DOSSIER I and GLOSSARY

Theater in USA 1700-1880

PROF. MARIA EUGENIA DÍAZ SÁNCHEZ
 AMERICAN THEATRE 1700-2020 2

Table of Contents
Puritan and Cavalier: intolerance in the roots of American Theatre: 1620-1730 .................................................... 3
1665 first play: Ye Bare and You Cubb (The Bear and the Cub) .............................................................................. 3
The first actors ...................................................................................................................................................... 4
The first theater in Virginia 1730 ........................................................................................................................... 4
The South: cradle of the arts 1730s ....................................................................................................................... 5
Cato played in the Quaker City (Philadelphia) 1749 ............................................................................................... 5
Jamaica 1750s ...................................................................................................................................................... 5
The Prince of Parthia (1765) .................................................................................................................................. 5
Royall Tyler: The Contrast 1787 ............................................................................................................................. 6
The father of American Drama: William Dunlap (1766–1839) ............................................................................... 8
Sentiment and melodrama in American Nationalism 1808 .................................................................................... 9
Puritans and Quakers 1820 ................................................................................................................................... 9
Minstrel shows 1830s ......................................................................................................................................... 10
Metamora; or, The Last of the Wampanoags ...................................................................................................... 11
Vaudeville 1880s ................................................................................................................................................. 11
Drama Terms Glossary ........................................................................................................................................ 13
Sources ............................................................................................................................................................... 20
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Puritan and Cavalier: intolerance in the roots of American Theatre: 1620-1730

Although the first permanent English settlement in America occurred at Jamestown, Virginia,
as early as 1607, and was followed by many others, notably the landing of the Pilgrims at
Plymouth Rock in New England in 1620, the entire seventeenth

century passed without the introduction of professional theater, and with only slight evidence
of amateur activities. While in what is now Canada theatre was being performed quite early,
this slow development was due to the rigors of pioneer life and the attitude of a large
proportion of the settlers, who brought with them a strong religious intolerance. This
attitude was especially prevalent in New England, less in Virginia, where the spirit tended to
be cavalier1 rather than puritan.
In Boston, the ministers were complaining in 1685 of such frivolities as mixed dancing, and in
1687 Increase Mather warned the public that there was talk of "play-acting" in New England.

1 It has subsequently become strongly identified with the fashionable attitude distinct from
religious fundamentalism and also present in clothing at the time. Prince Rupert, commander
of much of Charles I's cavalry, is often considered to be an archetypal Cavalier.

1665 first play: Ye Bare and You Cubb (The Bear and the Cub)
On August 27, 1665 William Darby, Cornelius Watkinson, and Philip Howard performed the
first known play in America entitled Ye Bare and Ye Cubbe. Darby wrote the play and the
troupe performed at the Fowlkes Tavern in Accomack, Virginia. The play drew a strong and
immediate reaction from one man in the audience who took the case to the local magistrate.
He provided a criminal charge. Apparently, the play was immediately shutdown. No one
should be surprised that the first known play in America took place in a southern
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colony. Theater in the Restoration Era trended towards indecorous and coarse
themes. (England discarded Cromwell’s Commonwealth a year after he died in 1660
returning Charles’ son Charles II to the throne). In the 17th century, many viewed theaters as
dens of iniquity close to brothels. A contemporary English commentator described the
theater as a center of vice: “it was a place where playwright, player [actor], and audience met
to collude in sin.”

The first actors

In seeking record of the first professional actor to perform in America, one discovers the
mysterious figure of Richard Hunter, who, sometime between 1699 and 1702, petitioned the
acting governor of the Province of New York for a license to present plays in New York City.
Mr. Hunter states in his petition that he has been to great charge and expense in providing
persons for the acting of plays, but there is no record of any of those performances.

The first theater in Virginia 1730

The history of American theatre begins in the colonial era, long before the United States was
a formed nation. Bringing a repertoire from England that included productions like
Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Othello. Down in Virginia, it is chronicled that William Levingston,
a merchant of Williamsburg, entered into a contract with Charles and Mary Stagg, actors, to
build a theatre. We know what plays were performed, how frequently, and over how long a
period is unknown. On September 10, 1736, the Virginia Gazette announced the first
performance. This theatre was closely followed by the opening of the Dock Street Theatre
in Charleston, South Carolina , which is the oldest still standing in USA.

The Dock Street Theatre in Charleston, South Carolina, which is currently still in operation. Reprinted from Legendary Locals of Charleston
by Mary Preston Foster courtesy of the author (pg. 76, Arcadia Publishing, 2013).

