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| began around 1875 and continues to this day. |
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| everything onstage is made to resemble observable, everyday life (from how people speak, dress, and behave to the kinds of rooms they lived in) and represents power through credibility by evoking personal experiences. |
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| realistic playwright who wrote Doll's House, Ghosts, and Hedda Gabler; considered founder of modern realistic drama - wrote some non realistic works but felt drama should tackle subjects that had been taboo onstage (i.e. economic injustice, sexism, unhappy marriages, etc). Believed the purpose of drama was to call attention to social problems in order to bring about change. |
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| wrote The Father & Miss Julie; personalized and intensified Ibsen's realism by concentrating on individuals at war with themselves and others or war between the sexes rather than focusing on people in a social context like Ibsen. |
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| wrote Uncle Vanya & The Cherry Orchard - moved away from melodramatic elements to a more full gallery of characters with overlapping and echoing stories. Developed the tragicomedy form of theater. |
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| subdivision or extreme form of realism; everything onstage should seem lifted from everyday life (look like a 'slice of life'). Subject was frequently the lower class and focused on the sordid and seamy aspects of society in order to confront audience with social problems and instigate reforms. Compare to Survivor or The Amazing Race. |
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| both Realism and Naturalism were performed in independent theaters because they were exempt from government censorship. Theaters like the Theatre Libre (Free Theater) in Paris, the Independent Theater in London (which introduced George Bernard Shaw), and the Moscow Art Theater (which housed Chekhov and was founded by Stanislavski) all showed Realistic and Naturalistic plays. |
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| after initial objections to Real/Naturalism and censorship had passed, realistic plays began being presented commercially in Europe and the US via "little theaters." These small theaters were an alternative to commercial theater and often presented experimental, nonrealistic works and offered a haven to controversial or unknown realistic drama. |
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| important realist noncommercial company in NY that presented socially relevant dramas and introduced Stanislavski's system to the US. |
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| funded by FDR's Works Progress Administration that helped revitalize interest in theater outside NYC and assisted aspiring African American actors and theaters. |
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