American Performance in 1976
The Evolution of an Avant-Garde
Published on 11. December 2025
Book
Hardback
344 pages
978-1-009-49038-2 (ISBN)
Description
1976 was a febrile, transitional year in cultural history, coming after Watergate and Vietnam and before the AIDS epidemic and the rise of the Conservative movement. Bicentennial triumphalism sounded dissonant against a violent past and uncertain future. Marc Robinson here explores how innovative artists across disciplines - drama, dance, music, film, visual art - responded to this period, before zeroing in on avant-garde theater. Over 1976, five landmark productions could be seen within months of one another: Cecil Taylor's A Rat's Mass / Procession in Shout, Meredith Monk's Quarry, the Robert Wilson / Philip Glass opera Einstein on the Beach, Joseph Chaikin's production of Adrienne Kennedy's A Movie Star Has to Star in Black and White, and, finally, the Wooster Group's first open rehearsal of Spalding Gray and Elizabeth LeCompte's Rumstick Road. In close readings of these five works, Robinson reveals the poetics of a transformative moment in American culture.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
650 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-009-49038-2 (9781009490382)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Marc Robinson is Dean of Humanities and Malcolm G. Chace '56 Professor of Theater, Dance, & Performance Studies and English at Yale University. He is also Professor in the Practice of Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. His books include The American Play: 1787-2000 (2009) and The Other American Drama (Cambridge University Press, 1994, republished 1997). In addition, he is the editor of four books: Adrienne Kennedy: Collected Plays and Other Writings (2023), The Myopia and Other Plays by David Greenspan (2012), The Theater of Maria Irene Fornes (1999), and Altogether Elsewhere: Writers on Exile (1994, 1996). He has been awarded the 2009 George Jean Nathan Award and the 2010 George Freedley Special Jury Prize (both for The American Play), the 2012 Lambda Literary Award in LGBTQ+ Drama (for The Myopia and Other Plays by David Greenspan), and the 2004 Betty Jean Jones Award for Outstanding Teaching of American Drama.
Content
List of illustrations; Acknowledgments; Introduction: 'all images too static'; 1. Adrienne Kennedy and Cecil Taylor: 'with whom can I co-exist in a true union?'; 2. Quarry: 'it's my eyes'; 3. Einstein on the beach: 'doing the facts of feelings'; 4. Rumstick road in rehearsal: 'watch your corners'; Notes; Index.