American Drama 1945 - 2000

This concise introduction to American drama gives readers an overview of how American drama developed from the end of the Second World War to the turn of the twenty-first century.

• Provides a balanced assessment of the major plays and playwrights of the period.
  
• Shows how these dramatists broke new ground in their contribution to political, economic, social and cultural debates, as well as in their dramaturgical strategies.
  
• Organized chronologically, with plays, playwrights and movements clustered around different movements such as realism and experimentalism.
  
• Gives readers a sense of the development of American drama over time.

List of Illustrations vi

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction 1

1 Politics, Existentialism, and American Drama, 1935–1945 4

2 Money is Life: American Drama, 1945–1959 27

3 Reality and Illusion: American Drama, 1960–1975 62

4 Mad as Hell: American Drama, 1976–1989 100

5 The Body in Pain: American Drama, 1990–2000 147

Notes 183

Selected Bibliography 192

Index 195

A Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2007

"This excellent, brief survey will pique the interest of readers enough to send them off to the plays themselves. It is a must for younger scholars and a good starting point for specialists ... Essential." Choice

“An astute and timely reminder of the sheer range and variety of American drama as it rose to international prominence, a drama that engaged national myths and realities, anxieties and hopes, as they were reflected in the lives of those who lived out what Henry Luce called ‘the American Century’.” Christopher Bigsby, University of East Anglia

“Strong and engaging … .A fine resource … that the reader can use as a guide to further historical and thematic thinking.” Text and Presentation

David Krasner teaches theatre, drama, and performance at Yale University. He is the author of Resistance, Parody and Double Consciousness in African American Theatre 1895-1910 (1997), and A Beautiful Pageant: African American Theatre, Drama and Performance in the Harlem Renaissance (2002). He is also the editor of A Companion to Twentieth-century American Drama (Blackwell, 2004), co-editor of Staging Philosophy: New Approaches to Theatre and Drama (2006), and co-editor (with Rebecca Schneider) of the University of Michigan Press’s series Theatre: Theory/Text/Performance. This succinct text gives readers an overview of how American drama developed from the end of the Second World War to the turn of the twenty-first century. It provides a balanced assessment of the major plays and playwrights of the period, and shows how they broke new ground in their contribution to political, economic, social and cultural debates, as well as in their innovative dramaturgical strategies.

In particular, the author shows how theatre and drama experienced the flourishing of Broadway, off-Broadway, and regional theatres, as well as trends such as realism, naturalism, melodrama, irony, satire, modernism, avant-garde, and experimentalism. Themes and movements highlighted include: the American dream of wealth and the desire for spiritual sustenance; conflicts in the American family; and the struggles for racial, gender, ethnic, and sexual equality.