Theatre Today

Chapter 11
Theatre in the Twentieth Century 11-2

• The 20th century was an age of violence and upheaval

• Theatre responded with a more expansive and fragmented
dramaturgy
• Bringing era of modernism to an end
• Directly—and sometimes physically—confronting audiences
• No generalizations about all theatre today, but definite trends are
emerging
A Theatre of Postmodern Experiment 11-3

• Recycles or “quotes” other artistic forms through:

1. Self-reflection
• A work of art that examines itself
2. Reflection of the past
• Refashioning extant movements in new context

• Influenced by antirealism but without optimism

• Particularly indebted to Beckett and Brecht
• Rejects possibility of meaning and analysis
• Postmodernism DOES NOT value rational logic or cause-and-effect
determinism.
• Influences even musical theatre
• Musicals that comment on their form, like Urinetown
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZV431zhXA4 4 min
A Nonlinear Theatre 11-4

• Rejects chronological linearity

• Innovations in chronology have become more commonplace and accepted
• Flashbacks, reverse order, sudden shifts in time
• Flashbacks that are not clearly framed as such, shuttling instead between
time zones without narrative warning, are examples of nonlinear theatre.
A Diverse Theatre 11-5

• New voices apart from traditional white male artists of past

• Female critically-acclaimed actors, directors, playwrights, and ensembles
have risen in prominence

• Racially diverse artists have developed cultural voices and unique

contributions to theatre
Racial Diversification in Today’s Theatre 11-6

Black theatre
• Postwar America saw rise of black voices
• Amiri Baraka, Negro Ensemble Company
• 1980s saw the historically ambitious work of August Wilson
• Bill Moyers interviews August Wilson.
• August Wilson and the Blues (3:30)
In this video from August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand the playwright discusses the influence that the blues
has had on his writing.  The clip also features a performance from Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and commentary from
several theater scholars. 
• Recently, Susan Lori-Parks and Lynn Nottage explore black psyche with formal innovations
Latino theatre
• Grew from social activism of El Teatro Campesino
• Continues today with Octavio Solis, Nilo Cruz, and ensembles such as Culture Clash
• The Borderlands Theatre produces theatre in Spanish and English for local multiracial
community
Asian American theatre
• Gained prominence with
Clive Owen, Julie Taymor, and David Henry Hwang Introduce M. BUTTERFLY | M. BUTTERF
LY
(2 min)
A Global Theatre 11-7

• Global exchange originally sparked by Industrial Revolution

• For example, the Moscow Art Theatre touring the U.S. in 1920s
• Recently, “Macaronic” theatre utilizes multiple languages
• Demonstrates both hindrances and possibilities of increased communication
Recent Changes in the Theatre 11-8

• Increase of issues of sexual preference

• Differently abled persons in artistic work
• Changed the possibilities of theatre, for blind and deaf communities, e.g.
• Cross-gender and color-blind casting
• Articles with insight –
• Darktown Follies (Lafayette Theatre, Harlem, 1913)
•  Life-Like: American Society and the Early to Mid- Twentieth Century Musi
cal
• The American Musical in Black and White: How race relations in the Unite
d States directly affected the development of musical theatre
• Unpacking “Diversity” In Musical Theatre
A Dangerous Theatre 11-9

• Previous “shocking” effects included nudity and profanity

• Audiences have already become accustomed
• Theatre more open to taking risks
• New, potentially dangerous plays deal directly with controversy
• While theatre is more accepting of dangerous topics,
plays still generate controversy and, sometimes, horror
• Oftentimes this occurs alongside critical acclaim
Artistic Trends in the 21st Century 11-10

• New types of spectacular effects

• Not only in terms of technology (as with Broadway musicals) but also in
emphasizing the visual over narrative (as with performance art)
• Verbatim theatre
• Uses oral histories and documents from events as texts
• Theatre of community
• Created for and sometimes by a specific community that often express, celebrate, and sometimes
critique the culture of their creators.

• Dance theatre and Movement Art

• Merges dance with narrative elements of theatre

• Performance art
• DOES NOT use traditional conventions of drama such as a plot or character. Utilizes values of visual
arts in creating a provocative association of unexpected impressions around a given theme.

• Solo performance
• Attempts complex dramaturgy with single performer, oftentimes using autobiography
New directors demonstrate expansion of 11-11
theatre’s form and content

• Experimental staging of classical and new drama Peter Brook talks with Charlie Rose (Jan 2014) - 14 minutes

• Peter Brook (3 m in) An interview with theatre director Peter Brook (7 min)
• https://www.rsc.org.uk/a-midsummer-nights-dream/past-productions/peter-brook-1970-production

• Extremely visual (after opening, jump to cupid at 2:58)

• experimentation of time and space

• Robert Wilson(2:09) Einstein on the Beach 2012 Official Trailer(1:37)

• Experimental work and international techniques

• Julie Taymor’s Midsummer Nights Dream Trailer
• Julie Taymor: Spider-Man, The Lion King and life on the creative edge (18:28)  This
is great. Please watch!
Where to Find Today’s Theatre 11-12

• Broadway - Most professional work in America

• Off-Broadway - Professional theatres operating on significantly reduced

budgets and located primarily in Greenwich Village, SoHo, and upper East and
West sides of Manhattan
• Off-off-Broadway - avant-garde, experimental theatrical productions in
NYC taking place in small or informal venues.
• Regional theatres – “Not for Profit Theatres”
• “Nonprofit” is a legal designation - they are exempt from most taxes. They are
noncommercial, relying upon funding sources other than box office receipts. Although the
theater may have paid staff and performers, the theatre has no owners and makes no profit.
Other settings include

• Academic Settings
• Community stages
• Shakespeare festivals
• Summer Theatre

• International theatre of England, France, and Germany has gained

prominence

• Above all, theatre today cannot be characterized—it is always new

11-13