Winter Passages
Subtitle: Reflections on Theatre and Society
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2017
Place of publication: Milton
Language: eng
Number of pages: 177
ISBN-13: 9781351471527
Subjects: Theater and society; Théâtre et société
Description: "Winter Passages is Robert Brustein's nineteenth book of criticism. It includes his considerations of culture and politics over the past four years of American life, demonstrating how the imperfections of the government and economy have plunged the country into an artistic winter in which there is a troubling lack of support for, and understanding of, America's arts and artists. In a section on "Cultural Passages," Brustein includes chapters on compromised theatre institutions, auteur productions, the American musical, generational idiosyncrasies, and China's growing theatre culture, which contrasts with American culture. The second section, "Dramatic Passages," addresses twenty-seven great playwrights from Aeschylus to August Wilson and demonstrates how they have influenced our sense of history and human character. In "Laudatory Passages," Brustein discusses great American artists, living and dead, who continue to influence our sense of self as a nation and as individuals. Brustein concludes that we will be judged, like all cultures, by the quality of our arts and artists, and by our willingness to allow their insights to influence our behavior."--Provided by publisher.
Table of contents: title: Cover; Half Title; Title Page; Copyright Page; Table of Contents; Acknowledgments; Introduction: The Past is Prologue; 1 Cultural Passages; The Institution as a Work of Art; More Masterpieces; Weill, Lenya, and the Broadway Musical; Thornton Wilder: The Paleface Who Wanted to Be a Redskin; Mel Brooks's America: Puttin' on the Spritz; The Like Generation; Return of the Booboisie; China Begins to Dream; 2 Playwright Passages; Aeschylus; Edward Albee; Aristophanes; Alan Ayckbourn; Samuel Beckett; Anton Chekhov; Noel Coward; Gilbert and Sullivan; Lorraine Hansberry; Henrik Ibsen; Tony Kushner.; title: Arthur MillerEugene O'Neill; Luigi Pirandello; Theresa Rebeck; Sarah Ruhl; Arthur Schnitzler; William Shakespeare; George Bernard Shaw; Sam Shepard; Sophocles; Tom Stoppard; Frank Wedekind; August Strindberg; Tennessee Williams; August Wilson; 3 Commemorative Passages; F. Murray Abraham; Robert Woodruff; John Douglas Thompson; Oskar Eustis; Carmen De Lavallade; Christopher Durang; Philip Roth; David Wheeler; Stanley Kauffmann; Jeremy Geidt; Epilogue; Index.