Experimental Collectives of the 1960s and Their Legacies

doi:10.1017/9781108648134.009

Chapter 8 - Experimental Collectives of the 1960s and Their Legacies

from Part III - Experimental Theatre and Other Forms of Entertainment

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 August 2021

Timothy Youker

Edited by

Julia Listengarten and

Stephen Di Benedetto

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Julia Listengarten: Affiliation:
University of Central Florida
Stephen Di Benedetto: Affiliation:
Michigan State University

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Summary

This chapter traces the development of American experimental theatre ensembles from the 1960s to the 2010s. It emphasizes how the values of the 1960s youth culture and Off-Off-Broadway, including egalitarianism and anticommercialism, informed the devising practices of groups such as the Open Theater, the Performance Group, and the San Francisco Mime Troupe. It also addresses how efforts to critique and expand on the work of 1960s ensembles have informed the work of such later groups as Spiderwoman, Split Britches, the SITI Company, Tectonic Theatre Project, Pig Iron Theatre, and the Nature Theatre of Oklahoma. It argues that developments in form and process by American devising ensembles reflect an evolving understanding of theatre’s relationship to the social sphere and to the practice of freedom.

Keywords

Avant-Garde Devised Theatre Collective Creation Off-Off Broadway 1960s Theatre

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge Companion to American Theatre since 1945 , pp. 207 - 227

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108648134.009 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2021

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References

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