Title: Levitating the Pentagon : evolutions in the American theatre of the Vietnam War era /
Authors: Fenn, Jeffery W., 1941-
Publisher: University of Delaware Press ; Associated University Presses,
Year: 1992
Subjects: American drama History and criticism; Vietnam War, 1961-1975 Literature and the war; Literature and society United States History; Theater and society United States History; Peace movements in literature.; War in literature.
Abstract: This work undertakes the examination of the evolutions and innovations in the American theatre of the Vietnam War era as well as a study of the dramatic scripts and productions that emerged during this period and that were created in it. It is also an aim to both generalize and specify the nature of the dramatic response, and, by way of example, to illustrate the discrepancies in style and attitude between current dramatic works focusing on Vietnam War themes and those written under the conflict's direct experience and immediate influence. The significant dramas dealing with Vietnam were written by playwrights who had some firsthand experience of the war, either by the ex-combatants themselves, or by those who had personal or professional associations with them. These dramatists offer the most profound insights concerning the ordeal and its consequences for both the combatants and their society, yet virtually none of their works are commercially produced today.^
Contents: 1: A Culture under Stress -- 2: Evolutionary Trends of the Sixties: The Experimental Theatre -- 3: Evolutionary Trends of the Sixties: The Radical Theatre -- 4: Dramatic Trends of the Sixties: The Documentary Theatre -- 5: Dramatic Trends of the Sixties: Theatre of Abstraction -- 6: The Vietnam War: Plays of Initiation -- 7: The Vietnam War: Plays of Experience -- 8: The Spoils of War: Plays of Homecoming -- Appendix A: Chronology of Major Events concerning the Vietnam Engagement -- Appendix B: Chronology of Significant American and World Events, 1949-1975 -- Appendix C: Chronology of Theatre Groups, Plays, and Productions.