Yellow-Faced Coolies and Exotic Geisha: The Portrayal of Asians in American Theatre and Their Reactions Since the inception of theatre, playwrights have used the stage to portray races different from their own, and from the majority of their audience. ... Portraying cultures they knew nothing about, many playwrights relied on stereotypes and stock character types that were widely used and accepted by the public. ... I also discuss how one well known Asian American playwright, David Henry Hwang (M. ... David Henry Hwang is a well known Asian-American playwright known for M. ... (Hwang, Rodgers...

• Word Count: 1571
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography

Odets wasn't recognized as a talented actor; however, he soon found his place in the world of theatre as a playwright. ... Awake and Sing came shortly after and helped establish Odets as a prominent playwright. ... Odets Success in Hollywood wasn't as astounding as most expected for the once promising playwright. ... Like many of the writers and playwrights of the 1950's Odets was investigated by Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1953. Odets proclaimed that is depiction of the American working class came from deep sympathy and not from his brief ...

• Word Count: 635
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

Contemporary playwrights are constantly writing about and commenting on current social and political issues. ... In this play, six playwrights have met late one night to get drunk and bury their dead friend, Ding, also a playwright, and wrapped in a sheet on the stage floor throughout the piece. There is also an eighth character in the play, the recorded voice of "the playwright-, giving the entire piece a Brecht-like quality. ... For example, there is the poor one, the intellectual feminist from London described as "cool, and beginning to sound British-, the angry bisexual who writes noth...

• Word Count: 1744
• Approx Pages: 7

There was a sense of fear amongst American people, and one of the few escapes from the real world was entertainment. ... However, in 1947 one of the most significant plays in American history opened on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. ... The overt sexual themes and innovative blend of realism and expressionism captivated audiences and became definitive characteristics of one of the great American playwrights, Tennessee Williams (Wilmeth 686). ... Today, it is commonplace that a director working with a playwright on the production of a play is a full collaborator in the work. ... Criti...

• Word Count: 2476
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Langston Hughes was born on February 1st, 1902 during an incredible period for African Americans in Harlem, New York. This phase in New York was called the Harlem Renaissance, which was a unique time were art inspired by African Americans flourished rapidly. ... This poem also expressed about a time of unfairness and discrimination in America against colored people. ... Aside from his essays and poems Langston was also a leader as a playwright and columnist. In the beginning of his playwright career Hughes wrote Mulatto, an amazing poem about a son and a father. ...

• Word Count: 664
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography

In the play ˜Death of a Salesman' by Arthur Miller, the playwright focuses on the theme of failure in a success oriented society. ... The play's theme demonstrates how ˜The American Dream' destroys people's lives by false promises. ... The American West, Alaska, and the African Jungle represent the potential to be successful to Biff and Willy. ... Willy realizes that his all-American football star turned into a lazy guy. ... This play made a lot of people question the greatness of the American Dream....

• Word Count: 658
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

Welcome to America: Memories of "A Bintel Brief," by Barbara Lesser, opened the Steisand Festival of New Jewish Plays on June 3 at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center. By basing its content on letters from "A Bintel Brief," it imaginatively transports us back to the issues and history of Jewish immigrant life in America. More than two million Eastern European Jews settled in America from 1880 to 1925, and a key to their understanding American life was the Yiddish newspapers, the Forward being one of the most popular. ... Playwright Lesser faced a huge challenge to conve...

• Word Count: 298
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

Miller and Mamet's Failure of the American Dream Arthur Miller and David Mamet are playwrights who are familiar with the struggle to achieve the American Dream. In "Death of a Salesman", Arthur Miller used the salesman Willy Loman as a symbol for the failure of the American dream. ... Through his pitiful and desperate lies and his failure in the pursuit of the American dream, Shelley Levene is the perfect example of a person who has been failed by the American system. ... Mamet and Miller both suggest that the American system teaches people to pursue success and despise failure. Th...

• Word Count: 590
• Approx Pages: 2
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

In his play The Crucible, he uses the techniques of playwright, metaphor and historical repetition to reflect the mass hysteria of McCarthyism and the witch trials. ... In conclusion, in The Crucible, Arthur Miller used playwright, metaphor, and historical repetition to critique McCarthyism and to make sure society knew what the effects of hysteria could do. After the Cold War, many Americans didnt know what to believe or who to believe, and felt as though they werent safe in their own country, or even home. ...

• Word Count: 595
• Approx Pages: 2

He was a well-accomplished British playwright in an era of post-Victorianism and possibly his upbringing influenced his perception of Steinbeck's work. How could a well-educated British playwright possibly understand the deep social issues facing a downtrodden group of Americans thousands of miles away? ... The Grapes of Wrath in Isherwood's mind is a "milestone in American fiction, but [he does] not believe that it represents the height of the author's [Steinbeck's] powers (Bloom's 29)."" Even though the Isherwood review seems not to be satisfied with Steinbeck...

• Word Count: 669
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography

"A Raisin In The Sun" was the first drama by a produced African American women on Broadway. ... "A Raisin In The Sun", shows a decisive portrait of African American life in the mid-1950s. ... The movie was consistent with playwright's intent for the setting. ... The director did clearly express the playwright's message/ theme of the play. ...

• Word Count: 886
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

It was a time in which Canadians were referred to as "not Americans" and Canada was referred to as "not America". ... There are two Canadian playwrights who beautifully captured our roots and even more so, our identity. ...