However, theatre in the New World struggled during the 18th century as a result of several
factors. Tensions between the colonies and Britain increased, and concerns over the moral
implications of both acting in and viewing plays arose. In colonies like Massachusetts or
Pennsylvania, laws were passed to forbid the production and performance of plays.
This opinion was supported by many prominent philosophers and even the laws of the era.
Prior to the Declaration of Independence, the first Continental Congress passed the Articles
of Association, a document written in response to the British “Intolerable Acts.” The Articles
in part called for a “discountenance and discourage [of] every species extravagance and
dissipation, especially… exhibitions of shows, plays, and other expensive diversions.” As
British rule and culture were increasingly criticized in the colonies, tenets of British society
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such as theatre came to be almost abhorred in the colonies, who attempted to distance
themselves from their rulers. As a result, theatre was denounced in the same vein as vices
like gambling and animal fighting

The South: cradle of the arts 1730s

Current with this flurry of Virginian activity was a similar development in another Southern
cradle of arts, the picturesque walled city of Charles-Town, South Carolina. (It was not until
1783 that an act of the legislature changed the spelling of the name to Charleston.) It had
been founded in 1670 by a group of eight English noblemen operating under a charter granted
them by Charles II, and the aristocratic attitudes established by its founders were reflected in
the town during the early eighteenth century. Some of them undoubtedly are reflected even
in the twentieth century. Charleston was a lively place, which fostered balls and musical
concerts. Its citizens were fond of hunting, card playing, and other pastimes brought from
England. Theater became very important and was promoted with energy as a way to entertain
high class citizens.

Cato played in the Quaker City (Philadelphia) 1749

August 1749 is a famous date in theatre annals, for in that month occurred the earliest
performed play in the Quaker City. The tragedy of Cato, a play written by Joseph Addison in
1712 based on the events of the last days of Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis (better known as
Cato the Younger) (95–46 BC), a Stoic whose deeds, rhetoric and resistance to the tyranny of
Julius Caesar made him an icon of virtue, and liberty. Addison's play deals with many themes
such as individual liberty versus government tyranny, logic versus emotion, and Cato's
personal struggle to hold to his beliefs in the face of death. The play has a prologue written
by Alexander Pope.

Jamaica 1750s
By 1750 Jamaica had a population of approximately ten thousand whites and one hundred
and twenty thousand blacks. English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Dutch, Irish, and Jews
wealthy planters promoted theatre as a way to enjoy and mix together and they had one of
the first theaters in the new colonies.

The Prince of Parthia (1765)

The Prince of Parthia, was the first play written by the first professional playwright in USA
Thomas Godfrey (1736–63) American poet who died at age 26. It was first published in 1765,
two years after his death, and its first documented performance was two years after that. It is set
in the Parthian Empire in the 1st century A.D. during the Arsacid dynasty. The repertoire he
worked for at the theater included forty full-length plays and of course a number of short
afterpieces, interpolated among standard Shakespearean tragedies and Restoration
comedies.
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1775- George Washington is appointed as Commander in Chief of the newly created Continental Army. Washington will fill the role
for the duration of the 8 year American Revolution not returning home until 1781 when he stops at Mount Vernon while his and
the French Army are on the march to Yorktown. For other significant historical events from this date, please click on "Today in
History."

Royall Tyler: The Contrast 1787

Royall Tyler 1756–1826 wrote seven plays, but his reputation rests on The Contrast, written
in 1787, produced in 1790 and published two years later. The first comedy by someone born
in America to receive a professional production. The Contrast was written after Tyler had
attended a performance of The School for Scandal (1777) by Richard Brinsley Sheridan and is
clearly influenced by the English social comedies of the eighteenth century. It is, however,
impeccably American in theme, since the contrast of the title is between Bill Dimple, an
embodiment of European affectation, and Colonel Manly, a representative of American
straightforwardness and republican honesty. The intensely anglophile Dimple flirts with two
women, Letitia and Charlotte, despite the fact that a match had been arranged with Maria
van Rough, by her father. Manly, a patriot and veteran of the Revolutionary War, is in love
with Maria. When Dimple, having gambled away his fortune, decides to marry the wealthy
Letitia instead, Maria’s father, discovering Dimple’s baseness, accepts Manly. And Manly
leaves the scene saying: ‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ see the contrast between a gentleman who
has . . . received the polish of Europe and an unpolished, untravelled American.’

