Taking Center Stage: Feminism in Contemporary U.S. Drama

by Janet Brown

Overview

Successor to the author's ground-breaking Feminist Drama (1979; hailed by CHOICE as "... an admirable example of the new feminist scholarship"), this new book describes the evolution of contemporary American feminist thought since that volume appeared and traces its themes in a cross-section of contemporary plays. Brown develops new and more encompassing definitions of feminism and feminist drama applicable to the wealth of theory and drama that has appeared since 1979. Giving voice to silenced women, glorifying those defined by the patriarchy as marginal, and propounding a feminist ethic based on respect for the environmental context and for the concrete, everyday world are among the central concerns of the new feminist drama. Plays by Jane Chambers, Caryl Churchill, Darrah Cloud, Kathleen Collins, Holly Hughes, Marsha Norman, David Rabe, Ntozake Shange, and Jane Wagner receive close textual analysis in the book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780810824485
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	11/01/1992
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	177
Product dimensions:	5.62(w) x 8.74(h) x 0.61(d)

About the Author

Janet Brown (PhD, speech and dramatic arts, University of Missouri) is the author of Feminist Drama (Scarecrow, 1979) as well as numerous articles published in journals and anthologies. She directed the University of Hartford theatre arts program for six years before becoming the founding director of the Greater Hartford Academy of Performing Arts, a successful magnet program for the region's public high schools. She is a produced playwright and an educational consultant for the Hartford Stage Company, the Capitol Region Education Council, and public and private schools.

Editorial Reviews

...impressive in readability and clarity, and in a thoroughness that belies its small size. This slim text is itself worthy of taking center stage.

Choice Reviews

A smashing second act for Brown.

Women Library Workers Journal

...helpful and friendly....orderly, clear, and succinct prose...

Communication Quarterly

...impressive in readability and clarity, and in a thoroughness that belies its small size. This slim text is itself worthy of taking center stage.

Choice

...impressive in readability and clarity, and in a thoroughness that belies its small size. This slim text is itself worthy of taking center stage.

CHOICE

A successor to Brown's 1979 Feminist drama, analyzes ten recent feminist plays in terms of their depiction of women and society in general, and the theories that underlie them. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews