Docu-Drama/Oral History/Solo Drama

Question 1

Documentary Theatre

Answer 1

*Germany, 1960s: “Theatre of Fact”- using factual evidence as the dialogue for plays

Question 2

Peter Weiss

Answer 2

“The Investigation” (1965)- Nuremburg Trials

Question 3

Eric Bentley

Answer 3

“Are You Now or Have You Ever Been” (1972)- McCarthy communist trials; Red Scare 1950s era

Question 4

“Charlier Victor Romeo” 1999

Answer 4

American; black box recordings from aviation accidents; training video-esque

Question 5

Moises Kaufman

Answer 5

“Gross Indecency: Three Trials of Oscar Wilde” (1997); also wrote “The Laramie Project” (2000), an oral history play

Question 6

Solo Performance: Anna Devere Smith

Answer 6

“Thus in the Mirror” (1992)

• based on Brooklyn riots between Hasidic Jews and African Americans living on the same block
• one woman playing all the characters from each side

Question 7

Eve Ensler

Answer 7

“The Vagina Monologues”

“The Good Body”

Question 8

Karen Finley

Answer 8

• performance artist who lost funding because of her exhibit where she smeared chocolate over her naked body
• went on to charge for people to rub chocolate on her to regain the money she lost out on

Question 9

Lily Tomlin

Answer 9

“The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe”

*began her career as a stand-up comedian

Question 10

Spalding Gray

Answer 10

“Swimming to Cambodia” (1987)

• highly autobiographical; based on The Killing Fields movie regarding the Vietnam War
• (historical video we watched in class)

Question 11

Bill Rauch

Answer 11

• Cornerstone Theatre Company- theatre of community

- casts people in the community alongside real actors

Question 12

Political Theatre: “The Guys”

Answer 12

*2-person play between a firefighter and a reporter (Bill Murray and Sigourney Weaver) that was produced just 3 weeks after 9/11; noted for its immediacy after the event