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Richly deserving of wider exposure in the theater and the
classroom, these sly, remarkable scripts touch on the forceful and
salient issues of the 1990s, including the Gulf War, racial and
sexual relations, crises unique to big cities, immigration and
multiculturalism, art and censorship, revisionist history, academic
freedom, and the transformation of the American presidency. The
American Play by Suzan-Lori Parks features an Abraham Lincoln
impersonator trapped in an outrageous, Beckett-like world, while
Naomi Wallace's In the Heart of America centers on a Palestinian
American from Atlanta who is caught up in the Persian Gulf
conflict. Kokoro by Velina Hasu Houston chillingly depicts the
stark predicament of a Japanese mother caught between two
impossible worlds; Marisol by Jose Rivera reveals the dark
fairytale life of a young Latin woman in a wartorn, apocalyptic New
York. The Gift by Allan Havis confronts overwhelming moral
ambiguity in the farcical realm of university politics, while
Nixon's Nixon by Russell Lees offers an adroit treatment of the
fascinating, tortured Nixon/Kissinger relationship. The collection
closes with Mac Wellman's 7 Blowjobs, a wicked send-up of the
compromise politics that determined the fate of the National
Endowment for the Arts. Taken together, these seven plays present
an eclectic web of social thought and imagination that are uniquely
American, offering the reader a splendid, honest study of a rich
society in search of itself.
This powerful anthology brings together reflective and raw plays by
American playwrights surrounding the psychic and political
boundaries of the many faces and shadows of terrorism. Allan
Havis's introduction addresses a variety of terrorism cases from
the last 25 years, examines several theories of the root causes of
modern terrors, and underscores how theatre forms a unique contour
to social and philosophical thought on terrorism. With a foreword
from Robert Brustein, the anthology features: Break of Noon by Neil
LaBute 7/11 by Kia Corthron Omnium Gatherum by Theresa Rebeck and
Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros Columbinus by PJ Paparelli and Stephen
Karam Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them by
Christopher Durang
This powerful anthology brings together reflective and raw plays by
American playwrights surrounding the psychic and political
boundaries of the many faces and shadows of terrorism. Allan
Havis's introduction addresses a variety of terrorism cases from
the last 25 years, examines several theories of the root causes of
modern terrors, and underscores how theatre forms a unique contour
to social and philosophical thought on terrorism. With a foreword
from Robert Brustein, the anthology features: Break of Noon by Neil
LaBute 7/11 by Kia Corthron Omnium Gatherum by Theresa Rebeck and
Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros Columbinus by PJ Paparelli and Stephen
Karam Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them by
Christopher Durang
Cult Films: Taboo and Transgression looks at nine decades of cult
films history within American culture. By highlighting three films
per decade including a brief summary of the decade's identity and
sensibility, the book investigates the quality, ironies, and spirit
of cult film evolution. The twenty-seven films selected for this
study are analyzed for story content and in their respective
transgressions regarding social, aesthetic, and political codes.
Characteristic of this book is the notion that many exciting genres
make up cult films-including horror, sci-fi, fantasy, film noir,
and black comedy. Further, the book reaches out to several foreign
film directors over the decades in order to view cult films as an
intentional art form. Political and ideological controversies are
covered; arresting back-story details that lend perspective on a
film fill out the analysis and the historic framework for many film
titles. The book, by emphasizing the condensed survey over decades
and by choosing outstanding titles, differs from other general
studies on cult films.
"American Political Plays after 9/11 "is a diverse collection of
bold, urgent, and provocative plays that respond to the highly
charged, post 9/11 political landscape. Sparked by the terrorist
attacks of September 11, 2001, and subsequently fueled by a series
of controversial events--the Iraq war, the passing and enforcement
of the U.S.A. Patriot Act, and the revelation of torture and other
scandals at the Abu Ghraib prison--American political theater is
currently experiencing a surge in activity. The plays in this
collection include "The Guys" by Anne Nelson, "At the Vanishing
Point" by Naomi Iizuka, "The Venus de Milo ""Is Armed" by Kia
Corthron, "Back of the Throat" by Yusseff El Guindi, "Three Nights
in Prague" by Allan Havis, and "Question 27, Question 28" by Chay
Yew. The characters range from a New York City fire captain trying
to respectfully memorialize eight of his lost comrades, to the
citizens of a hog-killing Louisville neighborhood who poignantly
exemplify the underside of the economic crisis, to an Arab American
citizen being harshly (and possibly unfairly) interrogated by two
officers as a "person of interest." Though not all of the plays
deal explicitly with the Al Qaeda attacks, they collectively reveal
themes of sorrow and anxiety, moral indignation, alarmist
self-preservation, and economic and social insecurity stemming from
the United States' fairly sudden shift from cold war superpower to
vulnerable target. The lively introduction by Allan Havis includes
a brief history of political theater in the United States, an
extensive discussion about how theater communities responded to
9/11, and an informative analysis of the six plays in the book. A
collection of dramatic material framed by this significant
historical event, "American" "Political Plays after 9/11 "will be
indispensable for theater and cultural studies scholars and
students.
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