The Modern Scholar: Politics and Performance

Theater in the 20th Century

By: Professor Megan Lewis

Narrated by: Megan Lewis

Length: 4 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

For most theatregoers today, Realism is the standard. We are accustomed to seeing characters on stage who walk, talk, and sound just like real people. Everyday speech is commonplace in theatrical scripts, as are stage sets that look and feel and smell like real places - complete with running water and electric lights that work exactly as if we were in a real apartment, or office, or kitchen. But it wasn’t always this way. In fact, Realism was once an Avant-garde movement, a cutting edge revolutionary idea that disrupted the way theatre had always been done up until the dawn of the 20th century. It was at this time that a number of social, political, and artistic movements began to influence theater artists and lead them to create the theater most of us recognize today.

In this enlightening series of lectures, Professor Megan Lewis of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, takes us on an engaging journey through the history of theater in the 20th century. She explores some of the century's early movements such as Symbolism, Expressionism, and Dada, which arose amid political turmoil and quickly began to fuel rapid change in the way playwrights, directors, and actors where approaching theater. In subsequent lectures, Professor Lewis also explores how currents such as politics, race relations, and the women’s movement also began to influence theater and use it as a force for social change. Her analysis takes us to the dawn of the 21st century as theatre artists continue to re-envision and expand the definition of theatre itself. She discusses topics such as Performance Studies, which expands the idea of performance beyond the theater; Sports as Theatre, which radically reimagines the role of the audience; creative ways of trying to reach underrepresented audiences; and new ways of making theatre for a new century.

©2014 Megan Lewis (P)2014 Crescite Group, LLC

Covers 19th to 21st C theater, briefly,

First couple of lectures are a more in depth coverage of the 19C and 20C theater that had a too quick treatment in the last lecture of Megan Lewis's other series -- which is very good. Lots of interesting things , would have liked a reading list to go with course.. maybe there is one. a bit heavy on the racial perspective, South African background shows, some of the later topics "hip hop theater" sports as theater, audience participation theater, and devised theatre.. well I hope lecture is wrong and that is not theater where theater goes in the 21st C. Overall happy to hear - but 4 hrs was about right for this one.