Understanding Playsoffers 16 plays with critical commentaries that span the range of Western writing for the theatre from the Greeks to the post-moderns.
This text introduces students to dramatic writing as “pre-texts” for theatrical performance—written to be performed by actors before audiences. In addition, it emphasizes playwriting conventions, elements, styles, trends, and movements to document changing dramaturgy and production practices in the West from Sophocles to Tony Kushner and Paula Vogel. Brief production histories and critical commentaries add to the student's understanding of the literature of the theatre.
