John Guare: in Search of America

Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1995 John Guare: In Search of America. Kenny Clifford Gannon Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Gannon, Kenny Clifford, "John Guare: In Search of America." (1995). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 6098. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/6098 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type o f computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6” x 9” black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. UMI A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road, Arm Arbor MI 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. JOHN GUARE: IN SEARCH OF AMERICA A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Theatre by Kenny C . Gannon B.A. in Voice, Samford University, 1977 M.M. in Vocal Performance, Converse College, 1979 December 1995 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 9618288 Copyright 1995 by Gannon, Kenny Clifford All rights reserved. UMI Microform 9618288 Copyright 1996, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, ME 48103 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 0Copyright 1995 Kenny C . Gannon All rights reserved ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to extend my formal and public appreciation to Les Wade, Bill Harbin, Gresdna Doty, Wayne Guffey, Erica Gannon, Jim Frick, Steve Reed, Tom Tatum, Sara Wingard, Truett Gannon, Margaret Gannon, Karen Griffith, Peace College, and Murphy Martin. iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iii ABSTRACT vi INTRODUCTION: INTERMINGLING LIFE AND ART 1 CHAPTER 1 EXPERIMENTATION IN THE '60s: EXPLORING THE FORM OF THE ONE-ACT P L A Y .............24 2 THE MASS MEDIA, REALITY AND THE AMERICAN DREAM: THE HOUSE OF BLUE LEAVES AND RICH AND FAMOUS . 71 3 FAMILIES IN CRISIS: LANDSCAPE OF THE BODY AND BOSOMS AND NEGLECT . 114 4 THE SEARCH FOR FULFILLMENT AND THE AMERICAN NATIONAL IDENTITY: MARCO POLO SINGS A SOLO AND THE LYDIE BREEZE TETRALOGY .................................. 159 5 COLLAPSING THE BOUNDARIES BETWEEN FANTASY AND REALITY: ACCOUNTING FOR EXPERIENCE IN SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION AND FOUR BABOONS ADORING THE SUN . 200 EPILOGUE: ACHIEVING BALANCE .............................235 REFERENCES................................................248 VITA ...................................................... 2 67 IV Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The frontier that we have been trying to escape, and which now must be faced, is within. There are limits to outer expansion, but no limits to improving the quality of life, the integrity of our character, the breadth of our knowledge, the sensitivity of our feelings, the capacity to find purpose in a life that is too quickly over (29) . Tom Hayden Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT This study examines the full scope of Guare's plays, from his Off-Off Broadway experimentation in the sixties through his 1992 play Four Baboons Adoring the Sun, and their place in America's cultural landscape. Set against the framework of modern cultural history, the investigation attempts to reveal Guare's vision of modern America's quest for fulfillment through the correlation of textual and stylistic analysis, critical response, and Guare's stated views. The study contends that Guare's portrayal of American desire unmasks the mass media's contamination of the American dream. From the very inception of his dramatic imagination, Guare has mixed fantasy and reality in ways that reveal the particular confusion of modern Americans, a bewilderment enlarged by the lure of the American dream and its seductive depiction in the mass media. Guare's characters always seem to find that they have been sold a ridiculous bill of goods; the media encourage middle-class Americans to aspire to unattainable heights (and luxuries) which only seems to intensify desire and frustration. Nearly every play presents a scenario where the protagonists have miscalculated the potential of the American dream for providing story book success. Chapter 1 addresses Guare's thematic and stylistic development as a young playwright during the sixties. vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Chapter 2 focuses on the merger of the American dream and the mass media in two plays of the seventies, The House of Blue Leaves and Rich and Famous. Chapter 3 explores the disintegration of families and the seventies' "radical" focus on the individual (in Landscape of the Body and Bosoms and Neglect). Chapter 4 delineates the modern American national identity with a study of the futuristic Marco Polo Sings a Solo and a reassessment of America's idealism in the Lydie Breeze Tetralogy. In Chapter 5, an examination of Six Degrees of Separation and Four Baboons Adoring the Sun analyses recent modulations in the influence of the mass media on American society in the nineties. The epilogue discusses some of the artistic and social implications that follow from David Hampton's harassment of Guare over Six Degrees of Separation; it concludes with a brief status report on American culture in 1995. vii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. INTRODUCTION: INTERMINGLING LIFE AND ART From his early days as a light board operator for Gloria Swanson to his recent collaboration with Sir Peter Hall on the Lincoln Center Production of Four Baboons Adoring the Sun, playwright John Guare has been energetically and continually celebrating a life in the theatre. Indeed, Guare's personal history seems to reflect the intermingling of life and art so prevalent in his plays. Biographical events repeatedly appear in his work, and, ironically, these instances often relate to Guare's encounters with the theatre. For instance, the monologue which opens Act Two of The House of Blue Leaves candidly retells Guare's own experience as an eight year old boy, when Guare, hoping to land the role of Huckleberry Finn in an upcoming movie, performed an unwelcome audition for his uncle (who was the head of casting at MOM)( Cattaneo 74). Yet Guare has never failed to make good dramatic use of his personal experiences. Ronnie, for instance, the character who delivers the Huck Finn monologue in The House of Blue Leaves, through the audition piece demonstrates his determination to kill the Pope and thus become famous. While the monologue may involve a true story from Guare's own life, Guare turns a somewhat embarrassing personal anecdote into powerful dramatic material (and motivation for the character's turn to terrorism and murder). As 1 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 2 Ronnie's recitation attests, the events of Guare's life, exaggerated and amplified in his work, confirm the reflexive yet enigmatic relationship between fact and fantasy so prevalent in Guare's style. Actress Stockard Channing, Oscar nominee for Best Actress, who performed Ouisa in the film

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