Plays and Performance

doi:10.1017/9781009025676.016

Chapter 12 - Plays and Performance

Dramatic Contexts

from Part III - Media and Pop Culture

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 May 2022

Rebecca Rey

Edited by

Jesse Kavadlo

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Jesse Kavadlo: Affiliation:
Maryville University of Saint Louis, Missouri

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Summary

With so much attention on DeLillo’s novels, it is easy to lose track of his success and eminence as a playwright. DeLillo has written five full-length plays, The Engineer of Moonlight (1979), The Day Room (first production 1986), Valparaiso (first production 1999), Love-Lies-Bleeding (first production 2005), and The Word for Snow (first production 2007), several of which continue to be produced regularly in theatres throughout the world. Through these plays, readers can understand the influence of various playwrights on both the plays and the novels, as well as the influence that DeLillo’s sociopolitical context had on his playwriting. By examining the wider context in which the plays sit, in addition to the theatrical elements of spoken word, scene, spectatorship and ephemerality, we will notice how writing for the theatre is a political act for this writer.

Keywords

Don DeLillo theatre drama play genre context playtext Valparaiso Love-Lies-Bleeding The Day Room The Engineer of Moonlight The Word for Snow

Type: Chapter
Information: Don DeLillo In Context , pp. 117 - 125

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009025676.016 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2022

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