Arts presents site-specific productions such as the
1993 presentation of Charles L. Mee’sOrestes, staged
on the ruins of two giant piers in the Hudson River.
Regional Theater By 1990, professional theaters
were located in almost every major city in the United
States. Many of these theaters are as important to
theatrical art as those in New York. For example,
Robert Schenkkan’s Pulitzer Prize-winning workThe
Kentucky Cycledebuted in 1991 at the Intiman Thea-
tre in Seattle. The Actors Theatre of Louisville (Ken-
tucky), founded by Jon Jory, is famous for its annual
Humana Festival of New American Plays, which has
included five plays by Pulitzer Prize-winner Marsha
Norman and Jane Martin’s 1993 play,Keely and Du.
The Alliance Theatre in Atlanta is another signifi-
cant southern professional theater. It was here in
1998 that the Tony Award-winning Elton John and
Tim Rice musicalAidadebuted. Other important re-
gional theaters are Chicago’s Goodman Theatre,
the Pasadena Playhouse, and San Diego’s Old Globe
Theatre. Perhaps the most well-known regional the-
ater is the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C.,
founded by Zelda Fichandler. In Minneapolis, the
Guthrie Theater, founded by Sir Tyrone Guthrie,
features classics as well as such modern works as
Joyce Carol Oates’sTone Clusters(pr. 1990), Sam
Shepard’sSimpatico(pr. 1993), and Moises Kauf-
man’sGross Indecency(pr. 1997).
Impact The 1990’s led the American theater into
the twenty-first century with the Broadway presenta-
tions of works about women’s experiences, gay and
lesbian issues, and the problems of the AIDS epi-
demic. Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway the-
aters grew in number and importance, not infre-
quently offering the premieres of works that would
win the Pulitzer Prize or transfer to Broadway and
garner Tony Awards. The same may be said of re-
gional theaters, several of which became influential
on the national scene, such as the Actors Theatre of
Louisville, where the renowned Humana Festival of
New American Plays is presented on a yearly basis.
Further Reading
Brockett, Oscar G., with Franklin J. Hildy.Histor y of the
Theatre. 9th ed. New York: Allyn & Bacon, 2002. A
basic work on the history of theater that contains a
thorough presentation of theatrical activity in the
last half of the twentieth century, including consid-
erable information on theater in the 1990’s.
Elam, Harry J., Jr.Taking It to the Streets: The Social Pro-
test Theater of Luis Valdez and Amiri Baraka. Ann Ar-
bor: University of Michigan Press, 1997. Protest
theater was common in the 1990’s, and this is a
presentation of some of the important protest
productions.
Gussow, Mel.Theatre on the Edge: New Visions, New
Voices. New York: Applause Books, 1998. A collec-
tion of essays and reviews about the new and pow-
erful voices in contemporary American theater
by one of the staff theater critics ofThe New York
Times.
Wilmeth, Don B., and Christopher Bigsby, eds.The
Cambridge Histor y of American Theatre, Volume III:
Post-World War II to the 1990’s. New York: Cam-
bridge University Press, 2000. A thorough presen-
tation of American theater history since 1945. All
aspects of theater are covered, from actors and di-
rectors to playwrights, from alternate theater ad-
vocates to performance artists. The information
on the 1990’s is presented in detail by various spe-
cialists in the field.
August W. StaubSee also AIDS epidemic; Albee, Edward;Angels in
America; Broadway musicals; Literature in Canada;
Literature in the United States; McNally, Terrence;
Rent; Spoken word movement; Theater in Canada;
Titanic;Vagina Monologues, The. Thelma and Louise
Identification Academy Award-winning film
Director Ridley Scott (1937- )
Date Released on May 24, 1991
Despite its use of exaggerated character stereotypes, the re-
lease and subsequent popularity of this film resulted in seri-
ous debates over gender and women’s desires.
Thelma and Louise, starring Susan Sarandon as Lou-
ise and Geena Davis as Thelma, is far more than a
simple road adventure film. It is a commentary
about life’s relationships gone sour, betrayal, weak-
ness and strength, and self-discovery during a jour-
ney that ends with a kiss and then death. Two bored
women living in Arkansas, one a housewife and the
other a waitress, pack their things, take a photo be-
fore departure, and then set out for what is to be a
weekend getaway from routine (Louise) and spousal854 Thelma and Louise The Nineties in America