The Contemporary American Dramatic Trilogy

Author : Robert J. Andreach
Publisher : McFarland
Page : 200 pages
File Size : 40,6 Mb
Release : 2014-01-10
Category : Performing Arts
ISBN : 9780786492657

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The Contemporary American Dramatic Trilogy by Robert J. Andreach Pdf

The dramatic trilogy has been flourishing for some time now in new works and revivals of older works by American, British, and European playwrights. This book analyzes recent American works by Caucasian, African American, Asian American, and Hispanic American men and women. There are five chapters beginning with Opposing Families (trilogies of, e.g., Lanford Wilson, Foote, Machado, and McCraney are examined). Carson, Rabe, and McLaughlin are among those in the Classical Reimaginings chapter while Coen, Berc, and Wolfe constitute the Medieval Reimaginings chapter. Van Itallie, Havis, Rapp, and Hwang, among others, create New Forms. LaBute, Fierstein, and Nelson, among others, create New Selves. The concluding chapter is devoted to Ruhl's Passion Play, which spans 400 years of theatre-creating from Elizabethan England to Hitler's Germany to the Reagan era in America.

Author : Robert J. Andreach
Publisher : University Press of America
Page : 209 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2014-07-16
Category : Performing Arts
ISBN : 9780761864011

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Tragedy in the Contemporary American Theatre by Robert J. Andreach Pdf

This book refutes the claim that tragedy is no longer a vital and relevant part of contemporary American theatre. Tragedy in the Contemporary American Theatre examines plays by multiple contemporary playwrights and compares them alongside the works of America’s major twentieth-century tragedians: Eugene O’Neill, Arthur Miller, and Tennessee Williams. The book argues that tragedy is not only present in contemporary American theatre, but issues from an expectation fundamental to American culture: the pressure on characters to create themselves. Tragedy in the Contemporary American Theatre concludes that tragedy is vital and relevant, though not always in the Aristotelian model, the standard for traditional evaluation.

Author : Robert Andreach
Publisher : SCB Distributors
Page : 230 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2017-11-21
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781938288340

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Dramatic Structure in the Contemporary American Theatre by Robert Andreach Pdf

In this follow-up to his 2012 The Contemporary American Dramatic Trilogy, Robert J. Andreach continues his unique study of dramatic structure as evidenced through the overarching themes of contemporary American trilogies. The themes of the first play in a trilogy, he shows, can be far different from those developed as the sequence continues, citing examples from playwrights as varied as David Rabe and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Quiara Alegráa Hudes. Looking at the ways structure in a tragedy can be substituted for the Aristotelian plot, Andreach makes clear that because creating or reinventing oneself can be such a primary motivating force in American culture, a character's failed attempt to change the structure or plot of his or her life may indeed be tragic. The dramatic trilogy has been flourishing for some time now in new works and revivals of older ones by American, British, and European playwrights, with examples such as the Hunger Games trilogy and the Fifty Shades trilogy moving more recently even into the popular sphere. Combining his skills as both a professional reviewer of theater and a literary critic, Robert Andreach is in a unique position to provide coherence to what most observers perceive as an unrelated welter of contemporary theatrical experiences.

Author : Robert J. Andreach
Publisher : McFarland
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 2012-05-09
Category : Performing Arts
ISBN : 0786470976

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The Contemporary American Dramatic Trilogy by Robert J. Andreach Pdf

The dramatic trilogy has been flourishing for some time now in new works and revivals of older works by American, British, and European playwrights. This book analyzes recent American works by Caucasian, African American, Asian American, and Hispanic American men and women. There are five chapters beginning with Opposing Families (trilogies of, e.g., Lanford Wilson, Foote, Machado, and McCraney are examined). Carson, Rabe, and McLaughlin are among those in the Classical Reimaginings chapter while Coen, Berc, and Wolfe constitute the Medieval Reimaginings chapter. Van Itallie, Havis, Rapp, and Hwang, among others, create New Forms. LaBute, Fierstein, and Nelson, among others, create New Selves. The concluding chapter is devoted to Ruhl's Passion Play, which spans 400 years of theatre-creating from Elizabethan England to Hitler's Germany to the Reagan era in America.

