New Readings in American Drama, an anthology of some of the best essays that have been published in the scholarly journal, American Drama, showcases the latest research and applies the newest theoretical approaches to the huge body of writing for the American stage, screen, and television. Rounding-up all the usual canonical subjects from O'Neill to Miller to Mamet, this book also highlights marginalized writers from earlier decades of the twentieth century and stresses the work of women and African-American playwrights. Although many people sheepishly confess that they rarely read poetry or fiction once they leave school, most must admit that they are daily viewers of drama, a ubiquitous experience that people enjoy on television, videos, and at the movies. This popular ascendancy of drama bolsters the argument for using the classroom to raise the level of discussion of what students are actually going to watch for the rest of their lives - and this book provides the tools to facilitate that conversation. New Readings in American Drama, an anthology of some of the best essays that have been published in the scholarly journal, American Drama, showcases the latest research and applies the newest theoretical approaches to the huge body of writing for the American stage, screen, and television. Rounding-up all the usual canonical subjects from O'Neill to Miller to Mamet, this book also highlights marginalized writers from earlier decades of the twentieth century and stresses the work of women and African-American playwrights. Although many people sheepishly confess that they rarely read poetry or fiction once they leave school, most must admit that they are daily viewers of drama, a ubiquitous experience that people enjoy on television, videos, and at the movies. This popular ascendancy of drama bolsters the argument for using the classroom to raise the level of discussion of what students are actually going to watch for the rest of their lives - and this book provides the tools to facilitate that conversation. Acknowledgments xi Introduction: Something is Happening Here xiii Staging Hypereloquence: Edward Albee and the Monologic Voice 1(8) Deborah R. Geis Reconfiguring the Subject/Recuperating Realism: Susan Glaspell's Unseen Woman 9(14) Marcia Noe Staging a Staged Crisis in Masculinity: Race and Masculinity in Six Degrees of Separation 23(16) Jennifer Gillan Lies That Kill: Lorraine Hansberry's Answer to Heart of Darkness in Les Blancs 39(10) John Gruesser From Birth and After Birth to One Shoe Off: Tina Howe and the Uses of Feminism 49(12) Penny Farfan Gendermandering: Stereotyping and Gender Role Reversal in the Major Plays of William Inge 61(12) Jeff Johnson Arthur Kopit's Wings and the Languages of the Theater 73(14) James Hurt Decoding Cipher Space: David Mamet's The Cryptogram and America's Dramatic Legacy 87(14) Janet V. Haedicke ``What's the Secret?'': Willy Loman as Desiring Machine 101(18) Granger Babcock Hollywood's Moral Landscape: Clifford Odets's The Big Knife 119(12) Albert Wertheim The Emperor Jones: Naturalistic Tragedy in Hemispheric Perspective 131(16) Philip J. Hanson Collapsing Male Myths: Rabe's Tragicomic Hurlyburly 147(12) David Radavich Between Two Worlds: Elmer Rice Chairs the Thirties Debate 159(12) Barry Witham He's Still Falling: Wallace Shawn's Problem of Morality 171(24) Gaylord Brewer The Agoraphobic Imagination: The Protagonist Who Murders and the Critics Who Praise Her 195(18) Nancy L. Nester McLuhan, Perfect People, and the Media Plays of Jean-Claude van Itallie 213(14) Gene A. Plunka Desire, Death and Laughter: Tragicomic Dramaturgy in A Streetcar Named Desire 227(12) Verna Foster Ma Rainey's Black Bottom: Singing Wilson's Blues 239(16) Harry J. Elam, Jr. ``Any Baggage You Don't Claim, We Trash'': Living With(in) History in Wolfe's The Colored Museum 255(20) Marc Silverstein List of Contributors 275(4) Index 279