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EL 316W

EL 316W | American Drama Since 1900

Spring 2023

Useful Links: Course Wiki, Blackboard + Find the Zoom Link @ the Wiki
Necessary Link: Etiquette for attending a virtual class: here.

Week 1 – Week 2 – Week 3 – Week 4 – Week 5 – Week 6 – Week 7 – Week 8 – Week 9 – Week 10 – Week 11 – Week 12 – Week 13 – Week 14 – Week 15 & Final

Am Lit eTexts and Helpful Sites: Here
Overview of Authors: Here

American Drama Since 1900 examines a variety of plays written and produced since 1900, with particular attention to how direction, staging, and performance factors should affect our readings of dramatic texts. It’s been a rich century-plus in American drama, so the course can’t claim to be a comprehensive survey, but we will consider, as we go, how trends in American drama coincide with trends in American fiction. The course will challenge you to think not only about what might conceivably (and appropriately) be done with a play but also about what choices are most justifiable based on a close reading of the text itself. It will also ask you to consider how the reading and analysis of dramatic literature differs from the reading and analysis of other kinds of texts. What are the special affordances and demands of dramatic texts as a form? How is reading a play unlike reading fiction or poetry? How is it is it very much like reading fiction and poetry?

Assignments and Scores to Anticipate

  • Required attendance of St. Joan, weekend of March 17.
  • Daily Quizzes (If There’s Reading, There Might Be a Quiz)
  • Occasional Wiki Posts
  • Several Substantial Peer Feedback Assignments in Eli Review
  • Between ~25 and ~35+ pages of formal writing for the course—a right-sized challenge for an upper division literature seminar.
    • Two Short Critical Reading Responses (~2 pages each)
    • A Scene Analysis (~2-5 pages) (of a Scene from Your Research Playwright)
    • A Substantial Author Inquiry (Research) Project (~5-10 pages)
    • A Substantial Literary-Critical Analysis (Seminar Paper) (~8-12 pages)
    • A Reflective Reading Response on the Writing for the Course (~3-5 pages)
    • Two Exams: Midterm and Final (Including Less Formal “Take-Home” Essay sections of ~2+ Pages Each) (~4-6 Less-Formal Pages)
  • A Course Participation Score

Please Note on Your Calendar

Required attendance of St. Joan, weekend of March 10.

You Should Always Have the Readings in Front of You in Class

Right in front of you, even if on a (bigger-than-a-phone!) screen. We’re here to read together. Let the text take its right place of honor in the room.

Frequent Small Deadlines, Rather Than Sudden Huge Deadlines

This course breaks composition projects into small pieces and asks you to hit small, developmental deadlines, rather than just a few big, big, big deadlines. The idea here is to help you think about writing as a process and make small adjustments along the way. Hitting these deadlines, even if you hit them a little rough, will keep you on track.

Pre-Semester / First Week Chores

  • Sign up for the course wiki, here.
  • Make sure you have access to the books; I expect you to have them with you and be ready to reference them during class meetings. During discussion, they should occupy a place of honor, right in front of you, on your desk.
  • Make sure you have access to Eli Review (which should be available via the bookstore but can also be purchased directly from the Eli Review site).
  • Take note that, at the end of Week 2, you’ll be committing to an author for research. Spend some time learning about these authors! (<That’s a link to click.)

Week 1 (Feb. 3)

  • Notice that “due” items and small notes about any given week are listed right under each week’s heading. For example:
  • Due NEXT Friday: Sign up for research subject/playwright (on wiki, link above) before NEXT Friday’s class. (Sign up on the wiki no earlier than Thursday at 7:00 AM.) Between now and then, take some time to get a sense of the authors we’re reading, so you can choose someone that truly piques your interest.
  • General Note: Remember that you need to either PRINT online texts or have some way (Kindle? iPad? Laptop?) to view your electronic copy in class.
  • Please Note: Readings are meant to be completed for class time on the day when they are listed on the schedule.

