The Theater of Terrence McNally
eBook - PDF

The Theater of Terrence McNally

Something about Grace

  1. 375 pages
  2. English
  3. PDF
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

The Theater of Terrence McNally

Something about Grace

About this book

Terrence McNally's canon of plays, books for musicals and opera libretti possesses such a breadth of subject matter and diversity of dramatic modes that critics have had difficulty assessing his accomplishment. This book is the first critical study to identify the four major stages of McNally's development in terms of his understanding of how theater helps the modern person trapped in a seemingly profane existence to find a gateway to the transcendent. Drawing upon such diverse religious thinkers as Martin Buber, Mircea Eliade, Ilia Delio and Carter Heyward, Frontain analyzes the evolution of McNally's understanding of grace, not as a gift bestowed by an all-powerful deity upon a desperate soul, but as the unwarranted—and, thus, all the more unusual—"act of devotion" (McNally's phrase) that one person performs for another. By seeking to foment community, most importantly at the height of the AIDS pandemic, McNally's theater itself proves to be a channel of grace. McNally's greatest success is shown to be the creation of a theater of empathy and compassion in contradistinction to Artaud's "theater of cruelty" and Albee's Americanization of the theater of the absurd.

Frequently asked questions

Yes, you can cancel anytime from the Subscription tab in your account settings on the Perlego website. Your subscription will stay active until the end of your current billing period. Learn how to cancel your subscription.
At the moment all of our mobile-responsive ePub books are available to download via the app. Most of our PDFs are also available to download and we're working on making the final remaining ones downloadable now. Learn more here.
Perlego offers two plans: Essential and Complete
  • Essential is ideal for learners and professionals who enjoy exploring a wide range of subjects. Access the Essential Library with 800,000+ trusted titles and best-sellers across business, personal growth, and the humanities. Includes unlimited reading time and Standard Read Aloud voice.
  • Complete: Perfect for advanced learners and researchers needing full, unrestricted access. Unlock 1.4M+ books across hundreds of subjects, including academic and specialized titles. The Complete Plan also includes advanced features like Premium Read Aloud and Research Assistant.
Both plans are available with monthly, semester, or annual billing cycles.
We are an online textbook subscription service, where you can get access to an entire online library for less than the price of a single book per month. With over 1 million books across 1000+ topics, we’ve got you covered! Learn more here.
Look out for the read-aloud symbol on your next book to see if you can listen to it. The read-aloud tool reads text aloud for you, highlighting the text as it is being read. You can pause it, speed it up and slow it down. Learn more here.
Yes! You can use the Perlego app on both iOS or Android devices to read anytime, anywhere — even offline. Perfect for commutes or when you’re on the go.
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Yes, you can access The Theater of Terrence McNally by Raymond-Jean Frontain in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Letteratura & Critica letteraria su temi LGBT. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Contents
  2. Preface
  3. Introduction:Something about Grace
  4. Someone Is Out There:Existential Angst inAnd Things That GoBump in the Night
  5. “I Can’t BelieveThis Whole Night”:Redemption by Farce inThe Ritz
  6. Long Night’sJourney into Day:Frankie and Johnnyas Sexual Eucharist
  7. The Loneliness of theLong-Distance Swimmer:Lips Together, Teeth Apart
  8. “Allow, Accept, Be”:McNally’s Engagementwith Hindu Spirituality inA Perfect Ganesh
  9. Communal Survivaland the Dance of Deathin Love! Valour! Compassion!
  10. “All Men Are Divine”:Religious Mystery andHomosexual Identity inCorpus Christi
  11. McNally on the Cross:Dead Man Walking,Crucifixion, and A Man ofNo Importance
  12. Discovering theAuthentic Self:Dedication and theSalvific Function of Theater
  13. Sing for Your Supper,Sing for Your Salvation:Golden Age, Master Class,and The Lisbon Traviata
  14. Conclusion:The Music of ForgivenessThe Visit and Mothers and Sons
  15. Appendix:A Calendar ofthe Works of TerrenceMcNally
  16. Works Cited
  17. Index
  18. About the Author