Post-Modern Theatre

Question 1

1960s Theatre

Answer 1

• moral freedom; creative expression (sex, violence, libel)

* DRAFT: young adults had more influence than ever before, expressing their opinions in riots and protests

Question 2

“Hair”

Answer 2

• one of the first mainstream musicals with nudity/sex, profanity, and interracial casting
• sexual revolution of the 1960s and antiwar protests

Question 3

Happening

Answer 3

• participatory, one-time only, shocking piece of theatre
• non-linear narrative structure
• included key events/exhibits, incorporated with improv

Question 4

Environmental Theatre

Answer 4

• heightened audience awareness by eliminating distinction between the audience and the acting space
• audience was part of the acting space, but not always participating in the performance art
• example: slave ship set (which rocked back and forth), where the actors were inside the ship and audience could see inside to witness the action

Question 5

The Living Theatre (company)

Answer 5

• experimental theatre, founded by Beck and Malina, which produced unconventional staging of poetic dramas
• “Paradise Now” (1968) was their best-known production, which was semi-improvisational and had audience participation, influenced by Antonine Artaud and had nudity, sex, and shocking imagery

Question 6

Post-Modernism

Answer 6

Characteristics:

1. self-referential: alienation; acknowledges you’re watching a theatrical performance
2. may critique/parody itself
3. not necessarily concerned with a higher purpose; it celebrated the disorder and disconnect in the world
4. IRONY: sarcasm and satire
5. self-conscious theatricality
6. often non-linear
7. theatre of the senses

Question 7

Site-Specific Theatre

Answer 7

• placed in specific locales to further the plot
• examples: streetcar plays (also known as a promenade, or traveling, play; people follow the actors to different locations), or Macbeth in a cathedral

Question 8

Immersive Theatre

Answer 8

• audience has control and participates in the action
• non-linear narrative style
• example: Punchdrunk’s “Sleep No More”, where the audience has complete freedom to choose which storyline they follow throughout the performance