Day 1: No Class Yet

Day 2: Still No Class. Bummer.

Day 3: Course introduction. We’ll talk about assignments, research philosophy, and drama as a literary form. We’ll talk about reading plays and how that’s different from reading most other sorts of things assigned in English courses. We’ll talk about picking research subjects.

Totally optional theatre history reading: The Provincetown Playhouse/Players

Week 2 (Feb. 6, 8, and 10)

  • Due Monday: Self intro on course wiki (link above) before class.
  • Due Friday: Sign up for research subject/playwright (on wiki) before Friday’s class. (Sign up on the wiki no earlier than Thursday at 7:00 AM.)
  • We’ll be taking about research and writing tactics a little bit every day this week.

Day 1: Trifles (Susan Glaspell, 1916) (a short play) + Watt and Richardson on Am Drama, 1900-1950 (@Bb, and it’s a dozen *packed* pages; try to keep track of movement names and big ideas here, but don’t sweat the minutia.) + Read these little, useful articles and put the vocab in your course notes: “Stage Directions for Actors” (ThoughtCo) and “Play Blocking and Stage Directions” (ThoughtCo) and, at Bb, the cheesy “Burr and Burton” pdf.

Also Watch: “Wikis in Plain English” (online)

Due: Self intro on course wiki (link above) before class.

About Passing Quizzes: I’ll never be trying to truly stump you on a daily quiz, if we have one. Advice: As you read carefully, keep track of characters, situations, pivotal moments, and major themes you see in the writing. Put ’em in your notes for quick review before class. This will help you to be ready.

Highly Recommended: Read the basic 4-page Author Inquiry Project assignment handout. Take some time to look at the basic info online about some of our course authors, as you begin to discern which one you’d like to study extensively this semester.

Day 2: Waiting for Lefty (Clifford Odets, 1935) + Skim “Enter Up Center, Smiling Helpfully…” (Catron, 19992; Archive.org link) + First Page of Streetcar (@Bb).

Check Out: It’s optional, but the free app Evernote can be an absolutely terrific organizer for your research. I recommend taking 15 minutes to explore it now; it may help you stay on track for the rest of the semester.

Note Taking in Class: Do you have a strategy? It’s *always* the right semester to work on improving your note taking.

Thursday Morning, 8 am: Starting at 8 am on Thursday Morning, you may choose your playwrights for the Inquiry Project, at the wiki.

The Research-as-a-Process guide is now available online: here.

Totally optional theatre history reading: The Group Theater (Summary at Americasn Masters) and (so long as the link lasts) and the American Masters documentary posted online: Broadway’s Dreamers: The Legacy of the Group Theatre, from “American Masters”

Day 3: You Can’t Take It With You, Act 1 (Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, 1936) 

Remember to choose your Inquiry Project author before today’s class meeting.

Due: Claim Author on Wiki

Recommended: Learn about taking screenshots. These may be terrific assets as you tackle your research and writing this semester. (And actually, this is just useful all around, for digital-age life.) My #1 recommended app for screenshots is Skitch, by the Evernote folks, if you’re interested, but you can also do screenshots without an additional app.

Plan Ahead: If you haven’t yet given a slow and careful read to the Critical Response assignment sheet, now would be a very, very good time to do that. Draft coming due next Friday. 

Hey!: You should get to the library this weekend and settle in for an hour or so to do the basic groundwork on your author research, so that you’re on your way to completing the first, small getting-started step in the Inquiry Project process. That step (some requesting of texts that are NOT available in our library) will be due a week from tomorrow. I cannot overemphasize how clarifying and helpful it will be to work through the Research-as-a-Process guide, which is available online: here.

For Your Consideration

Eugene O’Neill’s short play The Hairy Ape (1922) makes an interesting read next to Lefty. Other somewhat more experimental / avant-garde plays from about this time that would fit well if this week was twice as long:  Sophie Treadwell’s Machinal (1928) and Elmer Rice’s  The Adding Machine (1923).

