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| Along with Brecht, father of Epic Theatre |
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French poet and critic who allegedly coined the term Surrealism
Died in of Spanish flue in the pandemic
Fought in WWI and had nice things to say about it
A friend of Picasso
It is because of Apollinaire that the work of the Marquis de Sade became widely disseminated
His play Les Mamelles de Tiresias is considered one of the first to be called Surrealist. |
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French Surrealist. Poet, essayist, critic.
Started out in the Dadaist group, but eventually broke from them.
Was a friend of Apollinaire |
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French poet, actor, dramatist, film maker
Very important in Avant-Garde film
Addicted to Opium
Among his films is Blood of a Poet, perhaps the first Surrealist film
Was elected to the Academie Francaise in 1955
A friend of Picasso
La Machine Infernal
Les Enfants Terribles |
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French actor and theorist
Spent his life in and out of sanitariums. Was addicted to laudanum (opium).
Ran the Alfred Jarry Theatre for 2 years
Theatre and Its Double
Manifestos of the Theatre of Cruelty |
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| the theatre should have as much visceral impact on the audience as possible. The spectator should be drawn into the performance. It should be visceral, and shake the audience to the point that they abandon their ‘false’ ideas of reality. |
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French actor, director, producer
He helped revive interest in commedia
Worked with the Comedie Francaise, where he emphasized stylized productions. |
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French novelist, essayist, playwright, diplomat
Blends fantasy and realism.
Amphitryon
Judith
The Madwoman of Chaillot |
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Italian dramatist. Preoccupied with the question of identity.
His L’Umorismo describes the perverse humor we experience when confronted with the contradictions and absurdities of life.
A collection of plays called Naked Masks
Six Characters in Search of An Author
L’Umorismo
Henry IV |
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Spanish professor, philosopher, author, educator.
One of his main areas of interest was the tragedy of death. If we know we are to die, why this thirst for the immortal?
Is said to have spoken 14 languages
Was outspokenly opposed to Franco. He died under house arrest
The Sphinx
The Truth
Peace in War
Love and Pedagogy
The Mirror of Death
The Tragic Sense of Life |
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Spanish poet and dramatist
Championed avant-garde.
Was outspoken in his defense of the Republic and his criticisms of Fascism
He was shot in the opening days of the Spanish Civil War by the right wing soldiers. Not much is known about his assassination, but there are many rumors. An eye witness says that he was forced to dig his own grave and was then shot. One of his assassins allegedly said that he shot “two bullets into his arse for being a queer”
Franco banned his work, and there were public burnings of his plays.
Led La Barraca, a traveling theatre company which toured rural areas giving free performances of Spanish classics.
The ‘Rural Tragedies’: Blood Wedding, Yerma
The House of Bernarda Alba
The Butterfly’s Evil Spell |
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Became the center of the National Theatre in England
Tyrone Guthrie and Laurence Olivier are associated with the theatre.
The theatre was badly damaged in WWII |
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English playwright, actor, director, etc
Extremely well known everywhere. His wit was legendary
An excellent satirist.
He was employed by Britain to increase American support for the war. He was on the Nazi blacklist for this (execution list, if he could be caught). He also worked for Britain by entertaining the troops |
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British journalist, novelist, playwright. Incredibly prolific.
During WWII his radio broadcasts raised morale.
An Inspector Calls |
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English producer who helped bring the revue to the stage
The revue was an easily digested production that could follow a loose plot or theme and which featured music
Produced “intimate reviews” |
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Irish dramatist, product of impoverished Ireland
Wrote about what it was to be poor in Ireland. Realistic plays about the Irish slums. Juxtaposed tragedy and comedy |
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One of the founders of the Group Theater
Actor/ director/ dramatist
One of the most important creators of The Method
Believed in the importance of emotional memory |
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One of the founders of the Group Theatre
Directed over forty plays between 1935 and 1980
The second husband of Stella Adler
Worked with Copeau |
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An early member of the group theatre and renowned teacher of acting
Studied under Stanislavski for a short period
Emphasized imagination and the study of text |
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Theatre producer and director. One of the founders of the Group Theatre
Helped create the Actor’s Studio (where Marlon Brando was trained) |
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A member of the Group Theatre
He, too, testified for the HUAC
Wrote political plays. Perhaps the most important of these is the agit prop Waiting for Lefty
Waiting for Lefty
Awake and Sing
Sweet Smell of Success
Golden Boy |
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African American dancer, actress, producer
Founded the Anita Bush Players of Harlem, which later became the Lafayette Players
She was incredibly brave, incredibly groundbreaking, and is greatly responsible for the increasing acceptance of African American theatre companies in the first half of the twentieth century |
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| American poet, playwright, novelist. Hugely important in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s |
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One of the most important writers of African American Literature. Associated with the Harlem Renaissance
“I have the nerve to walk my own way, however hard, in my search for reality, rather than climb upon the rattling wagon of wishful illusions”
Was a “dramatic coach” for the Federal Theatre Project
Their Eyes were Watching God
The First One
Tell My Horse |
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American playwright
Explored American life. Used farce to depict the horrors of war
The Petrified Forest
Idiots Delight
Abe Lincoln in Illinois |
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American Playwright
Her play Alison’s House won a Pulitzer Prize. While not the first woman to in a Pulitzer Prize, she was one of the first.
