The Sixties, Center Stage offers rich insights into the innovative and provocative political underpinnings of mainstream and popular performances in the 1960s. While much critical attention has been focused on experimental and radical theater of the period, the essays confirm that mainstream performances not only merit more scholarly attention than they have received, but through serious examination provide an important key to understanding the 1960s as a period. The introduction provides a broad overview of the social, political, and cultural contexts of artistic practices in mainstream theater from the mid-fifties to mid-seventies. Readers will find detailed examinations of the mainstream’s surprising attention to craft and innovation; to the rich exchange between European and American theatres; to the rise of regional theaters; and finally, to popular cultural performances that pushed the conceptual boundaries of mainstream institutions. The book looks afresh at productions of Hair, Cabaret, Raisin in the Sun, and Fiddler on the Roof, as well as German theater, and performances outside the Democratic National Convention of 1968.

The Decades of Modern American Drama series provides a comprehensive survey and study of the theatre produced in each decade from the 1930s to 2009 in eight volumes. Each volume equips readers with a detailed understanding of the context from which work emerged: an introduction considers life in the decade with a focus on domestic life and conditions, social changes, culture, media, technology, industry and political events; while a chapter on the theatre of the decade offers a wide-ranging and thorough survey of theatres, companies, dramatists, new movements and developments in response to the economic and political conditions of the day. The work of the four most prominent playwrights from the decade receives in-depth analysis and re-evaluation by a team of experts, together with commentary on their subsequent work and legacy. A final section brings together original documents such as interviews with the playwrights and with directors, drafts of play scenes, and other previously unpublished material. The major playwrights and their plays to receive in-depth coverage in this volume include: * Edward Albee: The American Dream (1960), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1962), A Delicate Balance (1966) and Tiny Alice (1964 ); * Amiri Baraka: Dutchman (1964), The Slave (1964) and Slaveship (1967); * Adrienne Kennedy: Funnyhouse of a Negro (1964), Cities in Bezique (The Owl Answers and A Beast's Story, 1969), and A Rat's Mass (1967); * Jean-Claude van Itallie: American Hurrah (1966), The Serpent (1968) and War (1963).

Even at the start of the new millennium the American Sixties continue to fascinate many scholars as one of the pivotal decades of the 20th Century. During those years the United States seemed to be strifing for new frontiers at home and abroad, driven by a generation of eager and idealistic young Americans: Civil Rights, Women's Liberation, Pop-Art, Flower Power, Postmodernism, Woodstock, the landing on the moon. Everything seemed possible. But the decade that had begun with the hopeful words of President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. ended with the bloody nightmare of the Vietnam War, summers of violence in Northern black ghettos, and a rising tide of conservatism. To explore some of these contradictions, this collection of essays takes a fresh look at American's most turbulent years from a multidisciplinary perspective. Dealing with the Arts and Media, Literature and Society as well as History and Politics, the contributions offer a broad approach to a contemporary understanding of the Sixties and their legacy.

Explores the turbulent decade of the 1960s with hundreds of compelling photographs that capture the drama and emotions of the era, both domestic and abroad.

A stunning visual chronicle of New York's iconic performance venue

Each essay in this volume sheds light on an important aspect of the decade--actually a decade and half--known as the Sixties. The Sixties are famous for the diverse social movements that threatened the essence of American public policy and mainstream society and changed those very entities in fundamental ways. These essays juxtapose the dramatic narratives of social movements, including civil rights, women's liberation, and antiwar protest, and the Cold War liberalism that spawned them. The contributors are two political scientists, several historians influenced by the social sciences, and the senior staff attorney for the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund. Contributors are Brian Balogh, Hugh Hečlo, Martha Derthick, Daryl Michael Scott, W. J. Rorabaugh, Martha F. Davis, and Louis Galambos.

The Oxford Handbook of The American Musical offers new and cutting-edge essays on the most important and compelling issues and topics in the growing, interdisciplinary field of musical-theater and film-musical studies. Taking the form of a "keywords" book, it introduces readers to the concepts and terms that define the history of the musical as a genre and that offer ways to reflect on the specific creative choices that shape musicals and their performance on stage and screen. The handbook offers a cross-section of essays written by leading experts in the field, organized within broad conceptual groups, which together capture the breadth, direction, and tone of musicals studies today. Each essay traces the genealogy of the term or issue it addresses, including related issues and controversies, positions and problematizes those issues within larger bodies of scholarship, and provides specific examples drawn from shows and films. Essays both re-examine traditional topics and introduce underexplored areas. Reflecting the concerns of scholars and students alike, the authors emphasize critical and accessible perspectives, and supplement theory with concrete examples that may be accessed through links to the handbook's website. Taking into account issues of composition, performance, and reception, the book's contributors bring a wide range of practical and theoretical perspectives to bear on their considerations of one of America's most lively, enduring artistic traditions. The Oxford Handbook of The American Musical will engage all readers interested in the form, from students to scholars to fans and aficionados, as it analyses the complex relationships among the creators, performers, and audiences who sustain the genre.

In this lively book, Stacy Wolf illuminates the women of American musical theater--performers, creators, and characters--from the start of the cold war to the present day, creating a new feminist history of the genre. Moving from decade to decade, Wolf highlights the assumptions that circulated about gender and sexuality at the time and then looks at the leading musicals, stressing the aspects of the plays that relate to women. The musicals discussed here are among the most beloved in the canon--"West Side Story," "Guys & Dolls," "Cabaret," and many others--with special emphasis on "Wicked."

Contains alphabetically arranged entries that survey the events and people of the 1960s, discussing their impact on the life and culture of the United States.