Week 3 (Feb. 13, 15, and 17)

  • Due Friday at 5:00: Critical Response #1 to Eli Review (On Any Play Up To/Including Salesman)
  • Due Saturday at 1145 pm: Proof/Justification of SUMMIT or ILL Requests (Inquiry Project)
  • Optional/Recommended: This week would be a very good time to meet with some classmates and workshop your first critical responses. Or to take an initial draft of your first critical response to the Composition Commons for a consultation.

Day 1: You Can’t Take It With You, Acts 2-3 (Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, 1936)

Hey, did you try Evernote? if you didn’t like it, you might try Diigo or Zotero. Similar missions, different approaches.

Day 2: Death of a Salesman, Act 1 (Arthur Miller, 1949)

Are you feeling stuck getting started on CR#1? Review some possible starting points, here.

Day 3: Death of a Salesman, Act 2

Due at 5:00: CR#1 to Eli Review, for Review

Heads Up: We’re reading a Eugene O’Neill play next week. His stuff reads more like a novel and takes a bit longer to read and process. Schedule your reading time accordingly!

Due Saturday at 11:45 pm: Proof/Justification of SUMMIT or ILL Requests (Inquiry Project)

↓↓↓ Help for the SUMMIT / ILL Assignment ↓↓↓

(0) Make sure you read the “Pregame: SUMMIT and/or ILL Requests” section on the inquiry Project assignment sheet, so you know what you’re turning in.

(1) Strongly consider doing this work IN the library. Enter that space, and then set your mind and heart to “research.” Consider making a library date WITH anyone else who is working on the same writer you’re working on, especially. But, even if no one else is working on the same writer as you, you’d probably benefit from finding a library friend or three and heading in together.

(2) Do a basic search for your author from the library home page. Note the books that look most interesting.

(3) Modify that search to also include Whitworth + SUMMIT. Note the new books that come up from SUMMIT (our coalition of libraries) and start thinking of which ones you might want to have sent to you. Don’t order anything yet! Write things down. Keep track.

(4) Now, think REALLY like an English major and try out the “Step 1: Focused Overviews” moves here: https://abjohnson.net/teaching/research-process/

(4.1) Regarding (4): I can’t overemphasize what a revelation the Gale Literature database may be for this kind of research. Especially look at the biographical sources they offer.

What you’re looking for: Names of scholars that come up over and over; recent, awesome-looking books; older books that look truly informative; articles (especially recent ones) that we don’t have access to at Whitworth but that you would like to read. For the most promising of those: Have them sent to you by either SUMMIT loan or “Interlibrary Loan.”

In many cases, you’ll be looking at a link, on the page for the book/resource, that tells you how to have the thing sent. If that’s not the case, jot down the info (writer, title, publisher, year) and look for the “Borrow/Renew/Request” link under services on the homepage for the library. Find the instructions there and follow them. 

Week 4 (Feb. 20, 22, and 24)

  • Due Wednesday @ Class Time: Feedback to Eli Review for CR#1
  • Due Thursday at 11:45 PM: Revision plan at Eli Review for CR#1
  • Due Friday at 11:45 PM: CR#1 to Blackboard (for me) and Wiki (for all of us)
  • This week, you should continue moving forward with your research agenda for the Inquiry Project. Start by writing down some research goals for yourself for the week, and literally schedule some library time for yourself–some hours just being a literature nerd in that big building full of books. Schedule it! This is your research and writing time, and figuring out how to book it and hold to it is 100% a professional skill you’re working on. You’re working on it right now. You’re doing it.

Day 1: Conferencing Day: Details TBA.

O’Neill for Wednesday! It’s long!

