American Theatre

Historical background: beginning of the 20th century

Victorianism and realism

England: Victorianism (Dickens)

Italy: Verism (Verga)

France: Realism and Naturalism (Zola, Balzac)

• The rise of realism is strictly connected to the rise of the middle-class as it reflects their moral structure, the importance of appearance, family, marriage, the role of men (who had to work), and that of women (who had to stay home and comply).
• Crisis between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century: crisis of literary realism as well.

Freud's interpretation and Bergson's time concept

F — After his interpretation of dreams, we see things differently from before. He thinks reality is expressed through dreams, which is the only time when we show our true selves. Inside men, there is no rational mechanism, and we only obey the rules of desires, which is why dreams give us a key to interpret our reality.

B — Philosopher who revolutionized the concept of time by asserting that we have 2 different types and perceptions of time:

• Kronos: Chronological, "objective" narration of events, the time of science, "regular and measurable" floats of moments in time.
• Kairos: How we perceive events in an emotional way, considering first the part of events that struck us the most. It's a "subjective" narration of time, "individual" time. Everyone has a different kairos, perception of it can tighten or broaden the narration.

Stream of consciousness and relativity

W J — Brother of Henry James, he theorized the stream of consciousness technique by narrating from the POV of a character. Authors narrate by following his/her stories that aren’t narrated from an objective and chronological time as we are overthrown by the character’s own individual perception.

E — Relativized space and time with his Theory of Relativity: time isn’t always the same. If we travel at a different speed, the perception of time is different, and we have to count time in a different way. Our points of reference in time and space are arguable, as time and space are not always the same.

Futurism and modernism

U B and G B — Futurist painters, they try to find ways to reproduce speed in a painting.

E M — First literary movement influenced by the discoveries of the 20th century. Objectivity of reality isn’t sure anymore; man’s search is displaced into their individual consciousness. First-person narrator replaces the omniscient narrator.

• Italy: Svevo (La coscienza di Zeno), Pirandello (Uno, Nessuno, Centomila, Il fu Mattia Pascal)
• France: Proust (Alla ricerca del tempo perduto)
• England: Joyce (Ulysses), Virginia Woolf (To the Lighthouse)

A M — Not as radical as the European movement

• Edith Wharton (The Age of Innocence, although still traditional)
• William Faulkner (The Sound and the Fury: uses stream of consciousness on the mind of a lunatic, tougher and more radical than Ulysses)
• T. S. Eliot (The Waste Land: most radical example of modernism in poetry)

World War I and its aftermath

1917 enters in WW1 — not fought in US, something important because, differently for EU, American citizens don’t experience violence directly. The horrors of violence seep through American consciousness through the veteran’s shattering chronicles sense of pointlessness of the violence of war as they don’t have strong heroic ideals to fight for, just economic ones. Postwar feelings and attitudes of the American citizens include a sense of disillusionment and anxiety (Dos Passos’ and E. E. Cummings’s poetry, Faulkner’s novels).

Social changes in the early 20th century

• 1917 Russian revolution triggers an anti-communist hysteria (Red Scare), which lasts until the 50s. Communism is perceived as a limitation to American freedom.
• 1919 Prohibitionism: Volstead Act forbids selling and transporting spirits.
• 1919-21 Salaries tend to increase, even if labour exploitation does.
• Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby described the mentality of living for the day “for tomorrow we may die” even though they can have everything void in the soul.
• Men and artists alike seek a sense and a place after such catastrophe and devastation.

The roaring twenties and the great depression

US "20 — Age of Jazz

• Roaring Twenties: Gilded age 10-year period following the American Civil War
• Period of apparent optimism: desire to change the world, excessive and frenetic desire of enjoying life, with a philosophy carpe diem
• Cocktail parties, bootleggers (people who illegally sold alcohol), rise of Hollywood (Rodolfo Valentino), birth of the radio. Years of easy profits in Wall Street and Big Business
• Lost generation — American intellectuals and artists who moved to Europe, where they thought there were fresher ideas. Normally they moved either to London or Paris, back then considered the capitals of new literary and artistic movements

The 1930s and the new deal

US 30 S

24th October 1929 Black Monday, Wall Street Crash: beginning of a long crisis that will last up until the end of WW2 unemployment increases, Hoovervilles appear (villages for very poor people who are made of huts and houses made of wood). Vagabondi, hobos: young adolescents who start roaming around; they can’t find a job and don’t believe in institutions.

• Steinbeck, Dos Passos, Guthrie represent these realities and figures.
• 1933 New Deal: President Roosevelt adopts special measures to absorb part of the unemployed citizens (social work programs to reduce the crisis).
• 1936-7 New crisis: Unemployment increases, strikes and social disorders up to the US participation in WW2.