Author : Robert J. Andreach
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 203 pages
File Size : 41,7 Mb
Release : 2019
Category : American drama
ISBN : 1680531786

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Approaches to the Contemporary American Theatre by Robert J. Andreach Pdf

"This is a series of essays on contemporary theatre in the United States"--

Author : William Herman
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 302 pages
File Size : 47,5 Mb
Release : 1987
Category : Drama
ISBN : STANFORD:36105003781361

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Understanding Contemporary American Drama by William Herman Pdf

Author : Stella Fawn Ragsdale,Mona Mansour,Laura Marks,Branden Jacob-Jenkins
Publisher : A&C Black
Page : 336 pages
File Size : 51,8 Mb
Release : 2014-03-10
Category : Drama
ISBN : 9781408173091

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American Next Wave by Stella Fawn Ragsdale,Mona Mansour,Laura Marks,Branden Jacob-Jenkins Pdf

A collection of four plays by new American writers curated from the Emerging Writers Group at the Public Theater, New York. These plays represent the finest works developed by the Public Theater, addressing contemporary social preoccupations: race, class, heritage, economic hardship, family values and identity. The plays included are: Perish by Stella Fawn Ragsdale: when Porter's father kidnaps her son, she must go back to the woods of East Tennessee to find him, where she is distracted by a mysterious firebird. Textured with poetry and grit, this play follows the plight of women in Appalachia and the disappearance of the working class. The Hour of Feeling by Mona Mansour: in 1967, fuelled by a love of English Romantic poetry, a young Palestinian academic, Adham, and his new wife, Abir, take a trip to London, where he will deliver a career defining lecture. While the situation in his home "country" deteriorates and his marriage threatens to dissolve, Adham confronts his fear of failure and the reality that he may be an outsider no matter where he goes. Bethany by Laura Marks: when the going gets tough, the tough get going, and the going has gotten very tough indeed for Crystal. Her job is in jeopardy, her house has been repossessed and her daughter taken by social services. It's time for Crystal to get going. But in her effort to get her daughter back and put her life on the right track, Crystal is forced to question just how far she's willing to go to survive. Neighbors by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins: Black face, not on my doorstep, not today. Richard Patterson is not happy. The family of black actors that has moved in next door is rowdy, tacky, shameless, and uncouth. And they are not just invading his neighborhood-they're infiltrating his family, his sanity, and his entirely post-racial lifestyle. This wildly theatrical, explosive play on race is an unconventional comedy which uses minstrelsy both to explore the history of black theater and to confront tensions in 'post-racial' America.

Author : Nishan Parlakian
Publisher : Columbia University Press
Page : 432 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2005-01-19
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 0231508506

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Contemporary Armenian American Drama by Nishan Parlakian Pdf

Although ancestral voices have inspired many Armenian American writers of poetry and fiction in the twentieth century, their expression through drama has been limited. The first of its kind, this anthology is a collection of plays by notable Armenian Americans. Written in English largely by artists of Armenian extraction during the latter part of the twentieth century, the plays reflect the outrage of the Armenian Genocide, the forced transplantation that created the Armenian Diaspora, and the desire to maintain the newly established democratic homeland. Including a range of authors from William Saroyan to more contemporary voices, this anthology represents the writers that have stimulated cutting-edge contemporary drama from the mid-twentieth century to the present. The collection includes farce, comedy, tragicomedy, and tragedy (and sometimes blends of all of these). The plays reflect the shared experiences of Armenian family life in Armenia, Turkey, and America. The themes include the joy of freedom to practice their faith and ethnic customs, the turmoil of acculturation, and the feared loss of identity through assimilation. The editor has provided headnotes for each play and an extensive introduction tracing the history of Armenian American drama in the United States.

Author : Christopher Innes,Peter Paul Schnierer,Martin Middeke,Matthew C. Roudané
Publisher : A&C Black
Page : 480 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2013-12-19
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781408134801

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The Methuen Drama Guide to Contemporary American Playwrights by Christopher Innes,Peter Paul Schnierer,Martin Middeke,Matthew C. Roudané Pdf

Unrivalled in its coverage of recent work and writers, The Methuen Drama Guide to Contemporary American Playwrights surveys and analyses the breadth, vitality and development of theatrical work to emerge from America over the last fifty years. This authoritative guide leads you through the work of 25 major contemporary American playwrights, discussing more than 140 plays in detail. Written by a team of 25 eminent international scholars, each chapter provides: · a biographical introduction to the playwright's work; · a survey and concise analysis of the writer's most important plays; · a discussion of their style, dramaturgical concerns and critical reception; · a bibliography of published plays and a select list of critical works. Among the many Tony, Obie and Pulitzer prize-winning playwrights included are Sam Shepard, Tony Kushner, Suzan-Lori Parks, August Wilson, Paula Vogel and Neil LaBute. The abundance of work analysed enables fresh, illuminating conclusions to be drawn about the development of contemporary American playwriting.

Author : Annette J. Saddik
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 2007
Category : American drama
ISBN : 1780343485

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Contemporary American Drama by Annette J. Saddik Pdf

This book explores the development of contemporary theatre in the United States in its historical, political and theoretical dimensions.

