History of Theatre 1980- Present

  • Asian American Theatre

    Asian American Theatre
    In Asian American theatre a famous producer David Henry Hwang produces his first play that grabs attention from audience in 1980. His work on FOB plays a story of the conflict and background of Asian Americans coming in as immigrants into the country. He also became the first Asian American to win a Tony Award for the play called M. Butterfly.
  • Native American Theatre

    Native American Theatre
    A person named Geiogamah and Barbara Schweu founded the American Indian Dance Theatre. This theatre are gathered up of 24 people from different tribes that come together to perform a play. Then, "Geiogamah and producer Barbara Schwei launched the American Indian Dance Theatre in May of 1987 and set out to catalogue and recreate the cultural mix of traditional dances representing the various tribes and regions of their heritage"(Sondak par.3).
  • African American Theatre History

    African American Theatre History
    Douglas Turner Ward who founded multiple African-type plays and five others who are African American have a chance to produce plays. This program helped start some famous actors' careers that we have in the present like Denzel Washington, Phylicia Rashed, and Samual L. Jackson. They appeared in A Soldier's Play in 1981 which won a Puliter Prize During the 1960s, African American theatre created the Negro Ensemble Company in 1967. The person who created this company was Douglas Turner Ward.
  • Autisn Wilson

    Autisn Wilson
    In 1984 the most successful and persuading African American was Austin Wilson. Austin made his first appearance in 1984 in the play called Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. It was about a musician who played in the 1920s and what he experienced as an African American person at the time. Another piece of his was called fence which is part of his actions of separating in African American theatre with issue raising of racism in his play.
  • Producer George C. Wolf

    Producer George C. Wolf
    Another famous African-American producer raised to be popular was George C. Wolf with his production The Colores Museum. Which is a museum that shows the history of African Americans and what they went through over the years. Another production that Wolf produced was Jelly's Lost Jaws. it is about a young boy who comes from a mixed family who goes out in the streets to learn information about his culture and African history by doing this he gets disowned by his grandparents.
  • Women's Theatre

    Women's Theatre
    Wendy Wasserstein was the first woman to win a Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize with the play The Heidi Chronicles. Wendy became a feminist awareness she saw the spots that women need that have not been filled yet Then,".Despite her difficulties with reading, typing, and spelling, Wendy pushed on with her passion for writing, graduating from Mount Holyoke college with a BA in history, and then from CUNY’s City College with a MA in creative writing"(Wendy Wasserstein Par.4).
  • Paula Vogel Play The Baltimore Waltz

    Paula Vogel Play The Baltimore Waltz
    Paula's first main attention in theatre is her play The Baltimore Waltz which was performed in Ally Theatre in Huston in 1992. It is about an American teacher who contracted a disease called AIDs she is dying from and went on a trip with her brother in Europe. The first appearance of this play was in the late 1990's
  • Jose' RIvera

    Jose' RIvera
    Rivera gained a lot of attention with his play between 1992 through 2000. One of his plays that received attention was Marisol, about a young Puerto Rican living in a destructive New York setting with magical surroundings. Then, an angel visits her to give her a message from god about her help in destroying the universe. Jose' RIvera was nominated for play write on " Motorcycle Diaries was nominated for a 2005 Academy Award"(Brockett et al 241).
  • Susan-Lori Parks

    Susan-Lori Parks
    Parks was the original African American who was female to receive a Pulitzer Prize for her play Topdog/Underdog.Topdog/Underdog is about two brothers who are African American who are struggling through their past problems and family problems. The brothers had problems with racism back then everywhere they went. Parks play is about African American history and what they have been through over the years.
  • Quiara Alegria Hudes

    Quiara Alegria Hudes
    Hudes practiced and trained to become a musician while growing up. As an adult, she became a playwright to play called In The Heights which won her a Tony Award. She also created other plays throughout her career and won another award called the Pulitzer Prize in 2012. The play In The Heights is about a group of people interacting with each other and a business owner is singing about a better life.
  • Theatre Economy

    Theatre Economy
    During 2013 they had around 1700 nonprofit theatres that were spread around the United States and created thousands of productions of plays and performances. “These theatres directly contributed over $ 2 billion to their local economies” (Brockett et al.233). Broadway in New York made millions of dollars for the economy where they were located at.