Realism in Theatre Essay

Angels in America contains many grueling subplots that focus on each character’s individual story as they intertwine together to form a Tony-award winning production. Prior Walter is a homosexual man living in New York City during the 1980s, and was recently diagnosed with AIDS. At this point in history, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome was considered taboo, there was no affordable medication available to the public, and once diagnosed, it was assumed that death was just around the corner. However, even during his weakest and most undignified moments, Prior Walter never once tried to force attention on his situation or make others pity his diagnosis. He lived his life as if he was completely healthy and was not face to face with death. Prior encounters many situations and health concerns that not many people have to face at the same time, and he does so with the utmost class and poise.

The situations and informal diction or vernacular in the play create an atmosphere of familiarity with the audience, and this familiarity helps the audience to realize that Troy, Rose, and Cory are just like them. Wilson’s technique of drawing the audience in is a method of breaking down social and racial barriers that existed during the time depicted in

August Wilson’s famous play “Fences” is a drama set in the 1950’s. Being a winner of the Pulitzer Prize for the best play of the year, this play has had many positive responses to blacks and whites in this society. It is about protagonist Troy Maxson as well as his african american family that is filled with drama and excitement. In Wilson’s Fences by Joseph Wessling he expresses, “Fences is about the always imperfect quest for true manhood. Troy’s father was less of a “true” man than Troy, but he was a hard worker and a provider. Troy, even as a runaway, carried with him his father’s virtues along with a considerable lessening of the father’s harshness and promiscuity”(5). In this essay you will learn about the

In the 19th and 20th century, realism in theatre was a common occurrence. Realism is presenting a person, thing, or event in its true colors (“Realism”). Even throughout the Great Depression, Broadway and theaters managed to stay afloat. Its popularity began to surge, and there were 200 to 275 new shows coming out per year (Early 20th Century Theatre). Most of these shows were strictly for entertainment. Themes were often romantic, about happy endings and true love. However, some productions began to turn away from the stereotypes of shows during this time. In the 1920s and ’30s, shows became more extravagant and helped influence some of the most iconic American productions (Theatre of the 20th Century and Beyond). As a result, shows like

August Wilsons “Fences” takes us on a journey that transforms the 20th century impression of a Negro Family with Insatiability, Tenderness, and Sacrifice. The famous play is an autobiography of an American Negro man who loses his dreams for the people he loves. Fences demonstrates us what sacrifice looks like and how egocentricity still exist today. Fences takes place with a family in Pittsburgh from 1957 to 1965. The characters are Troy, Bono, Rose, Lyons, Gabriel, Cory, and Raynell. Fs important because it teaches us Love, respect, responsibility, dignity, and also about discrimination and how it still endured the black population after slavery had been abolished nearly a century before the biggest approach from Fences for any director is an all Negro cast. This show requires a mature cast who can take on the theme of Oppression.

August Wilson’s plays Fences depicting the 1950s and King Hedley II the 1980s, are two plays from his Ten Plays Project. The Ten Plays Project was Wilson’s way of capturing African American life during each decade of the 20th century. While the plays seem to be centered around the men of the households, the men’s supportive wives Rose and Tonya reduce their egos and play huge roles in both plays by being the glue and nurturers for their families. Although Rose and Tonya display different levels of maturity, and of the societal values in their decade, they both try to maintain stability in their households.

This weekend I decided to go to a play that I have hear people talking about as I walked the streets. Many people were discussing the drama that goes behind this play and as much as I wanted to join the conversation, I had to find out for myself since no one will talk to me. I have much to say about this play so let’s get started shall we.

