The Cambridge Companion to American Theatre since 1945 Cambridge Companions to Theatre and Performance Series

The Cambridge Companion to American Theatre since 1945 provides an overview and analysis of developments in the organization and practices of American theatre. It examines key demographic and geographical shifts American theatre after 1945 experienced in spectatorship, and addresses the economic, social, and political challenges theatre artists have faced across cultural climates and geographical locations. Specifically, it explores artistic communities, collaborative practices, and theatre methodologies across mainstream, regional, and experimental theatre practices, forms, and expressions. As American theatre has embraced diversity in practice and representation, the volume examines the various creative voices, communities, and perspectives that prior to the 1940s was mostly excluded from the theatrical landscape. This diversity has led to changing dramaturgical and theatrical languages that take us in to the twenty-first century. These shifting perspectives and evolving forms of theatrical expressions paved the ground for contemporary American theatrical innovation.

Introduction Julia Listengarten and Stephen Di Benedetto; Part I. Commercial and Mainstream Theatre: 1. Broadway post-1945 to 1960: shifting perspectives Susan C. W. Abbotson; 2. Bridging the gap: Broadway and the experimental from the 1960s to 2020 Cindy Rosenthal; 3. What's inside? Collaborative relationships at the heart of the American musical Laura MacDonald; 4. Shaping Broadway and off-Broadway plays through collaborations: playwrights, directors, designers, and companies Jessica Silsby Brater; Part II. Regional Theatre Movement: 5. Money matters: dismantling the narrative of the rise of regional theatre Elizabeth A. Osborne; 6. When and where they enter: black and brown voices in American theatre Faedra Chatard Carpenter; 7. El jardín mágico: commissions, collaboration, and new play development in American regional theatre David A. Crespy; Part III. Experimental Theatre and Other Forms of Entertainment: 9. Post-avant-garde theatre Arnold Aronson; 10. Populist provocations and commercial cavalcades: popular entertainments and the rise of mass mediated performance Chase Bringardner.

Julia Listengarten is Pegasus Professor and Artistic Director of Theatre at University of Central Florida's School of Performing Arts. Her books include Russian Tragifarce: Its Cultural and Political Roots, Theater of the Avant-Garde, 1950-2000, Playing with Theory in Theatre Practice, and Modern American Playwriting: 2000-2009.
Stephen Di Benedetto is Professor and Chair of the Department of Theatre at Michigan State University. Among his numerous publications are The Provocation of the Senses in Contemporary Theatre, An Introduction to Theatre Design, and the co-edited Designer's Shakespeare.