Fidelity
Trifles
The Verge
Alison’s House |
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An American playwright
Used expressionism
Best known for her Machinal, a dark play in which a machine-like society drives a woman to murder.
Machinal |
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American writer who worked with George S Kaufman
She wrote the novel Showboat, which was later adapted into one of the most important examples of early American Musical Theatre
Showboat
Royal Family
Stage Door |
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An American playwright
Perhaps the best known of the female playwrights of her era.
Explored taboo subjects. Her The Children’s Hour dealt with homosexuality and the politics of rape
The Children’s Hour
Little Foxes |
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French actor
Synthesized elements from Copeau and Artaud
“total theatre” = the director must uncover the secrets in the script. The script is just the tip of the iceberg. |
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French dramatist.
The wife of Jean-Louis Barrault
Together, they founded the Compagnie Madeleine Renaud-Jean-Louis Barrault |
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Considered the father of existentialism, although he was not the first existentialist. Coined the phrase “existence precedes essence”
No Exit
The Flies |
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French Existentialist, although he denied the label.
He wrote a philosophical book called The Myth of Sisyphus, in which he called the human condition ‘absurd’. It is this which later supplied the name for the absurdist movement.
Caligula
The Stranger
The Plague |
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The theorist responsible for coining “The Theatre of the Absurd”.
He wrote the book The Theatre of The Absurd in which he discussed those dark plays which seemed directly influenced, both in style and in content, with existentialism and nihilism |
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Spanish avant-garde dramatist
Was interested in “Theatre panique”, which he described as “a ceremony, partly sacrilegious, partly sacred, erotic and mystic, a putting to death and exaltation of life, part Don Quixote and part Alice in Wonderland”
Solemn Communion
The Architect and the Emperor of Assyria
And They Handcuffed the Flowers
Young Barbarians Today |
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Czech playwright
Satirical and political
He was imprisoned for his resistance to governmental abuses of human rights
He ultimately became president of the country
The Garden Party
The Memorandum
The Conspirators |
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German actor, director, dramatist
The wife of Brecht
The leading director of Brecht’s plays, and the head of The Berliner Ensemble |
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German graphic artist, filmmaker, journalist
Writes in a Brechtian style
Invested in provoking audience thought
The Investigation
The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade |
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Italian director
Began as a scenic designer
He is best known for his classics. His film versions of Shakespeare are some of the best ever. He makes the classics accessible without sacrificing their integrity |
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Brazilian director and dramatist
He wanted to use theatre as an agent to promote social change
Developed Invisible Theatre and Forum Theatre
Theatre of the Oppressed |
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Leading English commercial dramatist
He reinforced existing social values, thus creating drama that soothed
French Without Tears
The Winslow Boy
Separate Tables
Ross |
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English playwright who attacked class distinctions
He is considered one of England’s most important post war dramatists
Also attacked social complacency and inertia
It is speculated that he was influenced by Brecht
The Entertainer
Look Back In Anger
Luther |
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English playwright
Diverse in genres, he is perhaps best known for his dark and rather absurdist plays
Amadeus
Equus
Black Comedy |
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English playwright
Used silence as an critical part of language
“unspoken anxiety”
Old Times
The Room
The Dumb Waiter
The Caretaker
The Homecoming
Moonlight
Betrayal |
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Swedish writer, film producer, film director
Considered one of the best film directors of all time.
