The death of character : perspectives on theater after modernism / Elinor Fuchs.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 199-217) and index.

pt. 1. Modern after modernism: The rise and fall of the character named character -- Pattern over character : the modern mysterium -- Counter-stagings : Ibsen against the grain -- pt. 2. Theater after modernism: Signaling through the signs -- Another version of pastoral -- When bad girls play good theaters -- Theater as shopping -- Postmodernism and the scene of theater -- Reviews and articles 1979-1993 : reports from an emerging culture: Des McAnuff's Leave it to beaver is dead -- Richard Schechner's The balcony -- Andrei Serban's The marriage of Figaro -- The death of character -- Peter Sellars's The Count of Monte Cristo -- Robert Wilson's Alcestis -- Elizabeth LeCompte and the Wooster Group's The road to immortality (part three), Frank Dell's The temptation of Saint Antony -- JoAnne Akalaitis's Cymbeline -- On the AIDS quilt, The performance of mourning.

Print version record.

Extremely well written, and exceedingly well informed, this is a work that opens a variety of important questions in sophisticated and theoretically nuanced ways. It is hard to imagine a better tour guide than Fuchs for a trip through the last thirty years of, as she puts it, what we used to call the 'avant-garde.'" 'Essays in Theatre ... an insightful set of theoretical 'takes' on how to think about theatre before and theatre after modernism." 'Theatre Journal In short, for those who never experienced a 'postmodern swoon, ' Elinor Fuchs is an excellent informant." 'Performing Arts Journal ... a thoughtful, highly readable contribution to the evolving literature on theatre and postmodernism." 'Modern Drama A work of bold theoretical ambition and exceptional critical intelligence ... Fuchs combines mastery of contemporary cultural theory with a long and full participation in American theater culture: the result is a long-needed, long-awaited elaboration of a new theatrical paradigm." 'Una Chaudhuri, New York University What makes this book exceptional is Fuchs' acute rehearsal of the stranger unnerving events of the last generation that have'in the cross-reflections of theory'determined our thinking about theater. She seems to have seen and absorbed them all." 'Herbert Blau, Center for Twentieth Century Studies, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee Surveying the extraordinary scene of the postmodern American theater, Fuchs boldly frames key issues of subjectivity and performance with the keenest of critical eyes for the compelling image and the telling gesture." 'Joseph Roach, Tulane University ... Fuchs makes an exceptionally lucid and eloquent case for the value and contradictions in postmodern theater." 'Alice Rayner, Stanford University Arguably the most accessible yet learned road map to what remains for many impenetrable territory'an obligatory addition to all academic libraries serving upper-division undertgradua.

eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - Worldwide