Postmodernism in American Drama

POSTMODERNISM IN
AMERICAN DRAMA
OUTLINE
. Drama and Postmodernism.
. The new dramatic idiom and the experimental

theatre of the 1960s.
. Postmodern practices in drama.

1. DRAMA AND
POSTMODERNISM
Drama and Postmodernism
rama is absent as a genre in theoretical ostmodernism as a theory/cultural
works on postmodernism practice is absent in narrative
histories on drama in the 1990s
ean-Francois Lyotard, The Postmodern

Condition (1979)
. W. Bigsby, Modern American Drama
1945-1990 (1992)
ean Baudrillard, Simulations (1983)
hab Hassan, The Postmodern Turn

arc Robinson, Other American
(1987) Drama (1994)
redric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, the

Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism (1991)
Drama and Postmodernism
ostmodern + drama: incompatible, conflicting

concepts:
paradoxical, even oxymoronic. Postmodernism seldom

connotes the national, the nurtural, or the univocal,
while these are the fundamental features of ancient
Greek drama, which serves as a catalyst to unite
disparate populace into a national version of the Attic
city-state.” (Watt)
Differing views /definitions of postmodernism
n artistic style (Linda Hutcheon)
new cultural order/predicament (Jean Baudrillard)
n intellectual movement (Ihab Hassan)
historical, periodizing concept (Fredric Jameson)
orking definition: Postmodernism is a crisis in our ways of knowing,

perceiving and reproducing the world; a fundamental critique of
representation.
The Fourth Wall tradition broken down
Shaping factors: socio-political,
cultural, and theatrical
2. THE NEW
DRAMATIC IDIOM
Socio-political factors
heatre: the right arena
the black American, the Chicano, the native American and, in a sense, women have
been excluded from history if not from its consequences” and because the theatre
“deals in transformation … it proved the central genre in the sixties and early
seventies … when performance was a primary trope, metaphor and political
reality.” (C. Bigsby)
xperimental groups founded:
l Teatro Campesino by Chicano Luiz Valdez
lack Arts Repertory Theatre by Amiri Baraka
ast West Players in Los Angeles

Aims of the theatrical groups
. produce experimental plays
. reject the fourth–wall performance convention
. reject the traditions of white male theatre
. critique of social and ethnic sterotypes

The Open Theater
(1963-1973)
Founded by Joseph Chaikin,

Collaboration with writers in
the composition of scripts
The Living Theater (1946-)
Café La Mama
(1961)
Encouraged young fledgling

playwrights Jean-Claude van
Itallie, Lanford Wilson, Sam
Shepard, Adrienne Kennedy,
Rochelle Owens.
Theatrical Influences
he Theatre of the Absurd by Martin Esslin (1961)
bsurd: out of harmony, incongruous, unreasonable, illogical
onesco: “Absurd is that which is devoid of purpose . . .cut off from

religious , metaphysical and transcendental roots, man is lost, all
his actions become senseless, absurd, useless” (qtd. in Esslin 23)
heme : metaphysical anguish
orm: no story, no plot, no recognizable characters, rather

mechanical puppets
anguage: babblings instead of dialogues or witty repartee

Theatrical influences
ajor representatives of the Theatre of the Absurd
ugene Ionesco, The Bald Soprano (1950)
amuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot (1953)
ean Genet, The Balcony (1956)
dward Albee, The Zoo Story: premiere in West Berlin in 1959,
S premiere in 1960
Antonin Artaud, drama theorist
(1896-1948)
“Vatic force” : Antonin Artaud
he Theatre and Its Double (1938, transl. 1958) – his work is available
in English for experimental theatre practitioners and authors in the
1960s
hanges in the dramatic idiom:
corns the three parts of the Aristotelian dramaturgy: plot,

character and thought (especially thought "in its garb of words”)
o primacy to dialogue
ocus on space and sound

