Staging Urbanism: A Study of City Life in Selected American Plays

Abstract

The mid-20th century saw many American playwrights explore the realities of city life to powerful effect. Plays that emerged during this time paint an interesting picture of urban America as a paradoxical place of endless opportunity and limited resources. The characters of this setting have the dramatic potential to be uniquely tragic, often attracted to cities by promises of economic freedom only to be destroyed by the tough and competitive nature of urban life. The study aims at constructing a contextual reference framework within which Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, Arthur Laurents’ West Side Story, and Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun are analyzed to explore how the stressful environments of the city shaped life for different groups of urban residents. This study employs a textual analysis method to investigate how these three iconic plays of the mid-20th century create the tragic and tumultuous setting of the American city. By analyzing selections of dialogue from each play, the influence of city life on the words and actions of characters in each play will be shown to be instrumental in conjuring the hectic and often desperate realities of urban life in mid-20th century America.