Also participated in theatre, where he learned many of his techniques
Through a Glass Darkly
Wild Strawberries
The Seventh Seal |
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One of the most important American playwrights of the last century
Refused to give testimony to the HUAC
The Crucible
All My Sons
Death of a Salesman |
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American director
Founder of the New York Shakespeare Festival (also called The Public Theatre’s NY Shakespeare Festival, and is now known as Shakespeare in the Park)
He also loved Gilbert and Sullivan
His Pirates of Penzance was a huge hit on Broadway |
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American writer
Considered the “Playwright of the Midwest”
Picnic
Bus Stop
The Dark at the Top of the Stairs |
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American playwright who has seen a great deal of success on Broadway.
Plays with elements of the absurd
Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama’s Hung You in the Closet and I’m Feelin’ So Sad
Wings
Nine
Indians |
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Polish director and dramatist
A leader of the avant garde
Established the Laboratorium Theatre company
Focused on the idea of live actors (because film suddenly makes that idea unique to theatre). This led him the idea of ‘poor theatre’, which focuses on the actor and does away with scenery etc. For him, it was all about the connection between the actor and the audience |
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German dramatist and director
Had an ‘on off’ relationship with the East German government
Associated with the Berliner Ensemble
He is described as having ‘opened’ dramatic forms, encouraging multiple interpretations of meanings and messages in his work
The Scab
The Resettled Woman
The Correction
Hamletmachine |
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British director and theorist
Stated that theatre comes in 4 categories: sacred theatre, deadly theatre, immediate theatre, and rough theatre
Greatly influenced by Grotowski, Artaud, Brecht, and Meyerhold
The Empty Space |
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British playwright
Involves philosophy in just about everything
Affiliated with Amnesty International
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
Jumpers
After Magritte
Arcadia |
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English playwright and director
Interested in human relationships and social institutions
The Blue Room
The Judas Kiss
The Vertical Hour
Obedience, Struggle, and Revolt
The Reader
The Hours |
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English playwright
Explores feminism and other social issues through non realistic techniques
Vinegar Tom
Cloud Nine
A Mouthful of Birds |
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American playwright and screenwriter
Writes about his experiences in Vietnam
Exposes the desperation in mainstream society
Sticks and Bones
In the Boom Boom Room
Streamers
Hurlyburly |
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American playwright
Cofounder of the Circle Rep Theatre in NYC
His Madness of Lady Bright is considered one of the most important theatrical representations of homosexuality
So Long at the Fair
The Rimers of Eldritch
The Madness of Lady Bright
Burn This
The Mound Builders
The 5th of July |
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American playwright
Has been extremely courageous infighting for homosexual rights.
His Corpus Christi famously shocked society by retelling the story of Christ in which Christ and his disciples are homosexual.
The Rink
Lips Together, Teeth Apart
Love! Valour! Compassion! |
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American playwright and activist
A Controversial figure
Dutchman
Blues People
Somebody Blew Up America |
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American writer and activist
One of the first African America women to be nationally recognized for her writing
Died of cancer tragically early
A Raisin in the Sun
The Drinking Gourd |
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American playwright
Wanted to write a play about African American life in each decade. He finished it 7 months before he died
Joe Turner’s Come and Gone
The Piano Lesson
Radio Golf
Fences
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom |
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American playwright
Studied with both Shepard and Fornes
Was produced by Papp
explores Asian American experiences
Yellow Face
M Butterfly
FOB
Flower Drum Song (with Rodgers and Hammerstein) |
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Founded in 1965 by Luis Valdez
Designed to communicate the wretched working conditions experienced by agricultural workers
Also, to instill pride in Mexican-American heritage |
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One of the best known Hispanic American playwrights
Worked closely with the United Farm Workers Union
Uses agit prop
Los Vendidos
Zoot Suit |
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American director, actor, playwright
Founder of the Ridiculous Theatrical Company
He wanted to ‘decenter’ the expectations of specific demographics (almost in a Dada way)
Uses camp and farce
Corn
Camille
The Artificial Jungle
Hot Ice
Turds in Hell
The Mystery of Irma Vep (the play must be performed by two people of the same gender) |
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American director and playwright
Avant garde
Also skilled in many other artistic genres
Collaborated with Philip Glass on Einstein on the Beach
Emphasizes the importance of movement. Will work on a show without words first, only adding the text late
Emphasizes the importance of light |
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| From the webpage: For more than thirty years, The Wooster Group has cultivated new forms and techniques of theatrical expression reflective of and responsive to our evolving culture, while sustaining a consistent ensemble and maintaining a flexible repertory. Wooster Group theatre pieces are constructed as assemblages of juxtaposed elements: radical staging of both modern and classic texts, found materials, films and videos, dance and movement, multi-track scoring, and an architectonic approach to theatre design. |
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