Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Fall 1994

Keywords

Barrie Stavis, American playwrights

Abstract

Barrie Stavis Th e American playwright Barrie Stavis is a paradox in his own country. “A prophet without honor” may exaggerate the case, but Yugoslavian critic Dragan Klai'c does see Stavis as a subtle but important kind of prophet, whose work precedes European efforts to reestablish a theatre of commitment:

"to separate values, moral principles, and simple human concerns from compromised ideological projects. Disappointment about European developments, the sense of danger caused by racism, fanatical politicians, and ecological nightmares, bring theater back as a field of argumentative, activist aesthetics. Nothing old-fashioned, romantic, 68ish in all that—only a sense of moral outrage and a feeling that theater and theater artists cannot remain silent." (“Friedrichswald” 110)

This sort of commitment is a rare commodity in the American theatre, but Stavis has spent a lifetime honing his commitment, his “argumentative, activist aesthetics.” As an American, he found himself without an audience and without much prospect of any. His work has been staged across the world but not performed professionally in his own country since 1975.

Publication Title

American Drama

First Page

39

Last Page

61

Required Publisher's Statement

American Drama is a defunct journal that was published by the University of Cincinnati. Permission to post this article was given by the coordinator of Special Projects and Programs in the McMicken College of Arts & Sciences, University of Cincinnati.

Subjects - Topical (LCSH)

Dramatists, American; Drama--History and criticism

Subjects - Names (LCNAF)

Stavis, Barrie--Criticism and interpretation

Genre/Form

articles

Type

Text

Language

English

Format

application/pdf

Included in

Playwriting Commons

COinS