Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1991 - 27

how in the world can I claim that
American theatre has rarely been stronger
in the quality and vision of its creative
artists? The conditions I have been trying
ro describe are hardly congenial for a
renaissance of this beleaguered art. Yet,
something like a renaissance has nevertheless been brewing over the past five or
six years-and perhaps the crisis has been
pardy responsible.

ake playwriting. Everybody
remembers a golden time
when the American theatre
could boast a succession
of dramatists renowned
throughout the world;beginning with
0' eill, and continuing through Odets,
Hellman, Miller, Williams and Albee. By
contrast, roday it is generally assumed
that playwriting is in decline. I am nevertheless convinced that the young writers
working on the contemporary stage have
the capacity to equal, if not surpass, most
of those I have juSt named. Admittedly,
they are more obscure. Few have had a
major success on Broadway. But that is
more a condition of a faulty system than
of their own intrinsic talents. Sam
Shepard, for example, has contributed a
body of plays-ehief among them Buried
Child and Tme West-that will stand

comparison with virtually anything written in the last 20 years, though it is true
that he spends less time writing these
days than acting in such movies as Baby
BoolII. David Mamet-also a part-time
Hollywood writer and direcror-is
another major playwright of the period:
Alllericall BlIffizlo and Glengarry Glen Ross
are masterpieces, bu t all of his plays come
from the hand of a master. David Rabe's
Hurry Burly----in its full-length version,
not the truncated comic mechanism
greased for the stage by Mike Nicholscan compete, in power and rage, with the
late plays of 0' eill. Christopher
Durang, a deadly scorpion wi th poison
leeching into his writing hand, is one of
the most powerful satirists our stage has
ever seen. And Ronald Ribman continues
to write with a surrealist bite and poetic
penetration that makes most of the
domestic drama of the past look declarative, linear, and obvious.
Many other distinctive writersArthur Kopit, Craig Lucas, Howard
Korder, David Ives, Tom Babe, Richard
elson, Wendy Wasserstein, William
Hauptman, Lanford Wilson, Eric
Overmeyer, John Guare, August Wilson,
Keith Reddin, A.H. Gurney, David
Hwang, Charles Mee. Jr., dozens morehave all done redoubtable work. The

numbers alone suggest that something
unusual is happening, but the general
intelligence and aspiration of their plays
are the real measure. Because they so
rarely have Broadway hits, few of these
playwrights have been celebrated by the
media so their existence is not a significant fact in the public mind. But this
may be why they continue ro write with
such obdurate intensity, with such astonishing unpredictability. Obscurity has
advantages as well as disappointments,
just as sudden fame can prove ro be an
enemy of promise-as it did with our
more celebrated playwrights in the past,
many of whom faltered in trying to
repeat their early successes. Today's playwrights may not have as much chance as
yesterday's to enjoy the rewards of
American success. Bur they have a better
shot at something more elusive and satisf)ring-ro last the course with dignity,
without exhausting their creative wills.
And most of them have found congenial directors: Jerry Zaks, Gregory
Mosher, Ron Lagomarsino, orman
Rene-who mount their plays tastefully
and faithfully, though the more interesting directors today are essentially auteurs
who, following Peter Brook and
Grotowski, work best with material
devised in concert with actors and dra-

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SPRING

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1991