| re: So I don't think the American theatre is 'niche.' It's a thought laboratory. | |
| Last Edit: ryhog 06:44 pm EST 11/17/24 | |
| Posted by: ryhog 06:40 pm EST 11/17/24 | |
| In reply to: So I don't think the American theatre is 'niche.' It's a thought laboratory. - GrumpyMorningBoy 03:02 am EST 11/17/24 | |
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| I wish I could embrace your points, all of which give me something to "process," but I think I would say that your ultimate point is getting closer to a root issue than some of the literary analysis and what we can draw from it. That issue in the present moment is wrapped up in the "whirlwind of confusion" but it can be summed up (for now at least) in the word "polarization." (And polarization, ironically, is not a neutral term itself. It is a problem of the left. The right is not losing sleep over it.) I am not convinced that the theatre can or will play a central role in any problem solving, but I do think it provides some useful mapping of the dynamic. And to be clear. I don't think it is the manifest polarization that is the problem but rather (to resurrect an old term of the right) the silent majority (Black males, Hispanics, Muslims, working class whites) that has turned in that direction. It's tough for me to see how the theatre changes that because I don't think those groups have been paying significant attention to what comes out of the theatre directly, or even through secondary or tertiary channels. (E.g., I think Will and Grace is a pretty pale reflection of the gay plays you mention, but also not on the radar of the people who "should" be influenced by it.) I do think that the point about Fourth Turning is a good one but agree it alone (or its smattering of analogues) changes no tide. I think one of the unique problems of the theatre is that the road in for a writer with real knowledge of the lives of my silent majority is VERY difficult. Moving forward without a pretty fine pedigree is beyond daunting. This was not always the case in some areas, largely because the tide had not turned then. (Miller, Shepard, Hansberry, Inge, Wilson, etc. and if he had chosen to become a playwright, Bernie Sanders :-). |
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