Contemporary Literature, 1970 to Present
ing grandfather’s coma, and they all bond over birthday cake. The promiscuous
protagonist in The Miss Firecracker Contest (1984) determines to gain her town’s
respect by winning its annual Fourth of July beauty and talent competition.
Marsha Norman creates female characters who take stock of their troubled
pasts to decide how—or whether—to carry on. In her gritty debut drama, Get-
ting Out (1977), a young woman just released from prison after serving eight
years for homicide rejects her original, violent self, “Arlie,” by insisting that she
be called “Arlene.” To reinforce her new identity, she rebuffs job offers from
her former pimp, fights off sexual advances by her longtime guard, and accepts
friendship and guidance from her new neighbor, a female ex-convict. In ’night,
Mother (1982; Pulitzer, 1983), a middle-aged daughter, who judges her life a
failure, calmly announces to her mother that she will commit suicide that eve-
ning; she views this act as a personal victory, since she will choose what to do
with her life.
Wendy Wasserstein is the premier female American dramatist of her time.
The protagonists in her humorous, insightful plays such as The Sisters Rosensweig
(1993) are educated, independent, professional women of means, who neverthe-
less feel unfulfilled as they confront careers and motherhood in a sexist world.
Her comedy-drama The Heidi Chronicles (1988), spanning the years 1965 to 1989,
charts the development of the modern women’s movement in America and the
changing roles of women through the experiences of the title character, a success-
ful professor of art history, and her friends.
Paula Vogel writes imaginatively about pedophilia, AIDS, gender issues, and
similar controversial subjects. The memory play How I Learned to Drive (1997)
blends humor and horror as a woman recalls her sexual abuse by an uncle, starting
when she was eleven, and how she survived.
The Vagina Monologues (1999), by Eve Ensler, celebrates female sexual
anatomy through hilarious, explicit, angry, and moving real-life narratives. Since
1998, Ensler has sponsored “V-Day” from February 1 to March 31 each year,
allowing the play to be staged on college campuses and other venues without
paying royalties, provided the proceeds are donated to nonprofits working to end
violence against women. As of 2008 the benefit performances and surrounding
activities had raised more than $50 million to fight violence against women. Some
performances have been met with controversy owing to the explicit content of
some of the monologues.
Gay and Lesbian Drama
Mart Crowley’s 1968 play The Boys in the Band, in which eight (and possibly all
nine) of the characters are homosexuals, proved popular with mainstream audi-
ences, running for one thousand performances and bringing gay culture to the
forefront of American theater. One year later, riots sparked by a New York City
police raid on a Greenwich Village gay bar, the Stonewall Inn, launched the gay-
rights movement. An abundance of notable plays subsequently explored gay and
lesbian subjects. A college student in Albert Innaurato’s comedy Gemini (1977)
wrestles with his sexual identity. Bent, by Martin Sherman (1979), centers on gay