Manly himself emphasizes this contrast, through his simplicity and natural gentility of manner
and through his comments on the times. In one long speech, for example, he attacks the
‘luxury’. ‘Luxury! which enervates both soul and body, by opening a thousand new sources of
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enjoyment, opens, also a thousand sources of contention and want,’ he declares. ‘Luxury!
people weak at home, and accessible to bribery and corruption.’ The aim of the play is clearly
to address the different possibilities available to the new republic and to promote civic virtue
and federal highmindedness:
‘Oh! That America! Oh that my country, would, in this her day, learn the things which belong
to peace!’ Manly prays.
A subplot draws a similar lesson, by presenting another contrast in national manners,
between Dimple’s servant, the arrogant and duplicitous Jessamy, and Manly’s servant,
Jonathan, who is a plain, goodhearted and an incorruptible Yankee. It is typical of Jonathan
that he refuses, in fact, to be called a servant. ‘I am Colonel Manly’s waiter,’ he insists ‘I am a
true blue son of liberty,’ Jonathan explains; ‘father said I should come as Colonel Manly’s
waiter, to see the world . . . but no man shall master me. My father has as good a farm as the
colonel.’ His genuine sincerity and is typical of Americans who have inherited this quality from
their ‘freeborn ancestors’. Summing up, Tyler´s play answers Crèvecoeur’s question, ‘What is
an American?’

Enter MANLY.

It must be so, Montague! and it is not all the tribe of Mandevilles that shall
convince me that a nation, to become great, must first become dissipated. Luxury
is surely the bane of a nation: Luxury! which enervates both soul and body, by
opening a thousand new sources of enjoyment, opens, also, a thousand new sources
of contention and want: Luxury! which renders a people weak at home, and
accessible to bribery, corruption, and force from abroad. When the Grecian states
knew no other tools than the axe and the saw, the Grecians were a great, a free, and
a happy people. The kings of Greece devoted their lives to the service of their
country, and her senators knew no other superiority over their fellow-citizens than
a glorious pre-eminence in danger and virtue. They exhibited to the world a noble
spectacle,—a number of independent states united by a similarity of language,
sentiment, manners, common interest, and common consent, in one grand mutual
league of protection. And, thus united, long might they have continued the
cherishers of arts and sciences, the protectors of the oppressed, the scourge of
tyrants, and the safe asylum of liberty. But when foreign gold, and still more
pernicious foreign luxury, had crept among them, they sapped the vitals of their
virtue. The virtues of their ancestors were only found in their writings. Envy and
suspicion, the vices of little minds, possessed them. The various states engendered
jealousies of each other; and, more unfortunately, growing jealous of their great
federal council, the Amphictyons, they forgot that their common safety had
existed, and would exist, in giving them an honourable extensive prerogative. The
common good was lost in the pursuit of private interest; and that people who, by
uniting, might have stood against the world in arms, by dividing, crumbled into
ruin;—their name is now only known in the page of the historian, and what they
once were is all we have left to admire. Oh! that America! Oh! that my country,
would, in this her day, learn the things which belong to her peace!
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DIMPLE

Mighty well! Very fine, indeed! Ladies and gentlemen, I take my leave; and you
will please to observe in the case of my deportment the contrast between a
gentleman who has read Chesterfield and received the polish of Europe and an
unpolished, untravelled American. [Exit.

The father of American Drama: William Dunlap (1766–1839)

William Dunlap, the first major American playwright, who in the course of his career
composed some sixty pieces, some of which were original, but a large number of which were
adaptations and translations from the German and French. His talent was second rate, but his
industry was remarkable, and his influence on the course of drama immense. He specialized
in adapting European plays for American audiences. Despite some success with plays like The
Father; or, American Shandyism (1789) and The Stranger (1798), his theatre failed and he
went into bankruptcy. His most notable work is probably his The History of the American
Theatre (1832) the first account of the American stage.

Honest and idealistic, he brought respectability not only in his practice of playwriting, but also
as a theatrical manager. Furthermore, it was Dunlap who first wrote a chronicle of theater in
his book History of the American Theatre, begun in 1828 and published in 1833.

Dunlap's which opened the fall season of 1789 was his comedy entitled The Father, or
American Shandyism. It was the first of his pieces to reach the stage, and was well received,
although after a series of four performances its career seems to have ended.
Oldest known American playbill, 1753.
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Interior of the New Theatre, Philadelphia, 1794. (Owned by the Cooper Union Museum.)

The Old Southwark Theatre, Philadelphia, 1766. The first brick playhouse erected in America. (Courtesy of The Library of the
Univ. of Pennsylvania.)

Sentiment and melodrama in American Nationalism 1808

James Nelson Barker (1784–1858), for example, produced the first dramatic version of the
Pocahontas legend in the play The Indian Princess (1808). A highly sentimental account of the
legend.

