In this performance criticism Sidney Homan examines his own work in the theater as actor and director, as well as that of others. Staging Modern Playwrights offers a topical approach to various issues, both artistic and philosophical, involved in staging modern dramatists. Implicit in Staging Modern Playwrights are two compatible arguments. One is that the play's full "text" is realized only in performance, or rather, through the sum of all its performances. For the text embraces not just the playwright's dialogue but also the actor's subtext, blocking, gestures, and movement, along with the lighting, sound, set, costumes, props, indeed, the entire picture presented by the stage. Two is that, despite the actor's need to "play the moment," or the director's notion of theatrical presence, a play is not just for the moment but rather exists within the larger world of space and time surrounding the theater. Here that text exists in a context that is simultaneously historical and economic, political and philosophical. As such, scholars and people working in the theater have much to say to each other. Staging Modern Playwrights is therefore meant to appeal to those both in the study and on the stage, the audience in and outside the house.
