-
Richard Greenberg
Richard Greenberg is a playwright and graduate of Princeton and Yale School of Drama (Brockett et. al. 264). His plays capture the work of loneliness and misunderstanding (Brockett et. al. 264). Some of his work includes "Eastern Standard" (1988), Night and Her Stars (1995), "Three Days of Rain" (1997), "The Dance of Death" (2003),
"The Violet Hour" (2003), and "Take Me Out" (2002) which is a Tony-Winning plays (Brockett et. al. 264). -
Caryl Churchill
As an author of more than 30 plays, Caryl Churchill is a very influential contemporary British playwright. She started off her career with "Vinegar Tom" (1976) and "Cloud 9" (1979). Other famous works include "Top Girls" (1982), "Serious Money" (1987), "Mad Forest" (1990), "The Skriker" (1994), and "A Number" (2002) (Brockett et. al. 263). Churchill liked to focus on current political issues, specifically feminism and social inequality (Kennedy). -
"Angels in America"
"Angels in America" is a play written by the famous postmodernist playwright, Tony Kushner. The show has two parts: "Millennium Approaches" and "Perestroika" (Angarone). The play is set in New York in the 1980s and covers hard topics like AIDS, homosexuality, religion, and Reagan-era politics through the eyes of the characters (Angarone). Over time, the character's storylines overlap. "Angels in America" is also a fantasy that involves supernatural angels (Angarone). -
Anna Bogart
Anna Bogart is an American theatre director. Anne is currently the artistic director at the SITI Company (Rizzo). "Bogart's Viewpoints training, which she uses with her own company and in workshops, she conducts around the country, is an attempt to awaken actors and audiences to an entirely different performance language" (Winn). One of her works includes "The Medium" (Winn). -
Tracy Letts
Tracy Letts is an actor and playwright from the Chicago area (Brockett et. al. 265). His most successful playwright is the comedy, "Killer Joe" (1993) (Brockett et. al. 265). Other famous plays by him include "Bug" (1996), "Man from Nebraska" (2003), and "August: Osage County" (won a Pulitzer Prize for drama in 2007 and a Tony for best play in 2008) (Brockett et. al. 265). Letts also won a Tony Award in 2012 for his acting in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (Brockett el. at. 265). -
In-Yer-Face Theatre
In-Yer-Face Theatre made its appearance in the 1990s in Great Britain (REB). Aleks Sierz, co-editor of Theatre Voice, describes In-Yer-Face theatre "as the work of young playwrights who break with conventional theatrical codes to confront the vulgar and the shocking" (REB). Having no limits they break the boxes of many people's ideas of theatre. Sarah Kane and Mark Ravenhill are two very popular playwrights associated with In-Yer-Face Theatre (REB). -
"Blasted"
"Blasted" was written by Sarah Kane and produced in 1995 (Brantley). "Blasted" features sexual assault, violence, and manipulation (Brantley). The play begins with a love story and ends in tragedy. Sarah Kane describes the hardship of life through the events of this play. Although many were outraged with the themes and scenes of this play, some talk of the outstanding work Kane up into this play (Brantley). -
Suzan-Lori Parks
Suzan-Lori Parks is an American contemporary playwright that has a continuous influence on women of color in theatre. She was the first female African American playwright to win a Pulitzer Prize for her play. "Topdog/Underdog" (Brockett et. al. 264). "Topdog/Underdog" became "the most successful play by an African American female since Ntozake Shange"(Brockett et. al. 264) Her recent works include "The Book of Grace" (2010), and an adaptation of "Porgy and Bess" (2011) (Brockett et. al. 264). -
"In the Heights"
Quiara Alegria Hudes wrote the book "In The Heights" which made its appearance in 2007 (Brockett et. al.). The music for "In The Heights" was composed by Lin-Manuel Miranda. "The score features hip-hop, salsa, merengue, and soul music" (Brockett et. al). The musical follows the struggling working class in Washington Heights in New York. -
"Dead Man's Cell Phone"
"Dead Man's Cell Phone" is a show written by the playwright, Sarah Ruhl, that premiered in 2007 (Brockett et. al. 267). The play is about a woman, Jean, who answers the cell phone of a dead man. We learn that the dead man, Gordon, is actually a very selfish person and a black-market organ dealer and Jean wants to write his wrongs (Bradford). This play has the theme that people are disconnected from the world because of modern technology and the digital age (Brockett et. al. 267)