Puritans and Quakers 1820

Theatre was also discouraged by some religions like the Puritans and Quakers who had
protested against the development of theatre since the 17th century. These religions
believed that theatre could present a danger to the

“immortal soul.” George Fox, the founder of the Quaker faith (in the picture above), went as
far as to say he believed music and the stage “burthened the pure life, and stirred up the
people’s vanity,” implying that he believed theatre made it impossible for people to lead a
“pure” life in pursuit of God.
As a result of these challenges, theatre struggled to gain a true foothold in American culture
until the 1800s, when fears over the morality of plays began to subside. That isn’t to say that
the American population welcomed actors and playhouses with open arms. Early 19th
century actors were often viewed as little more than common prostitutes. It was not until
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the mid-19th century that actors began to be respected within society. An influential persons
(such as authors or politicians) began to receive and entertain actors, indicating their newly
elevated social status.

Minstrel shows 1830s

Types of productions during this time period varied widely. While there was some
development of a purely “American” theatre, with plays like Uncle Tom’s Cabin, The Octoroon
or Life in Louisiana written by early American playwrights, minstrel shows dominated as a the
popular entertainment form. Each show consisted of comic skits, dancing, and music
performances that depicted people specifically of African descent. The shows were
performed by mostly white people in make-up or blackface for the purpose of playing
the role of black people. Minstrel shows emerged as brief burlesques and comic
entreactes in the early 1830s in the Northeastern states. By 1848, blackface minstrel
shows were the national genre of burlesque. It was replaced for the most part by
vaudeville. After the 1950s it was rightfully seen as a demonstration of a racist form of
art and since then painted the face in black to represent a black person is an act of
shame.

A minstrel performer in the early 20th century. Reprinted from Parkesburg by Bruce Edward Mowday for the Parkesburg Free Library (pg.
105, Arcadia Publishing, 2009).

The first showboats began to appear at the turn of the 19th century. In 1817, Noah
Ludlow and his troupe of actors began traveling by boat, but William Chapman’s
Floating Theater is the first documented showboat. “Showboats” provided a variety of
entertainment from combined museums and theaters to floating circuses to
disreputable gambling boats, strip shows, and medicine shows. Although the Civil War
halted traveling river entertainment, showboats were revived in the 1870s with
performances including vaudeville, melodrama, and variety acts. The larger showboats,
including the Majestic, were barges without their own engines, which allowed for a large
theater. They traveled the river with the help of a tugboat.
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Photograph of the Majestic's stage from Catherine Reynolds King's memoir.

Built in 1923, the Majestic was the third showboat owned by Tom Reynolds and his
brother-in-law and business partner, Thomas Nichols. His first showb

Metamora; or, The Last of the Wampanoags

It is a play written in 1829 by John Augustus Stone. It was first performed in December 15,
1829, at the Park Theater in New York City, starring the most famous actor of the time,
Edwin Forrest. It was a tragedy in five acts, of which the hero, or principal character, was an
aboriginal of this country. "Playing Indian" or dressing up in a stereotypical Native American
costume is an American practice that goes back to colonial times. During “The Boston Tea
Party,” colonists dressed up as Indians by wearing feathers, blankets, and drawing on their
faces with black soot. They then boarded an East Indian Company of merchants and threw
the chests of tea onboard into the Boston harbor.

Vaudeville 1880s
Vaudeville productions began rising in popularity during the 1880s, they consisted of multiple
unrelated acts grouped together on the same play. By the 1900s, 500 Vaudeville
performances touring the country included anything from trained animals to one-act plays
and magicians. Many celebrities of the era got their start on the Vaudeville stage, including
comedians Abbot and Costello, singer Judy Garland, and novelty act Harry Houdini, amongst
others. It was the era of great personalities in the field producing managers, actors, and
playwrights; it was the era which turned the minstrel show into a national institution; which
took variety and transformed it into chain-store vaudeville; which created the modern
burlesque show, standardized it, and exploited it from coast to coast; which gave birth to
the huge mobile circus.
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Harry Houdini was a popular Vaudeville actor of the 20th century. Reprinted from New York
City Vaudeville by Anthony Slide (pg 62. Arcadia Publishing, 2006).

Vaudeville performances continued strong into the 1930s. The influence of the art form can
be felt in early film, radio, and TV comedies that frequently adopted Vaudeville tropes.
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Drama Terms Glossary

Act: A major division in a play. An act can be sub-divided into scenes. (See scene). Greek plays
were not divided into acts. The five act structure was originally introduced in Roman times
and became the convention in Shakespeare’s period. In the 19th century this was reduced to
four acts and 20th century drama tends to favor three acts. Antagonist: A character or force
against which another character struggles. Examples: Creon is Antigone's antagonist in
Sophocles' play Antigone; Tiresias is the antagonist of Oedipus in Sophocles' Oedipus the King.