Author : Annette Saddik
Publisher : Edinburgh University Press
Page : 248 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 2007-09-13
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9780748630660

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Contemporary American Drama by Annette Saddik Pdf

This book explores the development of contemporary theatre in the United States in its historical, political and theoretical dimensions. It focuses on representative plays and performance texts that experiment with form and content, discussing influential playwrights and performance artists such as Tennessee Williams, Adrienne Kennedy, Sam Shepard, Tony Kushner, Charles Ludlum, Anna Deavere Smith, Karen Finley and Will Power, alongside avant-garde theatre groups. Saddik traces the development of contemporary drama since 1945, and discusses the cross-cultural impact of postwar British and European innovations on American theatre from the 1950s to the present day in order to examine the performance of American identity. She argues that contemporary American theatre is primarily a postmodern drama of inclusion and diversity that destabilizes the notion of fixed identity and questions the nature of reality.

Author : Keith Clark
Publisher : University of Illinois Press
Page : 268 pages
File Size : 48,5 Mb
Release : 2001
Category : African American men
ISBN : 0252026764

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Contemporary Black Men's Fiction and Drama by Keith Clark Pdf

Demonstrating the extraordinary versatility of African-American men's writing since the 1970s, this forceful collection illustrates how African-American male novelists and playwrights have absorbed, challenged, and expanded the conventions of black American writing and, with it, black male identity. From the "John Henry Syndrome"--a definition of black masculinity based on brute strength or violence--to the submersion of black gay identity under equations of gay with white and black with straight, the African-American male in literature and drama has traditionally been characterized in ways that confine and silence him. Contemporary Black Men's Fiction and Drama identifies the forces that limit black male discourse, including traditions established by iconic African-American male authors such as James Baldwin, Richard Wright, and Ralph Ellison. This thoughtful volume also shows how contemporary black male authors use their narratives to put forward new ways of being and knowing that foster a more complete sense of self and more humane and open ways of communicating with and relating to others. In the work of Charles Johnson, Ernest Gaines, and August Wilson, contributors find paths toward broader, less rigid ideas of what black literature can be, what the connections among individual and communal resistance can be, and how black men can transcend the imprisoning models of hyper masculinity promoted by American culture. Seeking greater spiritual connection with the past, John Edgar Wideman returns to the folk rituals of his family, while Melvin Dixon and Brent Wade reclaim African roots and traditions. Ishmael Reed struggles with a contemporary cultural oppression that he sees as an insidious echo of slavery, while Clarence Major's experimental writing suggests how black men might reclaim their own voices in a culture that silences them. Taking in a wide range of critical, theoretical, cultural, gender, and sexual concerns, Contemporary Black Men's Fiction and Drama provides provocative new readings of a broad range of contemporary writers.

Author : Davida Bloom
Publisher : McFarland
Page : 212 pages
File Size : 54,6 Mb
Release : 2015-11-13
Category : Performing Arts
ISBN : 9781476623719

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Rape, Rage and Feminism in Contemporary American Drama by Davida Bloom Pdf

This first-ever study of rape in modern American drama examines portrayals of rape, raped women and rapists in 36 plays written between 1970 and 2007, the period during which the feminist movement made rape a matter of public discourse. These dramas reveal much about sexuality and masculine and feminine identity in the United States. The author traces the impact of second-wave feminism, antifeminist backlash, third-wave feminism and postfeminism on the dramatic depiction of rape. The prevalence of commonly accepted rape myths—that women who dress provocatively invite sexual assault, for example—is well documented, along with equally frequent examples which dispute these myths.

Author : Trudier Harris
Publisher : Peter Lang
Page : 252 pages
File Size : 45,9 Mb
Release : 2007
Category : Art
ISBN : 0820488860

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Reading Contemporary African American Drama by Trudier Harris Pdf

Textbook

Author : Mike Ingham
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 293 pages
File Size : 43,8 Mb
Release : 2023-12-29
Category : Performing Arts
ISBN : 9783031451980

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Anglo-American Stage and Screen Drama by Mike Ingham Pdf

Anglo-American Stage and Screen Drama analyses and discusses the contemporary role of stage and screen drama as a critical forum for progressive thinking in an increasingly polarised geopolitical world. The book addresses the cultural politics of socially engaged 21st century stage plays and films, and makes the case for drama as a sociopolitical forum, in which the complex and contentious issues that confront society can be explored and debated. It conceives of Anglophone political drama as a significant intervention in today’s culture wars, representing the latter as a convenient distraction from the ongoing depredations of neoliberalism. In the main part of the book selected case-study plays and films from each of the first two decades illustrate drama’s capacity to influence critical debate on social justice issues. All of the case-study texts under discussion express a powerful aesthetics of resistance to right-wing ideology, and promote inclusive and enlightened values. This broader orientation underlines drama’s role as a channel for critical agency in today’s putative post-socialist, post-democratic climate.