20^th Century American Drama:�An Overview

Important Trends and Playwrights in the Move toward Modernism

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Prepared by

Asst. Prof. T. U. Sannake

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

Timeline Continued

• 1910-20: Life Savers, Mass Production, Zipper, Remote Control, Rocket, Traffic Light, Toaster, Tinker Toys.
• 1921-30: Wheaties, Blender, Bubble Gum, Television (1927), Penicillin.
• 1931-40: Ballpoint Pen, Trampoline, Shopping Cart, Nylon Stockings.

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Timeline Continued

• 1941-50: Duct Tape, Nuclear Reaction, Computer, Bikini, Microwave, Kitty Litter, Scrabble, Frisbee.
• 1951-60: Liquid Paper, RAM, Milk Carton, Video Game, Barbie.
• 1961-70: Easy-Bake Oven, Lava Lamp, Holography, Computer Mouse, Microprocessor.

Timeline Continued

• 1971-80: Karaoke, Internet/Ethernet, Post-It Notes, Rubik’s Cube, Personal Computer (1976), PC Modem, Trivial Pursuit.
• 1981-90: Cabbage Patch Kids, www., Mobile Phone, Teletubbies, Google.

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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

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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

The Origins of Realism

Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) 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.

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.

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Other Realism Playwrights

• George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) – 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.

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Other Realism Playwrights

• Anton Chekhov (1860-1904)
• 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.

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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.

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

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Effects of the Great Depression

• Federal Theatre Project created jobs
• Social Protest through theatre
• Shows became Brechtian

Pivotal Playwrights

Arguably, the four most influential were:

• Eugene O’Neill
• Arthur Miller
• Tennessee Williams
• Edward Albee

Eugene O’Neill (1988-1953)

Wrote in a style which combined:

• Realism
• Symbolism
• Expressionism

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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.

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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

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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

Edward Albee (1928- )

• 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?

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 20^th Century (cycle)
• Tony Kushner - gay culture in response to AIDS
• Wendy Wasserstein - both Jewish and feminist issues addressed

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)

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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)

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.

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.

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 20^th Century.