Day 2: Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Acts 1-2 (Eugene O’Neill, 1941/42)

Due Wednesday @ Class Time: Feedback to Eli for CR#1
Due *Thursday* at 11:45 PM: Revision plan at Eli for CR#1

Day 3: Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Acts 3-4

Due Friday at 11:45 PM: CR#1 to Blackboard (for me) and Wiki (for all of us)

Week 5 (Feb. 27 and Mar. 1)

  • Due Saturday at 11:45 pm: Substantial Research Update Using Screencast-o-Matic (Inquiry Project). If you’ve not yet dug in on the Inquiry Project, you’re about to have to switch gears from “oh, there’s plenty of time” to “oh, no, where did the time go!” Look back to last week’s notes for the week: Plan time, set it aside, give yourself permission to honor your own research plan.

Day 1: A Streetcar Named Desire, Scenes 1-6 (Tennessee Williams, 1947)

Good Advice: There are lots of examples of research updates up on the wiki. You should look at a few!

Day 2: A Streetcar Named Desire, Scenes 7 – 11

Day 3: No Class (Faculty Development Day)

Due Saturday at 11:45 pm: Substantial Research Update Using Screencast-o-Matic. See “Research as a Process” handout (Inquiry Project) for instructions.

Week 6 (Mar. 6, 8, and 10)

  • Due Wednesday at 5:00: Draft of Library Assessment to Eli Review
  • Keep moving ahead with your Inquiry Project! At this point, you should be scheduling writing time, along with any additional research time you think you might need. (You can see I’m having you focus a bit of that writing time this week on the library assessment, which is a worthwhile space where you’ll pull together some thinking about what’s happening with your writer.)
  • Due Friday at 5:00: CR#2 to Eli Review, for Review
  • Due Friday at 11:45 pm: Library Assessment Feedback (Eli Review) (Inquiry Project)
  • Notice: Midterm coming up next week!
  • Optional/Recommended: This would also be a good week to meet with some of your classmates to workshop your critical responses. (And don’t forget the Comp Commons.)

Day 1: Trouble in Mind (Alice Childress, 1955)

Day 2:  Readings on the Absurd: “Which Theatre is the Absurd One?” (Edward Albee, 1962) + “The Theatre of the Absurd” (Martin Eslin, 1960) (Both in Bb)

Due Wednesday at Class Time: Draft of Library Assessment to Eli Review

Are you feeling stuck getting started on CR#2? Review some possible starting points, here.

Day 3: The Zoo Story (1959) and The American Dream (1961) (Edward Albee)

Due at 5:00: CR#2 to Eli Review, for Review
Due at 11:45 pm: Library Assessment Feedback (Eli Review) (Inquiry Project)
Look Out!: You’re required to attend Antigone (Sophocles, 441 BC) this weekend. See below.

Time for a Play! There will typically be only eight big mainstage WU plays during a typical four years at Whitworth, and one of them, a production of St. Joan by the British playwright George Bernard Shaw, will run this weekend and next. Go see the play! (Details) As students in this course, you’re required to attend. Monday’s discussion will be about the play and how it was staged.

Week 7 (Mar. 13, 15, and 17)

  • Head’s Up! Midterm / Exam 1 is Friday!
  • Due Wednesday @ Class Time: Feedback to Eli Review for CR#2
  • Due Thursday at 11:45 PM: Revision plan at Eli Review for CR#2
  • Due SATURDAY at 11:45 PM: CR#2 to Blackboard (for me) and Wiki (for all of us)
  • Optional/Recommended: This would be a very good week to meet with some of your classmates and study together for the exam. There’s no better review move than talking over the texts, characters, and themes with smart peers.

Day 1: Exam Prep / Saint Joan Performance Discussion

Day 2: Exam Prep / Inquiry Project In-Class Work Day

Due Wednesday @ Class Time: Feedback to Eli for CR#2
Due *Thursday* at 11:45 PM: Revision plan at Eli for CR#2

Day 3: Midterm!