Ad-lib: to improvise lines that are not part of the written script; also refers to the
improvised line.

Aesthetic distance: the physical or psychological separation of the audience from

the action of a play, needed to maintain the artistic illusion of the play.

Agit-prop: "agitation" and "propaganda", Is the communist propaganda used in soviet

Russia that is spread to the general public through popular media such as literature,
plays, pamphlets, films, and other art forms with an explicitly political message. The
term originated in Soviet Russia as a shortened name for the Department for Agitation
and Propaganda, which was part of the central and regional committees of the
communist Party of the Soviet Union. Typically Russian agitprop explained the
ideology and policies of the Communist Party and attempted to persuade the general
public to support and join the party and share its ideals. It gave rise to agitprop theater
a highly politicized theatre that originated in 1920 in Europe and spread to the United
States; the plays of Bertold Brecht are a notable example.

Allegory: a dramatic work in which there is a one-to-one correspondence between

the literal meaning and the underlying, or allegorical, meaning of the work. An
example is the medieval play Everyman, in which the protagonist Everyman stands
for all people.

Anagnorisis Aristotle: "A man cannot become a hero until he can see the root of his
own downfall.“ The tragic hero has a “moment of enlightenment” near the end of the
story. The tragic hero has a “moment of enlightenment” near the end of the story.
He/she finally understands what he/she has done wrong—how he/she contributed to
the tragic situation. He/she finally understands what he/she has done wrong—how
he/she contributed to the tragic situation. The story often ends with the death of the
tragic hero. The story often ends with the death of the tragic hero. His death usually is
not a pure loss - it results in greater knowledge and awareness. His death usually is
not a pure loss - it results in greater knowledge and awareness.

Black box: a one-room theater, without a proscenium arch; interior is painted black,
including walls, floor, and ceiling, and any drapes are also black.

Blackout: a lighting cue where all stage lights go off simultaneously.

Burlesque: a form of low comedy that mocks a broad topic.

Catastrophe: comes from a Greek word meaning "overturn." a large, often sudden,
disaster
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Catharsis is the purging of emotions created by a good tragedy. Catharsis is the

purging of emotions created by a good tragedy. We feel pity and fear as we watch the
tragic suffering of the characters in the play. We feel pity and fear as we watch the
tragic suffering of the characters in the play. Those emotions are safely exercised and
exorcised. The safety lies in the fact that the spectacle of the drama is not real; the
actors are not really hurt. Those emotions are safely exercised and exorcised. The
safety lies in the fact that the spectacle of the drama is not real; the actors are not
really hurt. Brings about a moral or spiritual renewal or welcome relief from tension
and anxiety. Ultimate end of any tragic Ultimate end of any tragic

Characterization: How an actor uses body, voice, and thought to develop and
portray a character.

Comedy: A dramatic work in which the central motif is the triumph over adverse
circumstance, resulting in a successful or happy conclusion. Comedy can be divided
into visual comedy or verbal comedy. Visual comedy includes farce and slapstick.
Verbal Comedy includes satire, black comedy and comedy of manners.

Critic: a specialist in the evaluation and judgment of literary and artistic works,
usually working in the media.

Critique: evaluation or judgment usually published and written by a critic.

Deus Ex Machina: When an external source resolves the entanglements of a play by

supernatural intervention. The Latin phrase means, literally, "a god from the machine."
The phrase refers to the use of artificial means to resolve the plot of a play. Examples:
Many of Euripides’ plays have gods coming to rescue the day. In Medea a dragon
drawn chariot is sent by Apollo, the Sun God, to rescue Medea who has just murdered
her children.

Drama: The art of composing, writing, acting, or producing plays; a literary

composition intended to portray life or character or enact a story, usually involving
conflicts and emotions exhibited through action and dialogue, designed for theatrical
performance.

Dramatic Irony: A device in which a character holds a position or has an expectation

reversed or fulfilled in a way that the character did not expect but that the audience or
readers have Glossary of Dramatic Terms 3 anticipated because their knowledge of
events or individuals is more complete than the character’s. Example: In
Shakespeare’s Othello, Othello blames Desdemona for cheating on him. The
audience knows that she is faithful and Iago deceives him.

Dynamic Character: Undergoes an important change in the course of the play- not
changes in circumstances, but changes in some sense within the character in question
-- changes in insight or understanding or changes in commitment, or values. The
opposite is a static character that remains essentially the same.

