The theater of Maria Irene Fornes / edited by Marc Robinson.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Robinson, Marc, 1962-

Series:

PAJ books

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Fornés, María Irene--Criticism and interpretation.

Fornés, María Irene.

Theater--Production and direction--New York (State)--New York--History--20th century.

Theater.

Theater--Production and direction.

Women in the theater.

History.

Feminism and theater.

Criticism and interpretation.

New York (State)--New York.

Feminism and theater--New York (State)--New York--History--20th century.

Women in the theater--New York (State)--New York--History--20th century.

Fornes, Maria Irene--Criticism and interpretation.

Theater--Production and direction--History--20th century.

Local Subjects:

Fornes, Maria Irene--Criticism and interpretation.

Theater--Production and direction--History--20th century.

Women in the theater--New York (State)--New York--History--20th century.

Physical Description:

xiii, 276 pages, 10 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Baltimore, Md. : Johns Hopkins University, 1999.

Summary:

"If art is to inspire us, we must not be too eager to understand. If we understand too readily, our understanding will, most likely, be meaningless. It will have no consequences. We must be patient with ourselves." -- Maria Irene Fornes

Edited by Marc Robinson, this casebook gathers new writing about Maria Irene Fornes and a broad selection of earlier essays, reviews, and interviews. Along with Fornes's own engaging commentary on playwriting and the creative process, the anthology includes critical essays on her work with the Judson Poets' Theater and the Open Theater in the 1960s, her shift to greater psychological and formal complexity in the late 1970s, the lyrical politics of her theater from the 1980s, and the metatheatricality of her plays from the 1990s.

Throughout the anthology, textual analysis is balanced with production criticism. Contributors assess Fornes's connection to the various traditions that have claimed her -- absurdism, realism, and surrealism, among others. Several critics reveal Fornes's range by delving deeply into individual plays, particularly the landmark Fefu and Her Friends. Her work as a director is captured in rehearsal logs, interviews with her actors, and a sampling of production reviews from 1965 to 1993. The anthology closes with Fornes's own views on her work, in statements and interviews from each stage of her career. More than twenty production photographs accompany the text.

Contributors include Herbert Blau, Robert Coe, Susan Letzler Cole, Scott Cummings, Elinor Fuchs, Richard Gilman, Tony Kushner, Phillip Lopate, Bonnie Marranca, Erika Munk, Marc Robinson, Michael Smith, Susan Sontag, Ross Wetzsteon, W.B. Worthen, and others.

Contents:

I The Plays

Irene Fornes: The Elements of Style / Ross Wetzsteon 25

Cue the Giant Maraschino / Phillip Lopate 39

A Preface to the Plays of Maria Irene Fornes / Susan Sontag 43

The Economy of Tenderness / Bonnie Marranca 47

Still Playing Games: Ideology and Performance in the Theater of Maria Irene Fornes / W. B. Worthen 61

Water under the Bridge: From Tango Palace to Mud / Herbert Blau 76

Fefu and Her Friends: The View from the Stone / Elinor Fuchs 85

The Summer in Gossensass: Fornes and Criticism / Marc Robinson 109

Some Thoughts about Maria Irene Fornes / Tony Kushner 130

II Fornes in Performance

On The Successful Life of 3 and Other Early Plays / Richard Gilman 137

"To Be Quiet on the Stage": Fornes as Director / Susan Letzler Cole 140

"The Realm of the Unanswered": Actors on Fornes / Robert Coe 156

"The Poetry of Space in a Box": Scenography in the Work of Maria Irene Fornes / Scott Cummings 174

Selected Performance Reviews

The Promenade / Michael Smith 186

"You Take a Yes & a No" (The Red Burning Light and Other Plays) / Robert Pasolli 188

The Tragic Mustache (Aurora) / Michael Feingold 193

The Fear of the Ottomans (Eyes on the Harem) / Richard Eder 195

Let Us Now Praise Famous Women (Evelyn Brown) / Erika Munk 197

Fornescations (A Visit) / Michael Feingold 199

Enter the Night / Sheila Rabillard 201

III Fornes on Fornes

A Preface to Tango Palace and The Successful Life of 3 207

Order 209

I Write These Messages That Come 213

Notes on Fefu 221

From an Interview with Allen Frame 224

Creative Danger 230

From an Interview with Scott Cummings 234

From "Ages of the Avant-Garde" 242.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 263-265) and index.

ISBN:

0801861535

0801861543

OCLC:

40830304