Due SATURDAY at 11:45 PM: CR#2 to Blackboard (for me) and Wiki (for all of us)

Exam #1 of 2 (Midterm)

Week 8 (Mar. 20, 22, and 24)

  • Due Monday @Class Time: Opening of Author Snapshot to Eli Review
  • Due Tuesday @5:00: Feedback on Author Snapshot Opening to Eli Review
  • Due Wednesday @11:45 pm: Inquiry Project

Day 1: Prep for Upcoming Writing Project (In Class)

In Class: Receive “Parts of the Critical Analysis” booklet +

Due Tuesday @5:00: Feedback on Author Snapshot Opening to Eli Review

Day 2: Conferencing Day. Details TBA. Do plan on coming to class.

Due THURSDAY at 11:45 pm, Extensions Negotiable with Very Good Reasons: Inquiry Project

Day 3: The Odd Couple (Neil Simon, 1965)

A quick reminder that you have the option of revising your two critical responses, if you want. Those revisions come due for sure in Week 14, but you can do them at any time that makes sense for you in the world of your semester.

Week 9 (April 3 and 5 + Good Friday)

  • Due Friday, 11:45 pm: Initial Claim/Project Idea (Critical Analysis)
  • Advice: During this week, do some new research work to locate high-value articles specifcally on the text you’ll be writing about for the Critical Analysis. This is the time to experiment with making gradual progress on your writing for this big analysis, even if you’ve never written that way before. Plan a basic shape. Write it bit by bit. This is much closer to professional writing practices (and much farther from the last-minute undergrad rush-to-write).

Day 1: True West (Sam Shepard, 1980)

Day 2: Watch: Sinise/Malkovich True West (Dir. Allan A. Goldstein, 1984)

Day 3: Good Friday / No Class. Make sure you’re getting organized for the Scene Analysis and the Critical Analysis! This is a top notch day to do the little bit of research needed for the scene analysis.

Due Friday, 11:45 pm: Initial Claim/Project Idea (Critical Analysis). (Can be turned in early! Recommended, in fact, but I’ve left you extra time in case you need it.)

Week 10 (April 12 and 14 MINUS MONDAY)

  • Due Wednesday, 11:45 PM: Peer Feedback for Initial Claims
  • Due Friday at 5:00: Scene Analysis
  • Plan writing time for that AND your Middle Paragraphs.

Day 1: No Class

Day 2: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Act 1 – 2 (all) (August Wilson, 1982)

Due Wednesday, 11:45 PM: Peer Feedback for Initial Claims

Day 3: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Film, Dir. George C. Wolfe; Screenplay by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, 2020)

Due Friday at 5:00: Scene Analysis

Week 11 (April 17, 19, and 21)

  • Due Monday, Class Time: Middle Paragraph to Eli (Critical Analysis)
  • Due Friday @11:45 PM: Middle Paragraph Feedback to Eli (Critical Analysis)

Day 1: F.O.B. (David Henry Hwang, 1980)

Due: Middle Paragraph (Eli Review) (Classtime, to Give Peers More Time to Work) (Critical Analysis)

Day 2: Zoot Suit  (Read it All) (Luis Valdez, 1979). Some interesting background here (10 min. video).

Day 3: Zoot Suit: Scenes from the Film… (Dir. Luis Valdez, 1981)

Due: Middle Paragraph Feedback (Due @11:45 PM) (Critical Analysis)

Week 12 (April 24, 26, and 28)

  • Critical Analysis: This is the week to get serious about drafting the whole Critical Analysis. It can be very worthwhile to draft it *poorly* this week. Slipshod and messy. Then fix it next week.

Day 1: Intimate Apparel (Lynn Nottage, 2003)

Day 2: Fabulation (Lynn Nottage, 2004)

Day 3: The Sisters Rosensweig, all (Wendy Wasserstein, 1992)

Not due, but a really good idea: Nail down a messy draft of your Critical Analysis by the end of the day today.