Epilogue: a summary speech delivered at the end of a play that explains or

comments on the action.
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Fate: Each person has a fate assigned to him or her (by the gods). A person who
seeks to overstep his or her fate would be guilty of hubris, or pride.

Flat Characters: Flat characters in a play are often, but not always, relatively simple
minor characters. They tend to be presented though particular and limited traits; hence
they become stereotypes. For example, the selfish son, the pure woman, the lazy child
or the dumb blonde. These characters do not change in the course of a play.

Flaw: The “tragic flaw” The “flaw” in the character is a defect which keeps him/her from
being aware of the situation around him/her. The character does not understand (for
much of the story) his/her part of creating the situation. The “flaw” in the character is
a defect which keeps him/her from being aware of the situation around him/her. The
character does not understand (for much of the story) his/her part of creating the
situation.

Foreshadowing: Anton Chekhov best explained the term in a letter in 1889: "One must
not put a loaded rifle on the stage if no one is thinking of firing it." Chekhov's gun, or
foreshadowing is a literary technique that introduces an apparently irrelevant element
is introduced early in the story; its significance becomes clear later in the play. At the
beginning of the Ibsen's A Doll's House, the protagonist Nora goes against the wishes
of her husband in a very minor way. This action foreshadows her later significant
rebellion and total rejection of her husband. In Synge's Riders to the Sea the mother’s
vision of her recently drowned son foreshadows the death of her remaining son.

Fourth Wall: The imaginary wall that separates the spectator/audience from the action
taking place on stage. In a traditional theatre setting (as opposed to a theatre in the
round) this imaginary wall has been removed so that the spectator can “peep” into the
fictional world and see what is going on. If the audience is addressed directly, this is
referred to as “breaking the fourth wall.”

Freytag’s Pyramid: a triangular diagram that shows how a plot or story line
progresses.

Inflection: change in pitch or loudness of the voice.

Irony: In general, a term with a range of meanings, all of them involving some sort of
discrepancy or incongruity between what is expected or understood and what actually
happens or is meant. Irony is used to suggest the difference between appearance and
reality, between expectation and fulfillment, and thus, the complexity of experience.
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A. Verbal irony: the opposite is said from what is intended. It should not be
confused with sarcasm which is simply language designed to wound or offend.
Verbal irony, also called rhetorical irony, is sometimes viewed as a figure of
speech, since it is a rhetorical device that involves saying one thing but meaning
the opposite. Verbal irony is the most common kind of irony and is characterized
by a discrepancy between what a speaker (or writer) says and what he or she
believes to be true. More specifically, a speaker or writer using verbal irony will
say the opposite of what he or she actually means.
B. Dramatic irony: the contrast between what a character believes and/or says and
what the audience knows to be true. Dramatic irony (sometimes referred to as
tragic irony when it occurs in a tragedy) may be used to refer to a situation in which
the character’s own words come back to haunt him or her. However, it usually
involves a discrepancy between a character’s perception and what audience (or
reader) knows to be true. The readers possess some material information that the
character lacks, and it is the character’s imperfect information that motivates or
explains his or her discordant response.
C. Irony of situation: discrepancy between appearance and reality, or between
expectation and fulfillment, or between what is and what would seem appropriate.
This includes both dramatic and cosmic irony The term dramatic irony (sometimes
referred to as tragic irony when this occurs in a tragedy) may be used to refer to a
situation in which the character’s own words come back to haunt him or her.
However, it usually involves a discrepancy between a character’s perception and
what audience (or reader) knows to be true. The reader possess some material
information that the character lacks, and it is the character’s imperfect information
that motivates or explains his or her discordant response. Cosmic irony, or irony
of fate, is characterized by four elements. First, it involves a powerful deity (or fate
itself) with the ability and desire to manipulate events in a character’s life. Second,
the character subject to this irony believes in free will. Thus, whether or not the
character acknowledges the deity’s existence, he or she persists in attempting to
control, or at least affect, events. Third, the deity “toys” with the character in such
a way that the outcome is clear to the d observer, but the character hopes for
escape. The deity may permit—or even encourage—the character to believe in
self-determination, thereby raising false hopes that the audience knows will be
crushed. Fourth, cosmic irony always involves a tragic outcome. Ultimately, the
character’s struggle against destiny will be in vain.

Kabuki: the popular theater of Japan that developed out of Noh theater in the 17th
century. In Kabuki Theater, actors use exaggerated and stylized makeup, costumes,
gestures, speech, and special effects to portray traditional character roles and story
lines.

