03160nam a2200397 a 4500 ebr10723821 CaPaEBR m o u cr cn||||||||| 121219s2013 ilu sb 001 0 eng d 2012043920 9780809332366 (pbk.) 0809332361 (pbk.) 080933237X 9780809332373 (e-book) CaPaEBR CaPaEBR (OCoLC)851157442 n-us--- PS338.H56 O25 2013eb 812/.051409 23 O'Connor, Jacqueline. Documentary trial plays in contemporary American theater [electronic resource] / Jacqueline O'Connor. Carbondale ; Edwardsville : Southern Illinois University Press, 2013. xi, 225 p. Theater in the Americas Includes bibliographical references and index. "The development of the documentary trial play in late-twentieth-century American theater From the Chicago Conspiracy Trial and the O. J. Simpson trial to the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill congressional hearings, legal and legislative proceedings in the latter part of the twentieth-century kept Americans spellbound. Situated on the shifting border between imagination and the law, trial plays edit, arrange, and reproduce court records, media coverage, and first-person interviews, transforming these elements into a performance. In this first book-length critical study of contemporary American documentary theater, Jacqueline O'Connor examines in depth ten such plays, all written and staged since 1970, and considers the role of the genre in re-creating and revising narratives of significant conflicts in contemporary history. Documentary theater, she shows, is a particularly appropriate and widely utilized theatrical form for engaging in debate about tensions between civil rights and institutional power, the inconsistency of justice, and challenges to gender norms. For each of the plays discussed, including The Trial of the Catonsville Nine, Unquestioned Integrity: The Hill/Thomas Hearings, and The Laramie Project, O'Connor provides historical context and a brief production history before considering the trial the play focuses on. Grouping plays historically and thematically, she demonstrates how dramatic representation advances our understanding of the law's power while revealing the complexities that hinder society's pursuit of justice. "-- Provided by publisher. Electronic reproduction. Palo Alto, Calif. : ebrary, 2013. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ebrary affiliated libraries. Historical drama, American History and criticism. Theater Production and direction United States History 20th century. Literature and history United States History 20th century. Trials in literature. Electronic books. local ebrary, Inc. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/rucke/Doc?id=10723821 An electronic book accessible through the World Wide Web; click to view 152608 152608