Theatre, Society and the Nation: Staging American Identities (Cambridge Studies in American Theatre and Drama, Series Number 15)

Theatre has often served as a touchstone for moments of political change or national definition and as a way of exploring cultural and ethnic identity. In this book Steve Wilmer selects key historical moments in American history and examines how the theatre, in formal and informal settings, responded to these events. The book moves from the Colonial fight for independence, through Native American struggles, the Socialist Worker play, the Civil Rights Movement, and up to works of the last decade, including Tony Kushner's Angels in America. In addition to examining theatrical events and play texts, Wilmer also considers audience reception and critical response. Half-title......Page 3 Series-title......Page 4 Title......Page 5 Copyright......Page 6 Contents......Page 7 Acknowledgements......Page 9 Introduction......Page 11 1 From British colony to independent nation: refashioning identity......Page 26 Early dramatic propaganda: loyalty to King and country......Page 30 Transitional plays......Page 34 College dialogues......Page 39 Loyalist propaganda plays......Page 44 Dramatic propaganda for an independent national identity......Page 48 Summary......Page 61 Bunker-Hill......Page 63 André......Page 75 Female Patriotism......Page 79 The Glory of Columbia......Page 86 Summary......Page 88 3 Independence for whom? American Indians and the Ghost Dance......Page 90 Summary......Page 106 4 The role of workers in the nation The Paterson Strike Pageant......Page 108 The preparation of the Paterson Strike Pageant......Page 112 The staging of the pageant......Page 115 The rhetoric of the pageant......Page 118 Fiction or reality......Page 122 Evaluating the success of the pageant......Page 127 Legacy of the Paterson Strike Pageant......Page 133 Summary......Page 135 5 Staging social rebellion in the 1960s......Page 137 Black Nationalist theatre......Page 142 El Teatro Campesino......Page 148 Anti-war theatre......Page 155 6 Reconfiguring patriarchy: suffragette and feminist plays......Page 161 Elizabeth Robins, Votes for Women......Page 166 Summary......Page 182 7 Imaging and deconstructing the multicultural nation in the 1990s......Page 183 Anna Deavere Smith and the warring tribes......Page 186 Tony Kusher and a utopian vision......Page 191 Houston and Aoki undermining normative cultural taxonomies......Page 197 Coatlicue and Gómez-Peña – transnational identities......Page 204 Summary......Page 211 Introduction......Page 213 1 From British colony to independent nation: refashioning identity......Page 216 2 Federalist and Democratic Republican theatre: partisan drama in nationalist trappings......Page 220 3 Independence for whom? American Indians and the Ghost Dance......Page 226 4 The role of workers in the nation: the Paterson Strike Pageant......Page 230 5 Staging social rebellion in the 1960s......Page 248 6 Reconfiguring patriarchy: suffragette and feminist plays......Page 252 7 Imaging and deconstructing the multicultural nation in the 1990s......Page 255 Plays/dialogues/performances/videos......Page 260 Articles......Page 267 Books......Page 270 Index......Page 277 "In this book Wilmer selects key historical moments in American history and examines how the theatre, in formal and informal settings, responded to these events. The book moves from the Colonial fight for independence, through Native American struggles, the Socialist Worker play, the Civil Rights Movement, and up to works of the last decade, including Tony Kushner's Angels in America. In addition to examining theatrical events and play texts, Wilmer also considers audience reception and critical response."--Jacket

Theater has often served as a touchstone for critical moments of political change or national definition. Steve Wilmer selects key historical moments in American history to examine the theater's response. The selected events range from the Colonial fight for independence through Native American struggles, the Socialist Worker play and the Civil Rights Movement, to those of the last decade. Wilmer also considers audience reception and critical response.

IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, MANY of the settlements in North America underwent a major political and ideological transformation from isolated and dependent colonies to a united and independent nation-state.