Theatre and the USA

How is the individual and the nation constructed and promoted in American theatre? How does theatre enable a nation to invent and reinvent itself? Who are the people in We the People? This brief study examines the intersection of the USAs sense of self with its theatre, revealing how the two have an entangled history and a shared identity. Through case studies of six canonical plays and musicals, such as Uncle Toms Cabin (1852), Oklahoma! (1943), Angels in America (1991), and Hamilton (2015), Theatre and the USA demonstrates how all six of these plays sparked controversy, spoke to their moment, and became canonical texts, arguing that that the histories of these plays are the history of the USAs theatrical infrastructure.