Kinesthetic: Resulting from the sensation of bodily position, presence, or

movement.

Literary elements of drama (theater) include story line (plot), character, story
organization (beginning, middle, end); plot structures (rising action, turning point,
falling action), conflict, suspense, theme, language, style, dialogue, and monologue.

Melodrama: a style of play, which originated in the 19th century, relying heavily on
sensationalism and sentimentality. Melodramas tend to feature action more than
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motivation, stock characters, and a strict view of morality in which good triumphs
over evil.

Noh: Japanese drama that began as a religious ceremony in the 14th century; plays
are highly stylized and depend upon music, lavish costumes, mime, and masks.
Traditionally Noh was the theater of the upper classes.

Off-Broadway: The Off-Broadway movement started in the 1950s as a reaction to the

perceived commercialism of. An early success was Circle in the Square Theatre's
1952 production of Summer and Smoke by Tennessee Williams. Off-Broadway offered
a new outlet for "poets, playwrights, actors, songwriters, and designers. The first great
Off-Broadway musical was the 1954 “revival" of The Threepenny Opera, which proved
financially successful.

Happenings: Happenings can be a form of participatory new media art, emphasizing

an interaction between the performer and the audience. In his Water, Robert Whitman
had the performers drench each other with coloured water. "One girl squirmed
between wet inner tubes, ultimately struggling through a large silver vulva." Claes
Oldenburg, best known for his innovative sculptures, used a vacant house, his own
store, and the parking lot of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in
Los Angeles for Injun, World's Fair II and AUT OBO DYS. The idea was to break down
the fourth wall between performer and spectator; with the involvement of the spectator
as performer, objective criticism is transformed into subjective support. For some
happenings, everyone present is included in the making of the art and even the form
of the art depends on audience engagement, for they are a key factor in where the
performers' spontaneity leads.

Living Theater: In the 1950s, the group was among the first in the U.S. to produce the
work of influential European playwrights such as Bertolt Brecht (In The Jungle of Cities
in New York, 1960) and Jean Cocteau, as well as modernist poets such as T. S. Eliot
and Gertrude Stein. One of their first major productions was Pablo Picasso's Desire
Caught By the Tail; other early productions were Many Loves by William Carlos
Williams and Luigi Pirandello's Tonight We Improvise. Their work shared some
aspects of style and content with Beat generation writers. In the early 1960s the Living
Theatre was host to avant-garde minimalist performances.

Minstrel Show: was an American form of entertainment developed in the early 19th
century.

Pantomime: acting without words.

Part: Five Parts the first act introduces the characters in a state of happiness, or at the
height of their power, influence, or fame. The second act typically introduces a problem
or dilemma, which reaches a point of crisis in the third act, but which can still be
successfully averted. In the fourth act, the main characters fail to avert or avoid the
impending crisis or catastrophe, and this disaster occurs. The fifth act traditionally
reveals the grim consequences of that failure.
Peripeteia The sudden reversal of fortune in a story, play, or any narrative in which
there is an observable change in direction. In tragedy, this is often a change from
stability and happiness toward the destruction or downfall of the protagonist. The
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sudden reversal of fortune in a story, play, or any narrative in which there is an

observable change in direction. In tragedy, this is often a change from stability and
happiness toward the destruction or downfall of the protagonist.

Personal props: small props that are usually carried in an actor’s costume, such as
money or a pen.

Plot: The sequence of events that make up a story. According to Aristotle, “The plot
must be ‘a whole’ with a beginning, middle, and end” (Poetics, Part VII). A plot needs
a motivating purpose to drive the story to its resolution, and a connection between
these events. Example: “The king died and then the queen died.” Here there is no plot.
Although there are two events – one followed by the other – there is nothing to tie them
together. In contrast, “The king died and then the queen died of grief,” is an example
of a plot because it shows one event (the king’s death) being the cause of the next
event (the queen’s death). The plot draws the reader into the character’s lives and
helps the reader understand the choices that the characters make.
Point of attack: The point in the story at which the playwright chooses to start
dramatizing the action; the first thing the audience will see or hear as the play begins.

Prologue: (1) In original Greek tragedy, the prologue is either the action or a set of
introductory speeches before the first entry of the chorus. Here, a single actor's
monologue or a dialogue between two actors would establish the play's background
events. (2) In later literature, the prologue serves as explicit exposition introducing
material before the first scene begins. (Taken and adapted from:
web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_A.html). The prologue is performed/delivered by the
chorus. (See Chorus) Examples: A chorus gives a prologue with the background
information as to the feud between the families in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
Tom, one of the protagonists in William’s A Glass Menagerie gives a prologue both of
the background of the play and the character’s philosophy.
Props: [Property] Articles or objects that appear on stage during a play. Props can also
take on a significant or even symbolic meaning. Examples: The Christmas tree in
Ibsen’s A Doll's House and Laura's collection of glass animals in Tennessee William’s
The Glass Menagerie.

