[PDF] Icon and Devotion: Sacred Spaces in Imperial Russia by Oleg Tarasov in Arts-Photography

Description

American Political Plays after 9/11 is a diverse collection of bold; urgent; and provocative plays that respond to the highly charged; post 9/11 political landscape. Sparked by the terrorist attacks of September 11; 2001; and subsequently fueled by a series of controversial eventsmdash;the Iraq war; the passing and enforcement of the U.S.A. Patriot Act; and the revelation of torture and other scandals at the Abu Ghraib prisonmdash;American political theater is currently experiencing a surge in activity. The plays in this collection include The Guys by Anne Nelson; At the Vanishing Point by Naomi Iizuka; The Venus de Milo Is Armed by Kia Corthron; Back of the Throat by Yusseff El Guindi; Three Nights in Prague by Allan Havis; and Question 27; Question 28 by Chay Yew. The characters range from a New York City fire captain trying to respectfully memorialize eight of his lost comrades; to the citizens of a hog-killing Louisville neighborhood who poignantly exemplify the underside of the economic crisis; to an Arab American citizen being harshly (and possibly unfairly) interrogated by two officers as a ldquo;person of interest.rdquo; Though not all of the plays deal explicitly with the Al Qaeda attacks; they collectively reveal themes of sorrow and anxiety; moral indignation; alarmist self-preservation; and economic and social insecurity stemming from the United Statesrsquo; fairly sudden shift from cold war superpower to vulnerable target. The lively introduction by Allan Havis includes a brief history of political theater in the United States; an extensive discussion about how theater communities responded to 9/11; and an informative analysis of the six plays in the book. A collection of dramatic material framed by this significant historical event; AmericanPolitical Plays after 9/11 will be indispensable for theater and cultural studies scholars and students.