Drawing Upon the Past

Contemporary American theatre re-creates and invokes classical theatre so as to generate interaction between the two theatres. Using selected works of fourteen playwrights, this book organizes the interaction into three sections: works dramatizing change and reconciliation, works dramatizing the inability or the unwillingness to change and reconcile, and works emphasizing various selves (personal, theatrical, national). By drawing on the past, the fourteen playwrights refine their art in the contemporary American theatre and their vision of contemporary American life.