The 1940s and post-war

US 40 S →1941 US enters war as a solution for the crisis. It partially works: industries can produce items for the army. Sense of being under threat from outside: Red Scare of communism, fascism, nazism. Bellow and Dos Passos write novels that revolve around the anxiety of the time.

1945 end of WW2 — struggle to come out of the new trauma. The reconstruction of the post-war gives new impulse to the US economy.

The 1950s and theater

US "50 ”TRANQUILIZED S — Economic boom, improvement of the quality of life, particularly middle-class families. Called “tranquilized” even though lots of conflict remain underneath.

Intro to theater théatron, theater: from Greek word “performance”, a number of arts through which stories (dramas) could be represented. Now theater’s representations are seen as only held in theaters, but in the past it wasn’t true: the mere fact of speaking is not necessarily theater. Theatrical representations could also be made from one person on stage who just moves around, mimes something, dances, sings, speaks. The stage doesn’t need to be a real one for something to be considered “theater”, it needs someone who performs and someone who watches.

Main theatrical styles

• Tragedy: Serious drama + aim: make people think about themselves/morality + tragic, negative ending (hero dies) protagonist (hero) copes with events/consequences of his own actions. Example: Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
• Comedy: Light themes + aim: make people laugh + happy ending. Way of escaping reality: weaknesses of characters are exposed in a way that makes people laugh. Laughter as a complicity between actors and audience.
• Musical: Musical comedy + positive ending. Action carried on by music, singing, dancing. Becomes a trope in 20th century US.
• Mime: Representation of actions and characters without words. Only gestural arts and mimicry, meaning and communication conveyed without verbiage.
• Commedia dell’arte: 18th-century trope, Italian theatrical style: improvised + no real scripts, only a rough draft (canovaccio, with guidelines). Use of masks, singing, dancing, acrobatics (Carlo Gozzi). Inspired by everyday life episodes.

The origins and development of theater

• Prehistoric period: Evidence of some sort of representation only verbal, some sort of initiation rites — tragedy, comedy.
• Ancient and classic Greek theater: 6th century before Christ, a man called Tespi comes to Athens with a cart; in there he transports some objects (scene objects, costumes, masks). At the time, theater meant actors who went around from one city to the other and performed in front of the public. Born as a popular art form. The origin of Western theater goes back to this time. Tragedy is considered the highest form of theater, with playwrights such as Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides: use of masks, chorus (a number of people who wore masks, that had the function of giving the impression that the chorus was an impersonal entity they gave people moral instruction, presenting the plot, making a preview of what was gonna happen, and commenting on what was happening) + 3 unities (action, place, time: 1 main action + 1 location + action develops itself throughout 14 hours). Comedy is a lower form of theater: Aristophanes’ and Menander’s interludes. Paradigms of Greek theater are main points for all EU and US theater.
• Latin and medieval theater: Continues Greek traditions with Seneca’s tragedies and Livius’ and Plautus’ comedies. After the fall of the Roman Empire, theater tends to disappear. The church doesn’t appreciate it, as it makes mass seem like a theater (in the sense that people had to understand through words and sermons what the preacher was saying and it gave people a lesson), a kind of sacred representation that views theater as a rival. The church also doesn’t approve of men and women living together, something that actors needed to do as they traveled. Actors are excommunicated by the church. Only performances exist and they are offered by the church itself: they are usually played near them and are miracle, mystery, and morality plays that narrate episodes from the Bible or deal with particular virtues or sins.

Renaissance and Elizabethan theater

• Renaissance theater: Golden century of theater: new theaters are built, classics rediscovered. Italy: Macchiavelli’s and Ariosto’s comedies, Tasso’s tragedies.
• Elizabethan Jacobean theater: Golden age of British theater: from the Anglican Reformation to the closing of theaters in 1642 [closed by Puritans; after the closure: civil war], authors like Marlowe, Kyd, Johnson, Shakespeare.

17th and 18th century theater

• 17th century: France: late renaissance — classic theater: 3 Aristotelian unities respected. Corneille’s and Racine’s tragedies, Molière’s commedia dell’arte inspired comedies. Spain: Lope de Vega, de la Barca.
• 18th century: Weak century for theater. Italy: pre-Goldoni playwrights, inspired by Molière — memorable tragedy: Maffei’s La Merope. With the advent of Goldoni comedies are restored, and with Metastasio so are melodramas. England: Augustan age (George 1) — decline of theater. Middle-class tragedies produced by Lillo and Steele. 1730 plays by Fielding. Memorable production of Gay’s the Beggar’s Opera (1728), a musical ante-litteram. US musicals are drawn to this production, a satire of Italian operas, dissimilar from other plays produced in the same century. 1737 Licensing Act: every play has to pass through censorship before being staged. Wide development of comedies of sentimentality, particularly with Goldsmith and Sheridan. France — theoretical texts concerning theater with Diderot and revolutionary theater with Beaumarchais.

