1. 20th Century American Drama: An Overview
Important Trends and Playwrights in the Move toward Modernism

2. Timeline of Innovations
1900: Dirigible, Hershey Bar, Radio, Wireless Signaling
1901: Assembly Line
1903: Airplane, Coat Hanger, Crayons, Study of Radioactivity
1905: Popsicle, Theory of Relativity
1907: Paper Towels, Cellophane

3. Timeline Continued
: Life Savers, Mass Production, Zipper, Remote Control, Rocket, Traffic Light, Toaster, Tinker Toys.
: Wheaties, Blender, Bubble Gum, Television (1927), Penicillin.
: Ballpoint Pen, Trampoline, Shopping Cart, Nylon Stockings.

4. Timeline Continued
: Duct Tape, Nuclear Reaction, Computer, Bikini, Microwave, Kitty Litter, Scrabble, Frisbee.
: Liquid Paper, RAM, Milk Carton, Video Game, Barbie.
: Easy-Bake Oven, Lava Lamp, Holography, Computer Mouse, Microprocessor.

5. Timeline Continued
: Karaoke, Internet/Ethernet, Post-It Notes, Rubik’s Cube, Personal Computer (1976), PC Modem, Trivial Pursuit.
: Cabbage Patch Kids, Mobile Phone, Teletubbies, Google.

6. Theatre in early 1900s Classics still performed Melodramas popular
Minstrel Shows reflected racism
Theatre frowned upon socially
Burlesque pushed boundaries
Technology created options
Vaudeville became mainstream

7. Emergence of American Style
Theatre achieved legitimacy
Superstars created
Early moving pictures competed
Acting styles were more subtle
Realism borrowed from Europe
Truth verified through science
Scientific method of observation ruled
Human problems were the subject of science

8. The Origins of Realism
Henrik Ibsen ( ) is considered to be the father of modern realistic drama. His plays attacked society’s values and dealt with unconventional subjects within the form of the well-made play (causally related). He became a model for later realistic writers.

9. Ibsen’s Plays
Ghosts—1881—dealt with the concept of the sins of the father transferring to the son, resulting in syphilis.
Hedda Gabler – 1890 – a powerful woman takes her life at the end of the play to get away from her boredom with society.
A Doll’s House – 1879 – Nora leaves her husband Torvald and her children at the end of the play; often considered "the slam heard around the world," Nora’s action must have been very shocking to the Victorian audience.

10. Other Realism Playwrights
George Bernard Shaw ( ) – Uncommon for his witty humor, he made fun of English society for the purpose of educating and changing. His plays tended to show the accepted attitude, and then demolished that attitude while showing his own solutions.
Arms and the Man (1894) – about love and war and honor.
Mrs. Warren’s Profession – prostitution.
Major Barbara (1905) – a munitions manufacturer gives more to the world (jobs, etc.) while the Salvation Army only prolongs the status quo.
Pygmalion (1913) – shows the transforming of a flower girl into a society woman, and exposes the phoniness of society. The musical My Fair Lady was based on this play.

11. Other Realism Playwrights
Anton Chekhov ( )
The Seagull (1898)- about an actress and her family and their love interests who each are frustrated by life.
Three Sisters (1900) –about three sisters who want to move to Moscow but never do.
The Cherry Orchard (1902)- about a family symbolized by their surroundings being destroyed.

12. The Move to Naturalism
While Ibsen was perfecting realism, Europe was demanding a new drama based on Darwinism:
all forms of life developed gradually from common ancestry,
evolution of species is explained by survival of the fittest
The implications of Darwin’s ideas seemed to be that
1) heredity and environment control people;
2) no person is responsible, since forces are beyond control;
3) the power must go to society;
4) progress is the same as improvement/evolution; it is inevitable and can be hastened by the application of the scientific method;
5) man is reduced to a natural object.

13. Reactions to Naturalism
Advancements in Musical Theatre
Addition of plots, not just revues
Show Boat-first real example
Cole Porter made show tunes hits
Oklahoma! Advanced story through dance & song
Effects of the Great Depression
Federal Theatre Project created jobs
Social Protest through theatre
Shows became Brechtian

14. Pivotal Playwrights Arguably, the four most influential were:
Eugene O’Neill
Arthur Miller
Tennessee Williams
Edward Albee

15. Eugene O’Neill (1988-1953) Wrote in a style which combined: Realism
Symbolism
Expressionism
Most famous play:
Long Day’s Journey Into Night--- about the horrors of addiction as it it devastates the Tyrone family. It was highly autobiographical.

16. Arthur Miller (1915-2005) Called a “modern tragedian.”
He wrote: “…the underlying struggle is that of the individual attempting to gain his 'rightful' position in his society."
Most famous plays:
The Crucible
Death of a Salesman

17. Tennessee Williams (1911-1983)
Wrote in a style now called “magical realism.”
His works fit into the format of “memory play.”
Character experiences something profound
That experience causes an “arrest of time.”
Character must re-live that until he makes sense of it.
Actors/directors of his plays brought “the Method” of acting to forefront.
Most famous plays:
The Glass Menagerie
A Streetcar Named Desire

18. Edward Albee ( )
Heavily influenced by Samuel Beckett who wrote Waiting for Godot.
Associated in his early works with Theatre of the Absurd.
Early successes were one-act plays like The Zoo Story.
Best known play was not absurdist: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

19. Other Contemporary Trends in Theatre
Growth of Musical Theatre
Explosion of Broadway
Film and theatre borrow from each other
Minorities/fringe society gained voices:
August Wilson - the African American experience in the 20th Century (cycle)
Tony Kushner - gay culture in response to AIDS
Wendy Wasserstein - both Jewish and feminist issues addressed

20. Other Playwrights of Note:
Thornton Wilder (Our Town)
Lillian Hellman (The Children’s Hour)
Sam Shepard (Buried Child)
Marsha Norman (‘night, Mother)
Christopher Durang (Baby with the Bathwater)
David Mamet (Glengarry Glen Ross)

21. More Notable Playwrights
John Patrick Shanley (Doubt)
Lanford Wilson (Tally’s Folly)
John Guare (House of Blue Leaves)
Neil Simon (The Odd Couple)
William Inge (Picnic)
Lorraine Hansberry (A Raisin in the Sun)

22. Other artistic developments of the turn of the century and beyond…
1881: London’s Savoy Theatre is the first to be lit by electricity.
In the same year, Vaudeville debuts in NYC.
1890: Modern dance emerges as a revolution against ballet.
1901: Stanislavski’s “Method” of acting introduced.
See/hear onstage = real life = recreate reality.
Credited as being the first great director-theatre never the same.

23. Other Artistic Developments
1904: Anton Chekhov premieres his play The Cherry Orchard at the Moscow Art Theatre, directed by Stanislavski, introducing modern realism.
1907: Florenz Ziegfeld debuts his Follies in NYC – takes musical extravaganza to new heights.
1909: Diaghilev begins the era of modern ballet.

24. Summary
Modernism in all the performing arts such as dance, musical theatre, and drama take realism in new directions.
By changing what theatre could be, it attracted a more diverse, intellectual, and sophisticated audience.
Chances were taken and most were successful – encouraging risks.
Playwrights, then directors, became the greatest influence on the progression of theatre in America in the 20th Century.