0 Contemporary Literature, 1970 to Present
themes—Agnes of God (1982), by John Pielmeier, and Doubt: A Parable (2005),
by John Patrick Shanley; more hit musicals, among them Grease (1972), and
Chicago (1975); Disney spectacles based on animated films (and one opera), such
as Beauty and the Beast (1994); performance art by Laurie Anderson and Karen
Finley; and contemporary comedies and dramas, including those by Broadway
veterans and by newer voices Margaret Edson, Donald Margulies, David Auburn,
Nilo Cruz, Tracy Letts, and Lynn Nottage. In addition to their entertainment
value, the best of these examples of contemporary American theater, regardless of
genre, articulated profound truths, positive and otherwise, about the country and
the human spirit.
TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION AND RESEARCH
- The Pulitzer Prize in drama has been awarded in most years since its cre-
ation in 1917. Students could research the history of this most prestigious of
American drama awards, attentive to newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer’s
intentions in establishing and endowing it, as well as to additional standards
guiding the selection process. Students might then choose and analyze one
Pulitzer Prize–winning play or musical since 1970 to determine why it merited
the award. Alternatively, students could research and analyze a major play (or
plays) staged in a year since 1970 in which no Pulitzer Prize in drama was
awarded to determine why it (or they) did not win. Dramas were not honored
in 1972, 1974, 1986, 1997, or 2006. Search the Internet Broadway Database by
“Season” for productions in specific years. Helpful sources for such an under-
taking are John L. Toohey, A History of the Pulitzer Prize Plays (New York:
Citadel, 1967) and the website <www.pulitzer.org>. - The essay above refers to prominent performance artists Laurie Anderson
and Karen Finley. Students could research the development of performance
art (with emphasis on post-1970 examples). Areas for larger exploration,
discussion, and analysis might include genres and styles of performance art,
the range of its themes and goals, women as performance artists, perfor-
mance art as “theater” and/or “art,” and its place in popular culture. See A. A.
Bronson and Peggy Gale, Performance by Artists (Toronto: Art Metropole,
1988); RoseLee Goldberg, Performance Art: Futurism to the Present (New
York: Abrams, 1988); Moira Roth, The Amazing Decade: Women and Per-
formance Art in America, 1970-1980 (Los Angeles: Astro Artz, 1983); and
Mariella R. Sandford, ed., Happenings and Other Acts (New York: Routledge,
1985). - Spanish-language theater in North America dates to the late 1500s. Today,
Latino/a theater in the United States exists in three forms, representing
major ethnic populations: Chicano/a theater, Cuban-American theater, and
Puerto Rican theater, which is often called Nuyorican. María Irene Fornés,
Cherríe Moraga, and Nilo Cruz are prominent figures in Latino/a theater.
Students could trace the development of one or more branches of Latino/a
theater and analyze (or compare and contrast) themes, acting styles, and
languages in representative plays since 1970. In addition to the writings in