By Änna Williams

Drama

Most difficult writing style to learn

NY Theatres• Most famous group of American theatres –

Broadway• 4 Groups

– Broadway – Off Broadway– Off-off Broadway– Regional

Broadway

Group of NY theatres on or near Broadway in ManhattanMore than 30 theatres

Ea. Seat more than 800 people

Off BroadwayEstablished in 50’s

Beyond Broadway districtSeat less than 300 people

More experimentalCheaper

Off-off Broadway

Group of 125 theatresOften not-for-profit

Even more experimental

Regional

Dramatic productions, especially yr-rd professional, outside NY City

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

Types of Drama

Comedy• The main character overcomes major

conflict & makes it humorous• Happy ending• Ex: Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple (1965)

Tragedy• Main character never overcomes major

conflict• Sad ending• Ex: Dale Wasserman’s One Flew Over the

Cuckoo’s Nest (2001)

* 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)

Realistic Drama

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

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

“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

Realism in Theatre• Seen as a revolt against crude theatricalism• Theatre goes in cycles

– Realism to theatricalism & back

Social Conscience PlaywrightsMiller & Williams

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

Expressionist Drama(Theatre of the Absurd)Revelation of characters’ interior consciousness w/o reference to

logical sequence of events

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)

Theatre can now be simply a stage & an audience

Thanks to:•“American Drama”. Elements of Literature, 5th Course. Teacher’s Edition. Holt, Rhinehart, Winston. 2000. Pgs. 818-824•“Edward Albee”. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. September 9, 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Albee•“Waiting for Godot”. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. September 9, 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waiting_for_Godot•“Tennessee Williams”. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. September 9, 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennessee_Williams