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1972
 Two groups that led the way:
▪ The Native American Theater Ensemble
▪ Spiderwoman (also feminist). Began in 1975 and
longest running women’s and Native American
theater group
 Native American theatre groups
▪ Thunderbird Theatre, Lawrence, Kansas (1974)
▪ Red Earth Performing Arts, Seattle (1974)
▪ Tulsa Indian Actor’s Workshop, Tulsa (1993)
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11.  Feminist
Theatre and Gender Diversity
 Feminist theatre companies have encouraged
audiences to reexamine their own gender biases
▪ Companies include:
▪
▪
▪
▪
At the Foot of the Mountain,
Women’s Experimental Theatre
Omaha Magic Theatre
Split Britches
 Feminist influences are felt in both Native
American and lesbian theatre
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12.  Feminist
Theatre and Gender Diversity
 Some significant contemporary feminist
playwrights:
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
Maria Irene Fornes
Paula Vogel
Marsha Norman
Wendy Wasserstein
Beth Henley
Suzan Lori-Parks
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13.  Gay
and Lesbian Theatre
 Gay and lesbian theatre is a distinct
movement
 Themes existed in theatre before the 1960s
▪ Men in drag in 19th century and early part of 20th
century, raising questions about sexual and gender
roles
▪ Lillian Hellman’s “The Children’s Hour” (1934)
 First play that brought gay life to the forefront
was The Boys in the Band (1968)
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14.  Gay
and Lesbian Theatre
continued
 Stonewall Inn riot considered the beginning of
the modern gay rights movement
 Gay characters, now more than ever, are
presented unapologetically
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16.  Today’s
theatre art is complex
 Mirrors the changes in our global society
 Performance
Art – Experimental theater
that initially incorporated elements of
dance and visual arts. Since performance
art is often based on the vision of an
individual performer or director rather than
a playwright, the autobiographical
monologue has become a popular
performance art form.
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17.  Today’s
theatre art is complex
 Mirrors the changes in our global society
 Performance
Art
 Antecedents:
▪ Earlier avant-garde
experiments of the
20th century
▪ The theories of Antonin
Artaud and Jerzy Grotowski
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18.  Performance
Art continued
 Early manifestations:
▪ Related to painting and to dance
▪ Story, character, and text were minimized or
eliminated
 Present form:
▪ Individual artists who present autobiographical
material onstage
▪ Some artists’ work challenges the status quo
 Many are performed off-off-Broadway
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19.  Performance
Art continued
 Performed in conventional spaces as well as
non-conventional spaces like warehouses,
museums, etc.
 Some significant performance artists:
▪ Karen Finley (controversy surrounding National
Endowment for the Arts grant)
▪ Spalding Gray
▪ Robbie McCauley (“Alice’s Rape”)
▪ Anna Deavere Smith (“Twilight LA”)
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20.  Postmodernism
– A contemporary
concept suggesting that artists and
audiences have gone beyond the
modernist movements of realism and the
various departures of realism, to combine
them both into one unique form.
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21.  Postmodernism
 Characteristics:
▪ Reflects issues of power in art
▪ Rebels against traditional readings of texts
▪ Mix of abstraction and realism, techniques and
styles
▪ Mix of popular concerns with those of “high” art
 Deconstruction
 Non-text based
 Wooster Group is a contemporary
postmodernist theater
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22.  English
and Irish Theatre
 In London, fringe theatre
▪ Postmodernist tradition
▪ Deborah Warner – English director
▪ Many contemporary playwrights begin here
▪ Caryl Churchilll (also feminist) – “Cloud Nine,” “Top Girls”
▪ Tom Stoppard
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23.  English
and Irish Theatre continued
 In Ireland
▪ Young Irish playwrights who dramatize social,
political, and historical issues
▪ Martin McDonagh – “The Pillowman”
▪ Conor McPherson – “The Seafarer”
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24. © 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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25. 
A Continuing Global Trend: Documentary Drama
 Has roots in classical Greek and Elizabethan
theatres
 Reflects the diversity and eclecticism of our global
theatre
 Based on historical documents
 Goal: convince the audience that they’re watching
history unfold
▪ “The Investigation” by Peter Weiss – dramatizes war
crime trials of Nazi guards
▪ “Exonerated” – about former death row inmates who
turned out to be innocent
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26. 
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 bringing important
issues to light for specific groups as well as humanity
as a whole
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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