Investigating Wor(l)ds: The Personal Is in the Drama of Merle Karusoo and Anna Deavere Smith
Investigating Wor(l)ds: The Personal Is in the Drama of Merle Karusoo and Anna Deavere Smith

Summary/Abstract: Documentary Drama. Theatre of Testimony. Life Stories. Sociological Theatre. Journalistic Drama. Despite the different nomenclature, a single genre of drama is referenced, one that has gained in popularity during the closing decades of the twentieth century. This drama aims to bring to the stage the too frequently unheard voices of those who can offer a unique perspective on a social issue or crisis because they are witnesses or participants in this issue or crisis, and in doing so, to (re)establish community bonds. In countries separated by thousands of miles and with virtually no theatrical influence on the other, this drama is being written and produced in remarkably similar ways. In both the United States and Estonia, women playwrights have pioneered in this dramatic form. Anna Deavere Smith of the US and Merle Karusoo of Estonia, although differing in some significant ways, demonstrate the ways in which a dramatic echo exists on both sides of the Atlantic.[...]

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