Week 13 (May 1, 3, and 5)

  • Due Monday @Class Time: Draft of Critical Analysis OPENING PARAGRAPHS to Eli
  • Due Wednesday @5:00: Peer Feedback on Opening Paragraphs
  • Due Friday @5:00: Critical Analysis to Bb
  • Due Friday @ 5:00: Hard Copy of Critical Analysis Works Cited Pages (to My Office)

Day 1: Anna Deavere Smith, Excerpts:
(1) “War Zone” section of Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 (1994) (@Bb)
(2) Anna Deavere Smith Video from TED: “Writer and actor Anna Deavere Smith gives life to author Studs Terkel, convict Paulette Jenkins, a Korean shopkeeper and a bull rider, excerpts from her solo show On the Road: A Search for American Character.”

Due: Opening Paragraphs (Eli Review) (Classtime, to Give Peers More Time to Work) (Critical Analysis)

Day 2: Essays + Pickling (1990) (Suzan-Lori Parks) (@Bb) + Topdog/Underdog, Scenes 1-4 (Suzan-Lori Parks, 2001)

Due: Opening Paragraph Feedback (Eli Review) (Due @11:45 PM) (Critical Analysis)

Day 3: Topdog/Underdog, to end

Due Friday @5:00: Critical Analysis to Bb
Due Friday @5:00: Hard Copy of Critical Analysis Works Cited Pages (to My Office)

Week 14 (May 8, 10, and 12)

  • Due Wednesday @5:00: Any (Optional!) Revised Critical Responses (See Revision Guidelines)
  • Due NEXT Monday @5:00: Reflective “Meditation” Essay
  • Consider connecting with some classmates to talk over the upcoming reflective essay! Also, this is a good time to plan final exam study groups.

Day 1: Recent Play, TBA

Day 2: 4.000 Miles (Amy Herzog, 2011)

Due Wednesday @5:00: Any (Optional!) Revised Critical Responses (See Revision Guidelines)

Day 3: Eurydice (Sarah Ruhl, 2003) 

Week 15 (May 15 + Exam)

  • Due Monday @5:00: Reflective “Meditation” Essay + Light Homework Below
  • Thursday: Final Exam

Day 1: Brilliantly well-informed class discussion of what it takes to be a super-sharp reader of plays. Homework: Bring a well-considered list of five principles that are useful/important for readers of drama. High scores will go to lists that show real thought and clarity, but don’t go crazy writing long paragraphs for each point. I’m looking for five well selected and well formed principles, each expressed in 1-3 good sentences. 20 quiz points.

EXAM 2/Final: 3:30-5:30, Thursday, May 18

Final Exam (#2 of 2): Thursday, May 18, 3:30 AM – 5:30 PM

Find Free e-Texts Online

Audio Options

  • Be sure to *read* alongside any listening! The visual experience of the text matters, too. It teaches you things about writing that listening cannot.
  • Librivox
  • Lit2Go
  • Open Culture (Audio)
  • Spotify has Some Stuff, Too
  • Scribd is a Subscription Service with Stuff

General Am Lit Resources

The Writers We’re Reading, an Overview

(In Order of Appearance in the Course)

