Feminizing the Frontier Myth: Marsha Nonnan's The Holdup

Abstract

Mainstream theatre in the United States has undergone a number of transfonnations in the past decade. Not the least is the acceptance of woman to the playwriting elite. Plays by Beth Henley, Marsha Nonnan, Tina Howe, and Wendy Wasserstein have all had successful Broadway runs, and Henley, Norman, and Wasserstein have been honored with Pulitzer Prizes. These successes suggest the opening of the "establishment" to new and diverse voices. While some feminist critics view this "opening up" as a co-optation , it may indicate a shift in mainstream cultural attitudes. Whether or not such a shift has actually occurred is debatable; nevertheless, these new woman playwrights touch on themes close to the hearts of traditionalists. For instance, in The Holdup (I98(}-3), Marsha Nonnan confronts the frontier West - long the focus of a male-centered mythology. While admitting that this play was not a typical "Nonnan play," that it has more fantasy than substance, and that it was not intended "to substantiate Western mythology" (all facts that might explain why some critics responded negatively to it), Nonnan also claimed that in The Holdup "there are serious things to be said about stories and how they operate on our minds." Indeed, the structure of this play's "story" suggests a transfonn.tion of the frontier myth.