The Cambridge Companion to American Theatre since 1945 (Cambridge Companions to Theatre and Performance)

Cambridge University Press
Edition: New, 9/9/2021
EAN 9781108727211, ISBN10: 1108727212

Paperback, 296 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm
Language: English
Originally published in English

The Cambridge Companion to American Theatre since 1945 provides an overview and analysis of developments in the organization and practices of American theatre. It examines key demographic and geographical shifts American theatre after 1945 experienced in spectatorship, and addresses the economic, social, and political challenges theatre artists have faced across cultural climates and geographical locations. Specifically, it explores artistic communities, collaborative practices, and theatre methodologies across mainstream, regional, and experimental theatre practices, forms, and expressions. As American theatre has embraced diversity in practice and representation, the volume examines the various creative voices, communities, and perspectives that prior to the 1940s was mostly excluded from the theatrical landscape. This diversity has led to changing dramaturgical and theatrical languages that take us in to the twenty-first century. These shifting perspectives and evolving forms of theatrical expressions paved the ground for contemporary American theatrical innovation.

Introduction Julia Listengarten and Stephen Di Benedetto
Part I. Commercial and Mainstream Theatre
1. Broadway post-1945 to 1960
shifting perspectives Susan C. W. Abbotson
2. Bridging the gap
Broadway and the experimental from the 1960s to 2020 Cindy Rosenthal
3. What's inside? Collaborative relationships at the heart of the American musical Laura MacDonald
4. Shaping Broadway and off-Broadway plays through collaborations
playwrights, directors, designers, and companies Jessica Silsby Brater
Part II. Regional Theatre Movement
5. Money matters
dismantling the narrative of the rise of regional theatre Elizabeth A. Osborne
6. When and where they enter
black and brown voices in American theatre Faedra Chatard Carpenter
7. El jardín mágico
commissions, collaboration, and new play development in American regional theatre David A. Crespy
Part III. Experimental Theatre and Other Forms of Entertainment
9. Post-avant-garde theatre Arnold Aronson
10. Populist provocations and commercial cavalcades
popular entertainments and the rise of mass mediated performance Chase Bringardner.