1. American Theatre
By Änna Williams

2. Most difficult writing style to learn
Drama
Most difficult writing style to learn

3. The Great White Way

4. NY Theatres Most famous group of American theatres – Broadway 4 Groups
Off Broadway
Off-off Broadway
Regional

5. Broadway Group of NY theatres on or near Broadway in Manhattan
More than 30 theatres
Ea. Seat more than 800 people

6. Beyond Broadway district
Off Broadway
Established in 50’s
Beyond Broadway district
Seat less than 300 people
More experimental
Cheaper

7. Group of 125 theatres Often not-for-profit Even more experimental
Off-off Broadway
Group of 125 theatres
Often not-for-profit
Even more experimental

8. Dramatic productions, especially yr-rd professional, outside NY City
Regional
Dramatic productions, especially yr-rd professional, outside NY City

9. I’d like to thank all the “little people”
Small theatres produced any play, in any style, that commercial theatre won’t touch
Start new movements (realistic & absurd)
Against commercial theatre

10. Types of Drama

11. Comedy The main character overcomes major conflict & makes it humorous
Happy ending
Ex: Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple (1965)

12. Tragedy Main character never overcomes major conflict Sad ending
Ex: Dale Wasserman’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (2001)

13. * Musicals * Richard Rogers & Oscar Hammerstein
Collaborated on 10 musicals
Greatest achievement – uniting music & drama so songs advance plot & reveal characters
Hits include:
Oklahoma! (1943; Pulitzer)
South Pacific (1949; Pulitzer 1950)
Carousel (1945)
The King and I (1951)
The Sound of Music (1959)

14. “fourth wall” – wall removed so we can see the action
Realistic Drama
“fourth wall” – wall removed so we can see the action
(percenium stage)

15. Eugene O’Neill 1st & most important figure in American drama
Put realistic drama on the map
1936 – Nobel Prize in Lit.
Influences: August Strinberg, Henrik Ibsen, Anton Chekov
Slice-of-life technique

16. “People don’t go to the North Pole and fall off icebergs
“People don’t go to the North Pole and fall off icebergs. They go to the office & quarrel with their wives & eat cabbage soup.”
-Anton Chekhov

17. Realism in Theatre Seen as a revolt against crude theatricalism
Theatre goes in cycles
Realism to theatricalism & back

18. Social Conscience Playwrights
Miller & Williams

19. Tennessee Williams (1911-1983)
Playwright of our souls
Writing – delicate, sensuous, lush imagery, evocative rythms
Characters – often women/lost laides drowning in their own neuroses
Theatricalized realism w/ “music in the wings” or symbolic props

20. Expressionist Drama (Theatre of the Absurd)
Revelation of characters’ interior consciousness w/o reference to logical sequence of events

21. Beckett, Ionesco, & Albee
Samuel Beckett & Eugene Ionesco founders
Edward Albee – most significant absurdist in U.S.
Unsympathetic examinations of the modern condition
Mix of theatricalism & biting dialogue
Plays static
Most one act
Ex: Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot (1954)

22. Theatre can now be simply a stage & an audience

23. The End
Thanks to:
“American Drama”. Elements of Literature, 5th Course. Teacher’s Edition. Holt, Rhinehart, Winston Pgs
“Edward Albee”. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. September 9,
“Waiting for Godot”. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. September 9,
“Tennessee Williams”. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. September 9,