Theatre Symposium, Vol. 9: Theatre and Politics in the Twentieth Century
Theatre Symposium, Vol. 9: Theatre and Politics in the Twentieth Century
edited by John C. Countryman contributions by Mary Trotter, Kurt Elgin, Jeff Turner, Anne Fletcher, James Fisher, Susan Kattwinkel, John E. O'Connor, Barry B. Whitham, Jonathan Chambers, Steve Ernest, Christopher Herr and Carol Burbank
University of Alabama Press, 2001 Paper: 978-0-8173-1111-7 | eISBN: 978-0-8173-8694-8
ABOUT THIS BOOK | TOC
ABOUT THIS BOOK
This collection of essays explores how drama can teach political principles and entertain at the same time.
Political commentary is possible through "variety" theatre, this volume contends. Compiled from the April 2000 Theatre Symposium held on the campus of the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, this collection of essays presents a compelling mix of theoretical and practical viewpoints from a broad diversity of scholars from around the country.
What remains to be learned about the political objectives of Brecht's Lehrstriucke? What political power is resident in the satirical humor of Dario Fo's drama? What can we learn from Mordecai Gorelik's political/artistic philosophy that might inform contemporary practice? What was the impact of political theatre on Broadway between the wars? Is Thornton Wilder's Our Town the play we've always imagined it to be, or does it challenge the politics of its time? What is the role of theatre activism in raising consciousness about gender politics? These are only some of the questions addressed by this lively, informative discussion.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
Introduction
Ladies Against Women: Theatre Activism and Satirical Gender Play in the 1980s
Burbank,
Carol
At “Cross-Purposes”: John Howard Lawson's the International
Chambers,
Jonathan
Surpassing Representation: The Changing Character of the Collective in Lehrstücke by Brecht and Müller
Earnest,
Steve
Circulating Power: National Theatre as Public Utility in the Federal Theatre Project
Eisen,
Kurt
The Finger in the Eye: Politics and Literature in the Theatre of Dario Fo
Fisher,
James
When Theatre was a Weapon (or He Wanted It to be): The Theory and Practice of Mordecai Gorelik
Fletcher,
Anne
Writing the People: Political Theatre on Broadway in Interwar America
Herr,
Christopher
A Relationship in Flux: Variety Theatre and Government in the Twentieth Century
Kattwinkel,
Susan
Disrupting the Spectacle: French Situationist Political Theory and the Plays of Howard Brenton
O'Connor,
John
A Sort of Nationcoming: Invasion, Exile, and the Politics of Home in Modern Irish Drama
Trotter,
Mary
No Curtain. No Scenery: Thornton Wilder's Our Town and the Politics of Whiteness
Turner,
Jeff
There shall be No Night and the Politics of Isolationism
