audiobook Lucy in the Mind of Lennon (Inner Lives) by Tim Kasser in Arts-Photography

Description

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 Orsquo;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; OConnor 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 laws power while revealing the complexities that hinder societys pursuit of justice.