Primacy of theatricality
ntonin Artaud’s Goal: to narrow down or entirely eliminate the
distance and the borders between the spectators and the actors
rtaud: „No More Masterpieces”: Masterpieces for the past are good
for the past: they are not good for us.
GERTRUDE STEIN
(1874-1946)
Stein’s critique of the box set theatre
“The scene as depicted on the stage is more often

than not one might say it is almost always in
syncopated time in relation to the emotion of anybody
in the audience.” (“Plays,” Lectures in America)
“delay between the emotions presented on stage and

the emotions aroused in the audience.” (Cohn)
Stein’s aim
o create a continuous present in the theatre and to plunge the reader-

spectator into the immediate thereness.
OW?
anguage: nonsensical, disjunctive, sound play and repetition
hythmic dialogue: subject/predicate, often spoken by undesignated voices
ragmentation
o plot, character, event, subject, and meaningful dialogue
patializing: space filled with words, estranged from their denotative meaning
Most notable dramatists of the postmodern era:
African American
Adrienne Kennedy (1931-) Suzan-Lori Parks (1963-)
Chicana and Chicano
Cherríe Moraga (1952-) Luiz Valdez (1940-)
Cuban American and Asian American
María Irene Fornés (1930-2018) David Henry Hwang (1957-)
David Mamet (1947-) Sam Shepard (1943-2017)
POSTMODERN IDIOM
IN DRAMA
Postmodern practices
ew articulations of subjectivity
ominance of monologue
onologic text fragmented
ffacement of the disctinction between high and mass culture

(subcultures, rock, jazz, film)
erging diverse genres, styles , cultures
echnology (TV, video, computers)

Components of postmodern drama
lot: non-linear, reduced to a minimum
haracter: split, multiple,
onologue
pace: multiple spaces/multiple times – synchronic

presence
POSTMODERN STRATEGIES:
EFFECTIVELY RENDER THE
PROBLEMATICS, THE
CONSTRUCTEDNESS
and the reconceptualizations of

racial, cultural and gender
identity.
Adrienne Kennedy, Funnyhouse of a Negro (1964)
(split and fragmented character)
•D. H. Hwang, M. Butterfly (1988)
(Role switching of characters)

Suzan-Lori Parks, Topdog/Underdog (2002)
(Masking)
M. I. Fornes,
The Danube
(repetitive language)
C. Moraga, Giving
up the Ghost
Marisa and
Corky, her
adolescent self
(Split character)

Postmodernism in American Drama

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Postmodernism in American Drama

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Postmodernism in American Drama

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

POSTMODERNISM IN

. Drama and Postmodernism.

. The new dramatic idiom and the experimental

. Postmodern practices in drama.

ean-Francois Lyotard, The Postmodern

hab Hassan, The Postmodern Turn

redric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, the

ostmodern + drama: incompatible, conflicting

paradoxical, even oxymoronic. Postmodernism seldom

new cultural order/predicament (Jean Baudrillard)

n intellectual movement (Ihab Hassan)

historical, periodizing concept (Fredric Jameson)

orking definition: Postmodernism is a crisis in our ways of knowing,

heatre: the right arena

xperimental groups founded:

l Teatro Campesino by Chicano Luiz Valdez

lack Arts Repertory Theatre by Amiri Baraka

ast West Players in Los Angeles

. produce experimental plays

. reject the fourth–wall performance convention

. reject the traditions of white male theatre

. critique of social and ethnic sterotypes

Founded by Joseph Chaikin,

Encouraged young fledgling

he Theatre of the Absurd by Martin Esslin (1961)

bsurd: out of harmony, incongruous, unreasonable, illogical

onesco: “Absurd is that which is devoid of purpose . . .cut off from

heme : metaphysical anguish

orm: no story, no plot, no recognizable characters, rather

anguage: babblings instead of dialogues or witty repartee

ajor representatives of the Theatre of the Absurd

ugene Ionesco, The Bald Soprano (1950)

amuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot (1953)

ean Genet, The Balcony (1956)

dward Albee, The Zoo Story: premiere in West Berlin in 1959,

hanges in the dramatic idiom:

corns the three parts of the Aristotelian dramaturgy: plot,

ocus on space and sound

“The scene as depicted on the stage is more often

“delay between the emotions presented on stage and

o create a continuous present in the theatre and to plunge the reader-

anguage: nonsensical, disjunctive, sound play and repetition

hythmic dialogue: subject/predicate, often spoken by undesignated voices

o plot, character, event, subject, and meaningful dialogue

onologic text fragmented

ffacement of the disctinction between high and mass culture

erging diverse genres, styles , cultures

echnology (TV, video, computers)

lot: non-linear, reduced to a minimum

haracter: split, multiple,

pace: multiple spaces/multiple times – synchronic

and the reconceptualizations of

(Role switching of characters)

You might also like