The Theatre of Christopher Durang

by Miriam Chirico, Patrick Lonergan (Editor), Kevin J. Wetmore, Jr. (Editor)

Overview

The Theatre of Christopher Durang considers the works of one of the foremost comedic writers for the American stage. From Durang's early success with the controversial Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You (1974) to his recent Tony Award-winning play, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (2012), he has been an original theatrical voice in American theatre. Edith Oliver, long-time theatre critic for The New Yorker, described Durang as “one of the funniest men in the world.” Durang challenges traditional dramatic idioms with his irreverent comedies that are as shocking as they are prescient and compassionate.

This volume provides the first comprehensive examination of Durang's works and incorporates comedic theory to examine how laughter in performance subverts social conventions and hierarchies. Through a clear, detailed discussion of the plays, Miriam Chirico considers Durang's use of black comedy, satire, and parody to explode such topics as: western literature, religion, dysfunctional families, and American social malaise. Robert Combs and Jay Malarcher provide additional critical perspectives about Durang's works, detailing his use of alienation techniques and locating his place within the American parodic tradition. The book also includes a warm introduction by Durang's former student, Pulitzer Prize-winner, David Lindsay-Abaire. The Theatre of Christopher Durang, in demonstrating how Durang has shaped contemporary theatrical possibilities, offers a valuable guide for students of American drama and comedy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781474288934
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	05/14/2020
Series:	Critical Companions
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	248
File size:	534 KB

About the Author

Miriam M. Chirico specializes in dramatic literature and comedy studies at Eastern Connecticut State University, where she is Professor of English. Together with Kelly Younger, she edited How to Teach a Play: Essential Exercises for Popular Plays, also by Methuen Drama. She is most recently the author of “Performed Authenticity: Narrating the Self in the Comic Monologues of David Sedaris, John Leguizamo and Spalding Gray,” (Studies in American Humor 2016), and has written articles for Text and Presentation, Comparative Drama, and Shaw: The Annual of Bernard Shaw Studies. This is her first book.
Miriam Chirico is Professor of English at Eastern Connecticut State University, USA. She has published numerous articles on such playwrights as Eugene O'Neill, G. B. Shaw, Sophie Treadwell, Wendy Wasserstein, Beth Henley and John Leguizamo. She is a Board Member of the Comparative Drama Conference and on the editorial board of Text&Presentation.
Patrick Lonergan is Professor of Drama and Theatre Studies at University of Galway, Ireland.
Kevin J. Wetmore, Jr. is professor of theatre arts at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, USA, the author and editor of ten books including The Empire Triumphant: Race, Religion and Rebellion in the Star Wars Films, and a contributor to numerous volumes on sci-fi, pop culture and religion, including essays on Godzilla, Star Wars, and Battlestar Galactica. His areas of expertise include Japanese theatre, African theatre, Shakespeare, Greek tragedy, stage combat and comedy. He is co-editor with Patrick Lonergan of Bloomsbury Methuen Drama's Critical Companions series.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Preface: “Christopher Durang Explains It All For Me,” by David Lindsay-Abaire (Playwright, USA)

Introduction: Christopher Durang's Dark Comedy
1 Perverting the Classics
The Idiots Karamazov
The Vietnamization of New Jersey
History of the American Film
Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge
Adrift in Macao

2 Seeking is Believing
The Nature and Purpose of the Universe
Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You
Laughing Wild
Sex and Longing
Miss Witherspoon

3 One-Act Plays
Durang/Durang

4 Family Dysfunction
Titanic
Death Comes to Us All, Mary Agnes
'dentity Crisis
Baby with the Bathwater
The Marriage of Bette&Boo

5 American Anomie
Beyond Therapy
Media Amok
Betty's Summer Vacation
Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike

6 Conclusion
7 Critical Perspectives
We Laugh-Track People: Christopher Durang's Drama of Audience Participation, Robert Combs (George Washington University, USA)

The Marriage of Parody and Satire: The All-American Comedy of Christopher Durang,
Jay Malarcher (West Virginia University, USA)


List of Contributors
Notes
Works Cited