Intersecting Boundaries: The Theatre of Adrienne Kennedy [Paperback]

This collage of essays and interviews illuminates the complexity and richness of Adrienne Kennedy’s innovative dramas.

Although Adrienne Kennedy's plays are highly regarded in the world of American theater, this is the first major critical study of her work. Topics covered encompass all of Kennedy's writing for the theater and explore her innovative dramaturgy in the context of its intersections with African, modern, postmodern, and contemporary drama, African-American consciousness, and feminist theory in theater. In addition to examining the incredible variety of Kennedy's work and suggesting critical strategies that will support fuller study of her dramatic writing, Intersecting Boundaries demonstrates that only through a collage of critical models can the complexity and richness of her postmodern dramaturgy be illumined. Interviews with persons directly involved in the productions of Kennedy's work emphasize the central role theater artists have had in shaping her plays--ultimately suggesting useful approaches for the production of these compelling dramas.

Contents

Part I: The Life and Work

*Adrienne Kennedy: An Interview. Paul K. Bryant-Jackson and Lois More Overbeck

*People Who Led to My Plays: Adrienne Kennedy's Autobiography, Werner Sollors

*The Life of the Work: A Preliminary Sketch, Lois More Overbeck

Part II: Intersecting Dramatic Traditions

*Kennedy's Travelers in the American and African Continuum, Paul K. Bryant-Jackson

*Diverse Angles of Vision: Two Black Women Playwrights, Margaret B. Wilkerson

*Adrienne Kennedy and the First Avant-Garde

*Adrienne Kennedy Through the Lens of German Expressionism, William R. Elwood

*Surrealism as Mimesis: A Doctor's Guide to Adrienne Kennedy's Funnyhouse of a Negro, Robert Scanlan

Part III: Changing Boundaries: Interpretive Approaches

*Locating Adrienne Kennedy: Prlch