Real life drama

Out of the Depression was born a theatrical company that revolutionized American arts. This book reveals how this influential troupe opened a new frontier of dramatic subjects and techniques as they struggled to survive pressures from within and without. For the Group Theatre's founders, Harold Clurman. Lee Strasberg, and Cheryl Crawford, "real life" was lacking on the American stage. With their meticulously rehearsed and ardent performers and their politically charged ambitions, they aimed to turn theatre--and audiences--away from frivolous amusement toward the most urgent social and moral issues of the day. In plays that for the first time dramatized the lives of immigrants and workers, and made theatre available to a public previously excluded by exorbitant Broadway ticket prices, the Group demonstrated that, in Smith's words, "theatre could bring people together and make them whole." Her account shows how playwrights like Clifford Odets were nurtured and made famous by the Group, and why audiences were enthralled. The new social focus was only half the revolution: using methods adapted by Lee Strasberg from the teachings of Stanislavsky, as well as special training in movement, vocal control, and dance, the Group transformed acting technique, bringing to the American stage an unprecedented emotional realism and psychological depth.--From publisher description.