The depth of a play comes largely from its context and how the piece intertwines with the environment in which it takes place. All tragedies take a direct impact by their setting, which inconspicuously performs a significant role in the compositions. In Tracy Letts’ August: Osage County, the Weston family must confront their past and present in a claustrophobic house during the scorching heat of summer in the Oklahoman Plains. In Tony Kushner’s Angles in America, the AIDS epidemic is rampant and the effects are seen across all spectrums in the American society, while keeping up with the fast pace and intricacies of New York City. Essentially location influences the plays, which steers them thematically and stylistically. Letts slowly builds a dismal atmosphere in the confinement of a household that correlates to the bleakness of the Plains while Kushner creates a melting pot of political, social, and religious criticism in an action packed drama in a bustling city.

Angels in America, by Tony Kushner, is a play written during the AIDS/ HIV epidemic in the 1980’s. Different than most plays, most of the actors posses more than just one or even two roles. These roles taken on by the same actors emphasize the difference in the characters being played. Some of the characters being played by the same actors are minor roles which fill a need that one of the main characters aquires a longing for. The use of multiple characters being played by the same actors displays the way in which their different characters affect the needs that a psychological deficiency proposes.

To begin with, in this play the author unfolds family conflicts that involve its characters into a series of events that affected their lives and pushed them to unexpected ways.

August: Osage County is a well-acted play that is generally about a family that falls apart. That is something that almost everybody has in common. This play could very well be realistic according to the situations that were being displayed, dialogue being used and the setting of the play. The play speaks about real people in everyday situations, dealing with common problems that almost everybody’s family has once had to deal with such as suicide, divorce, children growing up faster than expected and much more. These types of situations go on in our everyday lives. Also, within this play it presents an everyday conversation in a succinct, direct way. The dialogue hits with full force within the context of the play and the drama plays out between the characters. Additionally, the most realistic factor in the play was the set design. The setting is in a large county home outside of Pawhuska, Oklahoma which reflects the society and culture in which people live. The set design fitting in with the play being almost a three-story home with a kitchen, dining room, Violet’s room door and an attic. This everyday setting helped contribute to the power of the play, making it easier for the audience to be able to understand and relate to.

Dramatic Truth Ballet Theatre is a ballet company and ballet school that is located in Kansas City, Missouri. Dramatic Truth School of the Arts was founded in Nashville, Tennessee in 1986. It is a Christ-centered professional performing arts school. Dramatic Truth School of the Arts develops in each of its dancers the unique fusion of excellent classical and modern technique with a heart of worship.

The Voorhees Theater is an artistic necessity to the student attending New York City College of Technology. This theater is the host of many diverse theatrical and musical productions. The play production that I want to launch at this glorified theater is Sam Shepard’s masterpiece True West. True West focuses on the two brothers named Austin and Lee who are complete opposites. Austin is a screenwriter and the responsible one. He’s married with a wife and kids. His older brother Lee, on the other hand, lives in the middle of the desert. The setting of this play takes place in the kitchen of their mother’s home where they are reunited for the first time in five years. Lee continues to take advantage of Austin throughout the play by taking his car in exchange for something else. Lee intentionally sabotaged Austin’s meeting for a screenplay of a movie and intervenes with the movie producer Saul Kimmer. Lee then goes on to come up with an idea and present it to Saul who decides to drop Austin’s script for Lee’s instead, causing Austin to finally snap and become violent that leads to an altercation. True West is an excellent play that can not only relate to the student population but to the faculty as well.

The epitome of society is easily represented and used within the context of dramatic plays and literature to provide an easier background for the audience to relate including setting, language, character portrayals, and the issue at hand. Moreover, the same theatrical characteristics by writers can be seen at different time periods, but it is nonetheless, effective in communicating toward the audience like The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wild and True West by Sam Shepard. Even though they differ within writing style, character development, setting, and literary elements, both plays have aspects that pull the audience forth into eventually confronting reality.

Realism played a huge role in the lives of Anton Chekhov and Konstantin Stanislavsky. Both men made a huge impact on the world of theatre, and results are still seen today. Elements from Chekhov’s plays have influenced playwrights that came after him, like the works of Tennessee Williams, who listed that Chekhov had a huge impact on his writing. Stanislavsky’s acting system, based on acting truthfully, inspired many other acting systems that are still used today.