American Drama

Fig. 1 - Most early American theater was imported from Europe or Great Britain.

However, as in the proceeding years, almost no significant dramatic works were produced in the United States. Theatre existed solely to entertain audiences.

Productions of Shakespeare’s plays were still popular, as were melodramas and comic minstrel shows whose jokes were often based on racial stereotypes and featured actors in blackface.

Building on the literary movement of Romanticism, melodramas were highly emotional and dramatic productions that focused on universal themes such as love, heroic quests, and good versus evil.

The minstrel shows of the same period featured musical entertainment and various comic skits and variety shows. The comedy of these shows relied almost exclusively on racist stereotypes of African Americans portrayed by white actors in blackface.

Perhaps the most memorable example of American drama during the 19th century was the stage adaptation of the antislavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) by Harriet Beecher Stowe. George Aiken adapted the novel to the theatre in the mid-nineteenth century. However, many of the productions did not honor the author’s original intent and strayed more toward the comic minstrel shows that were in fashion.

Theatre, in general, was still not taken seriously, and actors were not well respected.

However, towards the end of the nineteenth century, the literary movements of Realism and Naturalism overtook Romanticism in American literature, paving the way for the first great American playwrights.

The Twentieth Century

The 20th century is where the story of American drama really begins.

Early to Mid-20th Century

In the early twentieth century, drama began to grow as a legitimate literary form in the United States, and some of the first major American playwrights were taking the stage. The first half of the twentieth century was rocky, with World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II turning the world upside down. American drama often reflected this upheaval, and many plays doubled as social commentaries.

Like other forms of literature in the twentieth century, American drama also became increasingly experimental. Playwrights played with form, structure, different narrative techniques, and vernacular language in their dramas.

Along with the dawn of literary Realism and, later, Naturalism in the mid to late nineteenth century, European playwrights such as Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906), August Strindberg (1849–1912), and Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) began to write dramas that were more realistic. Together, these three playwrights are often regarded as the founders of modern drama. Their plays experimented with literary forms and put aside theatrics and melodrama to delve more deeply into the human psyche.

The work of these playwrights would be extremely influential for the upcoming generation of American dramatists.

As the literary movements of Realism and Naturalism gave way to Modernism, Eugene O’Neill (1888–1953), the first great American dramatist, began producing plays. O’Neill’s works, such as The Iceman Cometh (1939) and A Long Day’s Journey into Night (1941), were complex, emotional, and serious, unlike any American drama that had come before them.

Before O’Neill, American theatre was simply a form of popular entertainment, but O’Neill recognized and legitimized the medium’s literary merit. He became the first American playwright to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1936.

O’Neill was also associated with the Expressionist literary movement.

Fig. 2 - American Drama was not internationally recognized until the 20th century.

Mid to Late Twentieth Century

By the mid-twentieth century, American drama finally began to gain international recognition on a large scale. The two most influential playwrights of this period, besides O’Neill, were Arthur Miller (1915–2005) and Tennessee Williams (1911–1983). Works such as Miller’s modern tragedy Death of a Salesman (1949) and William’s classic dysfunctional family drama A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) remain some of the most performed plays in theatre.

Both of these writers used their plays to delve deeply into the American psyche, developing complex characters that explored the plight of the working class, difficult family dynamics, and the ins and outs of the human condition.

The mid-twentieth century also saw a rise in the success of African-American playwrights, including Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun (1959), Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman (1964), and August Wilson’s Fences (1985).

As the century progressed, American drama continued to diversify, evolving into the complex body of work we see today. Playwrights of the 60s, 70s, and 80s continued to tackle many important social issues of the day, including the civil rights movements, the Vietnam war, and the AIDS crisis.

Theatre also became increasingly experimental and creative, with American dramatists taking advantage of different structures, literary forms, and advances in theatrical performance.

Modern American Drama

Drama continues to be an important part of modern American literature. Modern American drama ranges in style from the hyper-realistic to the completely experimental and deals with a myriad of themes and ideas.

Fig. 3 - Modern American Drama is often set in unconventional theater spaces.

Many works are also intensely psychological, relying on in-depth, complex character studies to convey the inner experiences of the plays’ protagonists.

Many American dramas contain critiques of social norms, including disillusionment with the American Dream, unrealistic expectations of the American family, and the realities of classism and racism in the United States.