Modern American Drama: Playwriting in the 1980s: Voices, Documents, New Interpretations

257 Pages·2018·2.252 MB·English

by  Sandra G. Shannon

Modern
American Drama:
Playwriting in
the 1980s
DECADES OF MODERN AMERICAN DRAMA:
PLAYWRITING FROM THE 1930s TO 2009
Modern American Drama: Playwriting in the 1930s
by Anne Fletcher
Modern American Drama: Playwriting in the 1940s
by Felicia Hardison Londré
Modern American Drama: Playwriting in the 1950s
by Susan C. W. Abbotson
Modern American Drama: Playwriting in the 1960s
by Mike Sell
Modern American Drama: Playwriting in the 1970s
by Mike Vanden Heuvel
Modern American Drama: Playwriting in the 1980s
by Sandra G. Shannon
Modern American Drama: Playwriting in the 1990s
by Cheryl Black and Sharon Friedman
Modern American Drama: Playwriting 2000–2009
by Julia Listengarten and Cindy Rosenthal
Modern
American Drama:
Playwriting in
the 1980s
Voices, Documents,
New Interpretations
Sandra G. Shannon
Series Editors: Brenda Murphy and
Julia Listengarten
Bloomsbury Methuen Drama
An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Bloomsbury Methuen Drama
An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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First published 2018
© Sandra G. Shannon and contributors, 2018
Sandra G. Shannon has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
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ISBN: HB: 978-1-4725-7246-2
Pack: 978-1-4725-7264-6
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
Series: Decades of Modern American Drama: Playwriting from the 1930s to 2009
Cover design by Louise Dugdale
Cover image: Ronald Reagan at the Berlin Wall. Photo © Bettmann/Getty Images
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CONTENTS
Biographical Note and Notes on Contributors viii
General Preface Brenda Murphy and Julia Listengarten x
1 Introduction to the 1980s Sandra G. Shannon 1
Politics 1
The economy 4
Domestic life 7
Social issues 9
Education 15
Media 16
Television and film 20
Technology and science 23
Travel and leisure 24
Fashion 25
2 American Theatre in the 1980s Sandra G. Shannon 29
Answering Reagan 29
Women’s theatre 30
Multicultural theatre 35
Musical theatre and the ‘British Invasion’ 36
Notable playwrights of the decade 39
3 David Mamet: Edmond (1982), Glengarry Glen
Ross (1984), Speed-the-Plow (1988), Oleanna
(1992) Nelson Pressley 43
Introduction 43
vi CONTENTS
Edmond (1982) 47
Glengarry Glen Ross (1984) 52
Speed-the-Plow (1988) 58
Oleanna (1992) 62
Conclusion 69
4 David Henry Hwang: FOB (1980), The Dance and
the Railroad (1981), Family Devotions (1981),
M. Butterfly (1988) William C. Boles 71
Introduction 71
FOB (1980) 76
The Dance and the Railroad (1981) 81
Family Devotions (1981) 84
M. Butterfly (1988) 87
Conclusion 93
5 Maria Irene Fornes: The Danube (1982), Mud (1983),
The Conduct of Life (1985) Gwendolyn Alker 99
Introduction 99
The Danube (1982) 107
Development, production and reception 108
The Danube and environmentalism 109
Mud (1983) 111
Development, production and reception 111
Mae as a complicated character 112
The Conduct of Life (1985) 115
Development, production and reception 115
A feminist re-reading of Conduct 116
Conclusion 121
6 August Wilson: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (1984),
Fences (1987), Joe Turner’s Come and Gone
(1984) Sandra G. Shannon 125
Introduction 125
CONTENTS vii
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (1984) 133
Fences (1987) 137
Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (1984) 144
Afterword Sandra G. Shannon 153
David Mamet 153
David Henry Hwang 154
Maria Irene Fornes 156
August Wilson 158
Documents 163
Ronald Reagan’s Berlin Wall speech 163
The onset of the AIDS epidemic 164
Epidemiologic notes and reports 165
David Mamet 167
From Matthew Roudane 167
‘David Mamet’s Master Class Memo to the Writers of
The Unit’ 170
David Henry Hwang 172
Sample 1 173
Sample 2 178
Sample 3 184
Irene Fornes 187
August Wilson 190
From James Earl Jones and Mary Alice 190
‘The Ground on Which I Stand’ 191
From Lloyd Richards 193
From Suzan-Lori Parks 195
From Denzel Washington and Viola Davis 196
Notes 199
Bibliography 217
Index 230
BIOGRAPHICAL
NOTE AND NOTES ON
CONTRIBUTORS
Gwendolyn Alker is Teacher of Theatre Studies in the Department
of Drama at Tisch School of the Arts. Her teaching and research
interests include gender and performance, Latina/o theatre, and
issues of spirituality and embodiment. In 2010 she curated and
staged the NYC Fornes Festival. Her article on Fornes, ‘Teaching
Fornes: Preserving Fornesian Techniques in Critical Context’,
appeared in Theatre Topics in 2009. She has published in various
other journals including Drama Therapy Review, Theatre Journal,
TDR, Women & Performance and Dance Research Journal.
Gwendolyn is currently the Editor of Theatre Topics.
William C. Boles is Professor of English at Rollins College. He is
the author of The Argumentative Theatre of Joe Penhall (2011)
and Understanding David Henry Hwang (2013).
Nelson Pressley is a theatre critic for the Washington Post. His
reviews and features have appeared in American Theatre, Irish
Theatre Magazine, The Sondheim Review and Best Plays; his
book American Playwriting and the Anti-Political Prejudice was
published in 2014.
Sandra G. Shannon is Professor Emeritus of African American
Literature in the Department of English at Howard University.
As the leading scholar on August Wilson, she is the author of The
Dramatic Vision of August Wilson and August Wilson’s Fences:
A Reference Guide. In addition, she has edited and co-edited the
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE AND NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS ix
following key essay collections on Wilson’s work: August Wilson
and Black Aesthetics, MLA Approaches to Teaching the Plays
of August Wilson, and August Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle. Dr.
Shannon has also edited a special issue of the Zora Neale Hurston
Forum on August Wilson, and she has contributed numerous
chapters on his works in collections such as Alan Nadel’s May All
Your Fences Have Gates: Essays on the Drama of August Wilson;
August Wilson: Completing the Twentieth-Century Cycle; Philip
Kolin’s The Influence of Tennessee Williams; Harvey Young’s The
Cambridge Companion to African American Literature; Harry
Elam and David Krasner’s African American Performance and
Theatre History; and Martin Middeke’s Methuen Drama Guide
to Contemporary American Playwrights. Her essays on August
Wilson have appeared in African American Review, MELUS,
College Literature and Theatre Survey.
Dr Shannon previously served as Co-Editor and Editor of
Theatre Topics journal and Vice President and President of the
Black Theatre Network. She is currently Editor of the College
Language Association Journal and founding board member of
Continuum: The Journal of African Diaspora Drama, Theatre, and
Performance. In spring 2006 following August Wilson’s death, she
founded the Howard University August Wilson Society and, most
recently, served as a key consultant in the making of the acclaimed
2015 PBS-American Masters documentary August Wilson: The
Ground on Which I Stand. In spring 2018, Dr Shannon will be
inducted in the College of Fellows of the American Theatre as a
‘distinguished achiever in professional and educational theatre’.