Earth Matters on Stage

<p>Earth Matters on Stage: Ecology and Environment in American Theater tells the story of how American theater has shaped popular understandings of the environment throughout the twentieth century as it argues for theater’s potential power in the age of climate change. Using cultural and environmental history, seven chapters interrogate key moments in American theater and American environmentalism over the course of the twentieth century in the United States. It focuses, in particular, on how drama has represented environmental injustice and how inequality has become part of the American environmental landscape.</p><p>As the first book-length ecocritical study of American theater, <i>Earth Matters </i>examines both familiar dramas and lesser-known grassroots plays in an effort to show that theater can be a powerful force for social change from frontier drama of the late nineteenth century to the eco-theater movement. This book argues that theater has always and already been part of the history of environmental ideas and action in the United States.</p><p>Earth Matters also maps the rise of an ecocritical thought and eco-theater practice – what the author calls <i>ecodramaturgy </i>– showing how theater has informed environmental perceptions and policies. Through key plays and productions, it identifies strategies for artists who want their work to contribute to cultural transformation in the face of climate change.</p> <p>Acknowledgements</p><p>Preface From Ecotheatre to Ecodramaturgy </p><p>Introduction Where Has Theater been while the World’s been Falling Apart? </p><p>Chapter 1 Stories that Kill ~ </p><p>The Frontier as Ecological Ethos in Augustin Daly’s <i>Horizon</i> </p><p>and William F.Cody’s <i>Wild West: The Drama of Civilization </i></p><p>Chapter 2 Sabine Wilderness ~ </p><p>David Belasco’s <i>The Girl of the Golden West</i> </p><p>and William Vaughn Moody’s <i>The Great Divide</i> </p><p>Chapter 3 Dynamos, Dust and Discontent ~ </p><p>Eugene O’Neal’s <i>Dynamo</i>, and the Federal Theatre Project’s Living</p><p>Chapter 4 We Know We Belong to the Land ~ </p><p>Rogers and Hammerstein’s <i>Oklahoma!</i> and Arthur Miller’s <i>Death of a Salesman</i> </p><p>Chapter 5 (Re)Claiming Home ~ </p><p>Lorraine Hansberry’s <i>Raisin in the Sun; </i>Luis Valdez’ <i>Bernabé</i>; </p><p>Sam Shepard’s <i>Buried Child</i></p><p>Chapter 6 Stories in the Land / Legacies in the Body ~ </p><p>Robert Schenkkan’s <i>The Kentucky Cycle; </i>Cherríe Moraga’s <i>Heroes and Saints</i>; </p><p>Anne Galjour’s <i>Alligator Tales</i></p><p>Chapter 7 Kinship, Community and Climate Change ~ </p><p>Marie Clements’ <i>Burning Vision</i> and Chantal Bilodeau’s <i>Sila </i></p><p>Epilogue Theater as a Site of Civic Generosity</p><p>Index</p>