Protagonist: The main character of a literary work.

The Provincetown Players was a collective of artists, writers, intellectuals, and

amateur theater enthusiasts. Under the leadership of George Cram “Jig” Cook and
Susan Glaspell, his wife, from Iowa, the Players produced two seasons in
Provincetown, Massachusetts (1915 and 1916) and six seasons in New York City,
between 1916 and 1922. The company's founding has been called "the most important
innovative moment in American theatre because Its productions helped launch the
careers of Eugene O'Neill and Susan Glaspell, and ushered American theatre into the
Modern era.

Repertory: A system of producing plays in which a company of actors is assembled to

stage a number of plays during a specific period of time. The repertory company
included actors, each of whom played roles in several plays throughout a theatrical
season and who often specialized in a specific type of role
 19

Satire: A literary work that criticizes human misconduct and ridicules vices, stupidities,
and follies. Example: Joan Littlewood’s Oh! What a Lovely War about World War I.
Even the title indicates this is a satire.

Scene: A traditional segment in a play. Scenes are used to indicate (1) a change in
time (2) a change in location, (3) provides a jump from one subplot to another, (4)
introduces new characters (5) rearrange the actors on the stage. Traditionally plays
are composed of acts, broken down into scenes.

Script: the written dialogue, description, and directions provided by the playwright.

Set: the physical surroundings, visible to the audience, in which the action of the
play takes place.

Setting: when and where the action of a play takes place.

soliloquy: a speech in which an actor, usually alone on stage, speaks the inner
thoughts of his/her character aloud.

Stage Direction: A playwright's descriptive or interpretive comments that provide

readers (as well as actors and directors) with information about the dialogue, setting,
and action of a play. Modern playwrights tend to include substantial stage directions,
while earlier playwrights typically use them more sparsely, implicitly, or not at all.
Tempo: the pace of a scene or a play.

Tension: the atmosphere created by unresolved, disquieting, or inharmonious

situations that human beings feel compelled to address; the state of anxiety the
audience feels because of a threat to a character in a play.

Theatre of the Absurd: A type of drama and performance that conveys a sense of life
as devoid of meaning and purpose. The term was coined by the critic Martin Esslin,
who described and analyzed a group of mid-twentieth-century play in his book, The
Theatre of the Absurd, including the work of Samuel Beckett and Eugene Ionesco.

Tragedy: “an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain

magnitude” Triggers 2 emotions: pity and terror Triggers 2 emotions: pity and terror
Often starts “en media res” or “in the middle” of the action Often starts “en media res”
or “in the middle” of the action "Tragedy, then, is a process of imitating an action which
has serious implications, is complete, and possesses magnitude; by means of
language which has been made sensuously attractive, with each of its varieties found
separately in the parts; enacted by the persons themselves and not presented through
narrative; through a course of pity and fear completing the purification of such
emotions.” Aristotle, The Poetics Aristotle, The Poetics

Tragic flaw: the defect in the tragic hero that leads to his or her fall.

Tragic hero: 1. Usually of noble birth 2. Hamartia – a.k.a. the tragic flaw that eventually
leads to his downfall; often this causes a mistake in judgment. 3. Peripeteia – a
reversal of fortune brought about by the hero’s tragic flaw; this is often also influenced
by “fate” or the gods. 4. His actions result in an increase of self- awareness and self-
knowledge…though he may not choose to act on this! 5. The audience must feel pity
 20

and fear for this character. ***What’s the difference between an epic hero and a tragic
hero?

Turning point: the climax or high point of a story, when events can go either way.

Vaudeville: a form of stage entertainment that includes a variety of acts; was

extremely popular in the early 20th century; the term comes from the Valley of Vire
in France, known for its music and entertainment in the 15th century.

Sources
http://highered.mcgrawhill.com/sites/0072405228/student_view0/drama_glossary.ht
ml http://www.bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/litgloss
http://www.mediacollege.com/glossary
http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/nadrama/content/review/glossary/welcome
.aspx www.paulreuben.website/pal/append/axh.html
https://www.ket.org/education/resources/drama-glossary/#a
The American Theater1700 1950, Glenn Hughes Director of the School of Drama, University
of Washington VAILBALLOU PRESS, INC., BI
A Brief History of American Literature BY Richard Gray, 2011
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/554/pg554.html