Fornes: Theater in the Present Tense (Theater: Theory/Text/Performance)

This book is the first full-length study of Maria Irene Fornes' plays. It begins with an overview of Fornes' thirty years in theater, focusing on the reception of her plays, the range of critical response, and provides an introduction to Fornes' theatrical philosophies. Ensuing chapters explore the metatheatrical characteristics of Fornes' earlier work from the 1960s, the representation of female subjectivity, theater as metaphor and context, art as ritual, and the role of the spectator, primarily through critical analysis of her plays of the 1970s and 1980s. The book concludes with an examination of the sexualization of character in Fornes' most recent plays, a theme that pervades much of her work. . Directors, actors, and students of contemporary theater, and specifically of women's theater, will find this book not only an informative critique of Fornes, but a sourcebook for accessible interpretations of her complex theatrical texts.