Modern Drama/Theatre

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Modern Drama/Theatre
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Agenda Modern Drama

• Get the handout up front.
• Get into groups of 3 for your opener and wait for
  me to distribute play synopsis.
• You will have fifteen minutes to read ONE
  synopsis, write it down the main points and share
  with the other two members in your group.
• Complete notes and view clips rest of the time
  will be yours.

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Tennessee Williams

• 1911-1983
• Thomas Lanier Williams
• New Orleans, LA
• Tennessee fathers birthplace
• Plays reflect stories from his own life
• Used film techniques in his plays (thought it
  made the play better for the audience)
• Pulitzer prize for, A Streetcar Named Desire, in
  1947
• Emotional deterioration of Blanche du Bois clip
  
• Known for strong characters, creative
  presentations, excellent dialogue and perceptive
  portrayal of American life, especially in the
  south.

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Arthur Miller

• 1915-2005
• Married to Marilyn Monroe 1956
• to 1961
• Famous works include
• Death of a Salesman 1949
• The Crucible 1953
• Known for allegory, expressionism
• and realism

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Death of a Salesman

• Clip 1
• Clip 2
• 1949
• Tragedy
• Story of a salesman who decides that he is worth
  more to his family dead than alive
• Explores the ideas of
• Death
• Family
• Broken American Dream

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The Crucible

• 1953
• Set during the colonial Salem Witch Trials in
  Massachusetts
• Tells the story of a group of young girls who are
  accused of practicing witch craft who are then
  persecuted for their alleged behavior
• Served as a political allegory on 1950s
  McCarthyism and persecution based on fear of
  communism
• clip

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Lorainne Hansberry

• 1930-1965
• Chicago, Illinois
• Most famous work
• A Raisin in the Sun
• First African-American woman to write a drama
  performed on Broadway

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A Raisin in the Sun

• 1959
• living room drama
• Theme dealt with strengths and weaknesses that
  families experience
• Known for adding realism to characters of the
  1960s
• Focused on the need to protect ones self-respect
  and dignity of others
• Langston Hughes A Dream Differed
• clip

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A Dream Deferredby Langston Hughes

• What happens to a dream deferred?
• Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?
• Or fester like a sore -
• And then run?
• Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and
  sugar over-- like a syrupy sweet?
• Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.
• Or does it explode?