The Cambridge History of American Theatre is an authoritative and wide-ranging history of American theatre in all its dimensions, from theatre building to play writing, directors, performers, and designers. Engaging the theatre as a performance art, a cultural institution, and a fact of American social and political life, the History recognizes changing styles of presentation and performance and addresses the economic context that conditions the drama presented. The History approaches its subject with a full awareness of relevant developments in literary criticism, cultural analysis, and performance theory. At the same time, it is designed to be an accessible, challenging narrative. Volume One deals with the colonial inceptions of American theatre through the post-Civil War period: the European antecedents, the New World influences of the French and Spanish colonists, and the development of uniquely American traditions in tandem with the emergence of national identity.

The Cambridge Companion to American Theatre since 1945 provides an overview and analysis of developments in the organization and practices of American theatre. It examines key demographic and geographical shifts American theatre after 1945 experienced in spectatorship, and addresses the economic, social, and political challenges theatre artists have faced across cultural climates and geographical locations. Specifically, it explores artistic communities, collaborative practices, and theatre methodologies across mainstream, regional, and experimental theatre practices, forms, and expressions. As American theatre has embraced diversity in practice and representation, the volume examines the various creative voices, communities, and perspectives that prior to the 1940s was mostly excluded from the theatrical landscape. This diversity has led to changing dramaturgical and theatrical languages that take us in to the twenty-first century. These shifting perspectives and evolving forms of theatrical expressions paved the ground for contemporary American theatrical innovation.

Volume Two begins in the post-Civil War period and traces the development of American theater up to 1945. It discusses the role of vaudeville, European influences, the rise of the Little Theater movement, changing audiences, modernism, the Federal Theater movement, major actors and the rise of the star system, and the achievements of notable playwrights. This volume places American theater in its social, economic, and political context.

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This book surveys the history of Asian American theatre from 1965 to 2005.

New and updated encyclopedic guide to American theatre, from its earliest history to the present.

Volume Two begins in the post-Civil War period and traces the development of American theater up to 1945. It discusses the role of vaudeville, European influences, the rise of the Little Theater movement, changing audiences, modernism, the Federal Theater movement, major actors and the rise of the star system, and the achievements of notable playwrights. This volume places American theater in its social, economic, and political context.

John Houchin explores the impact of censorship in twentieth-century American theatre. He argues that theatrical censorship coincides with significant challenges to religious, political and cultural traditions. Along with the well-known instance of the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s, other almost equally influential events shaped the course of the American stage during the century. The book is arranged in chronological order. It provides a summary of censorship in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century America and then analyses key political and theatrical events between 1900 and 2000. These include a discussion of the 1913 riot after the Abbey Theatre touring produdtion of Playboy of the Western World; protests against Clifford Odet's Waiting for Lefty, performed by militant workers during the Depression; and reactions to the recent play Angels in America.

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