- Existencial theatre (questions the meaning of existence → existencialism philosophy)
- Theatre of the absurd (no logic, based on irony; e.g "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf", 1962 by Edward Albee)
- Epic theatre (political drama; "Verfremdungseffekt" or Alienation effect → the audience has to think)
Postmodern theatre
Main theatre companies
The living theatre (created in 1947, oldest avant-garde company in the USA, produce its original Off- Broadway plays e.g "Paradise Now", 1968)
La Mama experimental theatre club (founded by Ellen Stewart in 1961. An Off-Off Broadway group promoting youg artists and experimental productions)
Pivotal Playwrights
Arthur Miller (1915-2005) → "The Crucible", 1953 (allegory of McCarthyism → denounce political issues)
Tenessee Williams (1911-1983) → "The Glass Menagerie", 1944 (about being emprisonned in once social status)
Musicals
West Side Story, 1957 Music : Leonard Bernstein, Lyrics : Stephen Sondheim, Book : Arthur Laurents, Concept : Jerome Robbins
Off and Off-Off Broadway
Off-Broadway : emerges in 1945 → alternative to the commercial logic (cheaper, more risky/experimental proposals e.g "Summer and Smoke", 1951 by Tenessee Williams. Golden Age : 1959 to 1963
Off-Off-Broadway : created in 1960 at Caffe Cino, N.Y.C. Even less commercial than Off-Broadway (only 99 seats per performance)
African-American theatre
Context of inequality → social protest theatre was a way to talk about social and political issues
Turning point : 11th March 1959 → "A Raisin in the Sun" premiere, by Lorraine Hansburry (fisrt play written by an African-American woman to be played on Broadway) → big success ( wins the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for the best play of the year)
Amiri Baraka : he creates the Black Art Movement (1960s-1970s) → message of black pride; He wrote plays e.g "Dutchman", 1964 (evokes slavery and identity)
