Theatre of the United States

Theatre of the United States
Fred Fehl · Public domain · source
Name	Theatre of the United States
Caption	Broadway theatre on Broadway in Manhattan
Country	United States
Notable	Broadway theatre, Off-Broadway theatre, regional theatre
Period	18th–21st century

Theatre of the United States is the ensemble of theatrical production, performance, institutions, and practitioners that developed in the United States from colonial times to the present, encompassing professional, community, and experimental work across cities such as New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Its traditions derive from transatlantic exchanges with London, immigration from Ireland, Germany, Italy, Russia, and influences from Indigenous, African American, and Latino theatrical practices linked to institutions like the Federal Theatre Project and festivals such as the Spoleto Festival USA. Major commercial and nonprofit systems including Broadway theatre, Off-Broadway theatre, American Repertory Theatre, and the Public Theater have shaped repertoires and careers.

History

Colonial-era entertainments in Jamestown, Plymouth Colony, and New Amsterdam intersected with touring companies from London and the transatlantic circuits of the 18th-century Georgian era, while 19th-century institutions like the Park Theatre and figures such as Edwin Forrest responded to audiences alongside minstrel troupes and antebellum melodrama, including works performed at the Bowery Theatre. The Civil War era saw travelling companies and the rise of stock theatres in Boston, Philadelphia, and New Orleans while postbellum innovations by managers like Augustin Daly and David Belasco fostered realism and staging techniques echoed in Eugene O'Neill's early 20th-century plays performed at the Group Theatre and the Century Theatre. The Depression-era Federal Theatre Project under the Works Progress Administration expanded access and nurtured dramatists and designers who later worked with institutions including the Actors Studio, Yale Repertory Theatre, and Steppenwolf Theatre Company, while the postwar decades featured the growth of Off-Broadway theatre, the establishment of the New York Shakespeare Festival, and commercial consolidation represented by the League of American Theatres and Producers.

Regional and Institutional Theatres

Regional theatres such as the Arena Stage, Goodman Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, and the Penumbra Theatre Company created alternatives to Broadway theatre by commissioning new plays, training actors at institutions like the Juilliard School and the Yale School of Drama, and collaborating with companies including the Shakespeare Theatre Company and the Alley Theatre. Nonprofit models exemplified by Steppenwolf Theatre Company, La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, and The Public Theater contrasted with commercial producers such as Shubert Organization and Nederlander Organization, while university-affiliated theatres at Harvard University, Northwestern University, and University of California, Los Angeles served as incubators for directors connected to institutions like the New Dramatists and the Sundance Institute. Touring presenters such as Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera and festivals like the Williamstown Theatre Festival and Theatre Communications Group conferences forged networks linking regional companies with Off-Broadway and Broadway transfers.

Genres and Movements

American theatre encompassed melodrama, vaudeville, and minstrel shows, evolved into realist drama with Thornton Wilder and Eugene O'Neill, and expanded through movements including the Theatre of the Absurd influences on works by Edward Albee and the rise of epic and documentary techniques used by companies like The Living Theatre and practitioners such as Elia Kazan and Anna Deavere Smith. Musical theatre traditions consolidated in works from composers and lyricists associated with Rodgers and Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim, and Jerome Kern, while experimental and avant-garde practices flourished at venues like Café Cino, La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, and festivals led by figures such as Joseph Papp and Ellen Stewart. Socially engaged movements including the Black Arts Movement and Latino theatre companies such as Repertorio Español and Teatro Campesino addressed civil rights issues connected to activists like Paul Robeson and playwrights such as Lorraine Hansberry.

Playwrights, Actors, and Practitioners

Playwrights central to American theatre include Eugene O'Neill, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Edward Albee, August Wilson, Lorraine Hansberry, Tony Kushner, Susan-Lori Parks, Marsha Norman, and Suzan-Lori Parks. Leading actors and directors associated with stage and screen careers include Marlon Brando, Paul Newman, Vivian Beaumont, Helen Hayes, Stella Adler, Lee Strasberg, Elia Kazan, JoAnne Akalaitis, Anne Bogart, Ivo van Hove, and Lindsay Turner who worked with ensembles like The Actors Studio, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Group Theatre, and companies such as Lincoln Center Theater and Roundabout Theatre Company. Designers and practitioners such as Jo Mielziner, Sviatoslav Richter, Seymour Lipkin, Tadao Ando, Gustave Dore, and Julie Taymor influenced scenic, lighting, costume, and puppet practices deployed on stages from Broadway theatre to black box venues.

Production and Design Practices

American production practices combine proscenium traditions on Broadway theatre with thrust and arena forms used at Shakespeare in the Park and regional stages, employing technical crews certified by unions like Actors' Equity Association and Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. Innovations in lighting by practitioners influenced by Adolphe Appia, scenic automation by companies linked to the Shubert Organization, and sound design traditions recognized by awards such as the Tony Award and the Obie Awards advanced production values, while collaborations among playwrights, directors, choreographers like Jerome Robbins, and composers such as Stephen Sondheim shaped integrated musicals and devised works premiered at venues like The Public.

Audience, Reception, and Cultural Impact

Audiences in metropolitan centers including New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. experience a mix of commercial spectacles on Broadway theatre and community-oriented offerings from companies like Penumbra Theatre Company and festivals such as the Humana Festival of New American Plays, with critical discourse appearing in outlets like The New York Times, Variety, and The New Yorker and scholarly attention from journals associated with Yale University Press and University of California Press. Theatre has influenced and been influenced by movements in film and television involving institutions such as Hollywood, the Kennedy Center, and cultural policy shaped by legislation like the National Endowment for the Arts funding debates, while landmark productions including premieres of plays by Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, August Wilson, and musicals by Rodgers and Hammerstein altered national conversations about identity, race, and politics.

Category:Theatre in the United States