• Word Count: 268
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

During the 1960s black playwright, LeRoi Jones, founded the Black Arts Movement to inspire art that was by, for, and about black people. ... Lula represent the whites power in America during that time. ... Looking back to American history Whites has treated Blacks very brutally. ... African-Americans, South Asians, Latin Americans, and other people of color have, for many generations, internalized this Eurocentric standard of attractiveness. ... Looking back, it is clear that Dutchman appeared on the eve of a major shift, both in American society and in the life of the playwright. ...

• Word Count: 1234
• Approx Pages: 5

"Although Shakespeare's plays were performed at other venues during the playwright's career, the Globe Theatre in the Southwark district of London was the venue at which the Bard's best known stage works (including his four great tragedies) were first produced. ... In America's push to send all secondary students to four year universities, the assumption has been made that all students are interested in a liberal arts education and that all students will utilize the knowledge bestowed upon them in these humanities, social sciences, and fine arts classes. ... In America tod...

• Word Count: 902
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

" On closer inspection of Stephen Sondheim, we now see that he and his works have been greatly influenced by wonderful past playwrights such as Shakespeare and Plautus. ... Another show influenced by earlier playwrights is "West Side Story." ... In his book "Finishing the Hat", Stephen again acknowledges his use of words and rhyme schemes to be heavily influenced by that of Shakespeare and other earlier playwrights. ... While on the one hand he is seen (and he, himself, is well aware of this) as someone who has revolutionized the American musical theater by choosing stories tha...

• Word Count: 1723
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

However, since the 19th century, Shakespeare's reputation has massively gained from just being rated as just another playwright among others to having a significant role in the English language and being one of the best and honored poets in all history. A well-respected poet and playwright named Ben Jonson- who wrote a poem introduction for the First folio in honor of Shakespeare is linked to National identity because Jonson was an Englishman; however while Jonson had been more wealthy and he was more well-known, prosperous poet and playwright, highly educated and had studied English in ...

• Word Count: 2217
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

William Shakespeare was a great English playwright, dramatist and poet who lived during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. ... American Journal of Psychoanalysis 42(1982): 7-20. ... American Journal of Psychoanalysis 42(1982): 7-20. ...

• Word Count: 1354
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

Living Out The play "Living Out" took place at the Music Center of Los Angeles County. This was the first production by playwright, Lisa Loomer. She focused on two hard-working families with different cultural backgrounds. One family, Richard and N...

• Word Count: 431
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

This is -Major Themes and Stylistic Devices- The major themes of Tennessee William's works are drawn mainly from his own life and experiences, even more so than most playwrights. ... This in itself appealed to the American theatre and won him its support. ...

• Word Count: 433
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

In the 1950s she became a nightclub performer and began careers as a singer, dancer, actor, playwright, poet, novelist, and civil rights activist. When Angelou returned to the United States after a performances in Ghana while acting, she wrote several screenplays and became the first African-American woman to have a feature film adapted from one of her own stories. ... Some mentionable awards include The American Academy of Achievement's Golden Plate Award in 1990, The Legacy Association National Award in 1996, The Humanitarian Contribution Award in 1997, The Alston/Jones International ...

• Word Count: 548
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

(Biography.com) Although Maya is most commonly known for her work as a poet, she was also an author, playwright, stage and screen producer, director, and singer. ... Many of her writings deal with the role of African Culture in American life. ... The book does a very good job at explaining how hard it was for Maya in times when Caucasian people thought they were better than the African Americans. ... If it wasn't for the imagery, people would still get the point, but they wouldn't be able to tell how hard it was for Maya to live, and fight for African American rights. ...

• Word Count: 588
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

The Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning play, "Angels in America," focuses on the lives of two couples as they struggle through issues common during the 1980's; homosexuality, politics, AIDS, and religion. ... The other characters in the play are Belize, an African American homosexual nurse and Roy Cohn, a famous New York attorney and closeted homosexual. ... "Angels in America" playwright, Tony Kushner, purposefully makes these scenes awkward as he constantly challenges stereotypes throughout the playl. ... It is Kushner's ability to challenge American stereotypes through the use...

• Word Count: 917
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

After the war, the American Dream, an ethos which offered the chance of wealth even to those who start with nothing, began to be misinterpreted. The great misconception was a person's inability to achieve the ideals of the American Dream must mean there are flaws in their personality. ... Both playwrights delve towards "the marrow" of truth and slowly reveal how facing the truth is necessary, however painful. ... The playwrights both deal with the "decline of the west" through Truth and Illusion. ...

• Word Count: 2422
• Approx Pages: 10

"While critics have debated whether or not the play is a tragedy, a piercing social commentary, an affirmation of the American spirit, or a depiction of the salesman's life, individuals around the world have been emotionally touched and intellectually challenged by the drama's poignant portrait of human beings just like themselves" (Brussat). ... A third review of the play "Death of a Salesman" was conducted by an anonymous author on the actual playwright. The author explains how that many people can interprit the play as a cynical critique of American culture, but says that it is ...

• Word Count: 686
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography

Some supporters of realism said that if the audience did not agree with what they saw on the stage they should aim to change the society around them from where the playwright received his inspiration, and not criticize the playwright himself. ... It began in Paris during the 1880s as a joint venture of artists, playwrights, essayists, critics, sculptors, and poets. ... His influence on European and American production methods was extensive. ...

• Word Count: 1652
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School