Reimagining Greek Tragedy on the American Stage

Helene P. Foley

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9780520283879
• eBook ISBN: 9780520953659
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Ancient History
• Index: History

This book explores the emergence of Greek tragedy on the American stage from the nineteenth century to the present. Despite the gap separating the world of classical Greece from our own, Greek tragedy has provided a fertile source for some of the most innovative American theater. Helene P. Foley shows how plays like Oedipus Rex and Medea have resonated deeply with contemporary concerns and controversies—over war, slavery, race, the status of women, religion, identity, and immigration. Although Greek tragedy was often initially embraced for its melodramatic possibilities, by the twentieth century it became a vehicle not only for major developments in the history of American theater and dance, but also for exploring critical tensions in American cultural and political life. Drawing on a wide range of sources—archival, video, interviews, and reviews—Reimagining Greek Tragedy on the American Stage provides the most comprehensive treatment of the subject available.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Preface
• Introduction
• Chapter One: Greek Tragedy Finds an American Audience
• Chapter Two: Making Total Theater in America: Choreography and Music
• Chapter Three: Democratizing Greek Tragedy
• Chapter Four: Reenvisioning the Hero: American Oedipus
• Chapter Five: Reimagining Medea as American Other
• Epilogue
• Appendix A: Professional Productions and New Versions of Sophocles’ and Euripides’ Electras
• Appendix B: Professional Productions and New Versions of Antigone
• Appendix C: Professional Productions and New Versions of Aeschylus’s Persians, Sophocles’ Ajax, and Aeschylus’s Prometheus Bou d
• Appendix D: Professional Productions and New Versions of Oedipus Tyrannus
• Appendix E: Professional Productions and New Versions of Euripides’ Medea
• Appendix F: Professional Productions and New Versions of Euripides’ Iphigeneia in Aulis and Iphigeneia in Tauris
• Appendix G: Other Professional Productions and New Versions
• Notes
• References
• Index