  • Susan Glaspell, 1876-1948. A co-founder of the Provincetown Players and discoverer of young Eugene O’Neill; a strong feminist voice and maybe the first of the important women’s voices in 20th-century American theatre. Iowan.
  • Clifford Odets, 1906-1963. The son of Russian- and Romanian-Jewish immigrants, raised in Philly and the Bronx. Lots of social commentary in his writing, so that he is sometimes associated with agitprop theatre. Kind of a Depression / 1930s voice here. Closely associated with the influential Group Theatre.
  • Moss Hart (1904-1961) and George S. Kaufman (1889-1961). Together, these two wrote some of the most famous stage (and movie) comedies of the early 20th century. Both were East Coast authors, Kaufman from Pittsburgh and Hart from Brooklyn. Hart was the child of new immigrants to the US. Very different Depression-era voices here.
  • Arthur Miller, 1915-2005. Child and grandchild of Jewish immigrants (from what is now Poland). Was married to Marilyn Monroe for a while. Interested in the psychology of everyday people and often wrote about middle class families and people in crisis. With O’Neill and Williams, one the three most prominent American playwrights of the mid-20th century.
  • Eugene O’Neill, 1888-1953. Son of an Irish immigrant father and a mother whose family also arrived from Ireland. Deep investment in Realism and in the revelation of character through subtle dialogue. Lots of passionate talking in his plays.
  • Tennessee Williams, 1911-1983. From Mississippi. Huge investment, as a writer, in atmosphere and vibe, as he explores the psychological states of his characters. Southern Gothic themes, explorations of mental illness and addiction and obsession, explorations of sex and sexuality. Openly gay when that was uncommon.
  • Alice Childress, 1916-1994. African-American born in Charleston, SC, and raised there and in Harlem. The first African-American woman to win an Obie award for drama. Invested in social issues and African-American life. Trailblazer, seriously.
  • Edward Albee, 1928-2016. Adopted child of a wealthy NY family. Associated with Theatre of the Absurd, and that means things get weird in his plays; pretty dark explorations of mid-century family life and middle class-ness and the Modern condition. A gay writer who wrote scathingly about marriage and family as he knew it but also resisted being labelled as an advocate for LGBTQ concerns.
  • Suzan-Lori Parks, (b. 1963) African-American writer from Fort Knox, KY; grew up in a military family and spent time abroad while growing up. Mentored by James Baldwin. Her challenging plays combine absurdity, poetry, and realism.
  • Sam Shepard (1943-2017), Prolific actor, playwright, and director, and the only legit movie star among these writers. A little surrealism and punk rock in his work, a lot of psychological cause and effect. Explorations of criminality versus responsibility, Hung out with Patti Smith (punk rock) and Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan. From Illinois.
  • Neil Simon, 1927-2018. Jewish American writer from NYC. Prolific humorist, maybe best known for The Odd Couple and Barefoot in the Park. Tended to combine comedy and drama in explorations of eveyday American life.
  • August Wilson, 1945-2005. Pittsburgh-born playwright whose father was a Sudetan German immigrant and whose mother was African-American. His Pittsburgh Cycle (or Century Cycle) of ten plays, each taking place in a diffeent decade of the 20th century, is one of the most remarkable achivements in American drama. These plays explore the complexities of African-American life.
  • David Henry Hwang, b. 1957. Prolific and successful Chinese-American playwright from LA. Nuanced explorations of ethnicity, drawing at times on his own experiences as a child of immigrants, pulling materials from both Chinese and American culture.
  • Luis Valdez, b. 1940. Son of Mexican-American migrant workers and a pioneer of contemprary community-based approaches to theatre. Founder of EL Teatro Campesino, which used drama as a tool of community organization and activism among migrant workers.
  • Lynn Nottage, b. 1964. NY, African-American playwright currently at the top of her game. Two Pullitzer wins, and she’s not slowing down.
  • Wendy Wasserstein, 1950-2006. Jewish-American playwright from Brooklyn. Writes about women, family, identity crises, work-life tradeoffs. Funny and serious.
  • Anna Deavere Smith, b. 1950. African Ameircan playwright and actor from Baltimore. Famous especially for “verbatim”/documentary style one-woman shows where she embodied the subjects of long interviews (for example of people who were affected by the LA Riots in 1992). Also played a major role on The West Wing.
  • Amy Herzog, b. 1979. Jewish-American playwright, who often draws on her own family history. A celebrated younger playwright.
  • Sarah Ruhl, b. 1974. Realism, but a bit magical/dented/whimsical/nonlinear? From Illinois. Another celebrated younger playwright.
  • TBA. There’s probably one more…

Composed and Maintained by Fred Johnson.