Kevin J. Wetmore

Suzan-Lori Parks confirmed herself as one of the most exciting and successful playwrights of her generation when her work Topdog/Underdog was awarded the 2002 Pulitzer Prize, making her the only African American woman to win the award. Despite the cultural weight of this achievement, Parks remains difficult both to pigeonhole and to summarize. ...

George Lucas's first Star Wars trilogy shows the influences of its era; Cold War tension is evident in its theme of rebellion against totalitarianism. Recent entries in the Star Wars saga-- The Phantom Menace (1999) and Attack of the Clones (2002)--are much more concerned with evil corporations, terrorists, and the corruption of the political...

Every ten years since 1634, the Bavarian village of Oberammergau has performed the world's most famous Passion Play, recounting the last days of Jesus Christ. In 2010, presenting the play for the 41st time, the village broke with tradition to offer a new interpretation for a post-millennial, international audience. Drawing on interviews with...

Volume 34 of Theatre History Studies revisits the foundations of theatre, explores the boundaries and definitions of theatre, and illuminates how writing about the history of theatre is itself a form of historiography.   The five essays are arranged chronologically, starting with Alan Sikes’s discussion of the Abydos Passion Play. Sikes...

Shakespearean Echoes assembles a global cast of established and emerging scholars to explore new connections between Shakespeare and contemporary culture, reflecting the complexities and conflicts of Shakespeare's current international afterlife.

This book explores the appropriation of Shakespeare by youth culture and the expropriation of youth culture in the manufacture and marketing of 'Shakespeare'. Considering the reduction, translation and referencing of the plays and the man, the volume examines the confluence between Shakepop and rock, rap, graphic novels, teen films and pop...

This unique collection of essays explores the relationship between Japan and Ireland and their theatres, appealing to both scholars and students in a multitude of disciplines. It demonstrates the complex cultural interaction from both an historic and present practice approach to reveal the relationship between intercultural Irish theatre and the...

This book explores the provocative religious and philosophical questions that arise in the HBO series Westworld . Utilizing a variety of hermeneutical lenses, the contributors examine themes of personhood, free will, ethics of technology, divine creation, biblical parallels, and other topics.