19th century theater: romanticism and realism

• Romanticism: New conception of culture based on passion, proximity to nature, sublime + things aren’t to be objectively described. Germany: Goethe, Schiller. Italy: Manzoni (Adelchi, Carmagnola), Pellico (Francesca da Rimini). England: Shelley, Keats, Byron.
• Realism: Realism takes the place of great tragedies, sticks to reality, recognizes that there is objectivity in reality and that everyone has to acknowledge this objectivity: age of positivism, scientific era. England: middle-class dramas, Wilde’s parodies, Shaw’s theater. France: Hugo, although still influenced by romanticism. Italy: Verga and verism.

US theater and American drama

Dawn of US theater — Ye Bare And Ye Cubb 1665 1st documented instance of theater in the US: William Darby’s ("the beat and the cub") the representation ends badly when 3 actors are arrested. 1716 1st professional theater founded in Williamsburg, later closed in 1723. 1749 theatrical company founded in Philadelphia, then moved to NYC. 1767 1st American tragedy: Thomas Godfrey’s The Prince of Parthia, following the Elizabethan’s model.

American Revolution — 1787 1st important and successful US comedy: Royal Tyler’s The Contrast. To avoid censorship, he presented the comedy not merely as escapism, but as a moral lecture that could support a Puritan kind of morality. It was performed in both Boston and NYC. Jonathan, the "Stage Yankee" — becomes a trope in US theater: typical American, doesn’t have a wide culture, he’s right and smart, with practical knowledge and intelligence that allow him to survive (American pragmatism). In the play, Jonathan is a servant but he knows how to talk and behave. He manages to go to a theater but then describes it in a negative way, saying what Puritans would say (devilish place), but in an ironic way.

19th century US theater

Starts to have considerable relevance, heavily influenced by EU theater, in particular with authors like Noah, Bird, Boker.

American play — Emerges the myth of the frontier with "tall" tales — tales that contain exaggeration, usually told by miners when they found each other in the saloon. Tend to tell episodes in an unrealistic way (~ Mark Twain). Prairies — contain ideas of vastness, territories, open-air life. Stage Yankee — James Nelson Barker The Indian Princess, 1808 which inspired Disney’s Pocahontas. Superstition, 1824 about witch hunts in England — William Dunlap A Trip to Niagara, Or Travelers To America, 1828 thematizes conflict between EU-US. Use of diorama stage scenery/support that looks like a poster at the back of the stage; it is enlightened from behind so that it can show a landscape or the interior of a room (~ slide).

Anna Cora Mowatt — Fashion, 1845 an ironic comedy against excessive love of foreign things, typical of rich New Yorkers. Represents the excessive desire of New Yorkers to become similar to EU. Stage Yankee: Adam Trueman.

Turn of the century US theater

Idea of change comes later in the US than in EU. Fitch and Belasco, adapters and representatives of melodramatic strain between the 2 centuries, adapt many EU plays and write their own original melodramas.

David Belasco — Gives representation to 2 contrasting ideas of women:

• Madame Butterfly, 1900 adapted from a short story and from which Puccini adapted another play — exotic, submissive, and sensual woman transgression of Puritan standards.
• The Girl of the Golden West, 1905 also adapted from a short story and from which Puccini adapted another play — androgenic woman (~ men), ideal companion to the prairie man. A woman on the same level as a man, she can ride a horse, make decisions.

Expansion of urbanization and growing importance of the imaginary of the city: immigration (people from the countryside come to the city for jobs), new cultures (people coming from other states), technological innovations (industrialization), change in life rhythms (people coming from rural background are accustomed to working with nature’s rhythms). Idea of variation and changeability, different from people in the city, who work the same hours all day every day — idea of oppression. Psychological and cultural consequences of the idea of the city.

In this background were born modern performances with dichotomies:

• Our Town City vs. small town — different dimensions, Wilder’s reality vs. imaginary dimension — reality as a negative dimension, playwrights and artists try to find and create a different reality through imagination. Importance of imagination in Tennessee Williams and Mowatt.
• Modernity vs. past

US theater between WW1 and WW2

4 main themes:

• (1) Kitchen theater: Represented mainly by Susan Glaspell, creator of Trifles, a play masked as a detective story where 3 women notice different details that make them understand how a man has killed and his motive. While their men talk more rhetorically but understand nothing, the women stay in the kitchen and by observing details they solve the case. Type of play that has to do with small and internal spaces. Glaspell brings together a number of theater people, the Provincetown Players.
• (2) Comedies: In particular Philip Barry’s. Not quite as important at the time.
• (3) Théâtre engagé/Street scene: Takes place on the streets or, if represented in a theater, the setting is an external space. A form of political (leftist) theater that deals with the problems of real life close to working and poor people, as well as women. Two main groups were founded after this: Mercury Theater and Group Theater.