Theatre Firsts
Group Outlier
Related Terms
Artists by Work
Contemporary Theatre Artists
400

Rodgers and Hammerstein were the first playwrights to popularize the integrated book musical, which ushered in this period of Broadway history

"Golden Age"

400

aria
bel canto
recitative
tableau

tableau

400

A pre-Romantic movement in German literature, this three-word term is usually translated as “storm and stress”

Sturm und Drang

400

An Octoroon

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins

400

This Nigerian poet and playwright blended Yoruba traditions with Western dramatic forms to confront colonialism and postcolonial identity

Wole Soyinka

800

He is frequently regarded as the first modern theatre director

Georg II, the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen

800

Einstein on the Beach
Mabou Mines Dollhouse
Machinal
Table Top Shakespeare

Machinal

800

These two related movements both emerged in the late 19th century and sought to portray real life onstage

realism & naturalism

800

The Rhinegold

Richard Wagner

800

Brazilian practitioner Augusto Boal developed this theatre that aims to empower marginalized communities and encourage social and political change

Theatre of the Oppressed

1200

This actress, theatre producer, and manager is often credited as the first to introduce the box set

Madame Vestris

1200

Karen Finley
Holly Hughes
Tim Miller
Heiner Müller

Heiner Müller

1200

The ableist term "color-blind casting" has been replaced by this term that may refer to casting differently in regards to body shape, sex, gender, and/or disability as well as ethnicity and skin color

nontraditional casting
or inclusive casting

1200

The Threepenny Opera (2)

Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill

1200

He is a leading Singaporean director known for creating works that feature a range of master artists from different theatrical traditions

Ong Keng Sen

1600

He was the first European scenic designer to not have a professional background in architecture

Philip James de Loutherbourg

1600

commentaries
diaries
letters
newspapers
records of business dealings

commentaries

1600

Environmental, site-specific, promenade, and interactive are all examples of this larger theatrical style

immersive theatre

1600

The Normal Heart

Larry Kramer

1600

This Serbian-born artist staged a performance at MoMA where she sat silently for hours across from strangers, inviting them to share in a powerful live encounter

Marina Abramović

2000

This type of company, which performed only one play and specialized in long runs, overtook repertory companies in popularity

combination company

2000

Oskar Kokoschka
Maurice Maeterlinck
Friedrich Schiller
August Strindberg

Friedrich Schiller

2000

This significant essay by Arthur Miller harkened back to 18th-century bourgeois tragedy

"Tragedy and the Common Man"

2000

The Hairy Ape

Eugene O'Neill

2000

This Polish theatre director developed "poor theatre," a performance style that eliminated elaborate sets and costumes to focus on the actor–audience relationship

Jerzy Grotowski