美國 女性演劇運動(Feminist Theatre Movement)의 意義와 展望

The Validity and Perspectives of the Feminist Theatre in America

Feminist theatre emerged in the United States during the early 1970's as an outgrowth of the radical theatre movement and through the women's liberation movement in 1960's. The motivation and the goal of the feminist theatre is to present true images of women and women's experiences through a growing body of drama that specifically focuses on women. According to the literary convention, women have been falsely portrayed by the male point of view. They are stereotyped by men, and women have accepted this situation. With the emergence of the feminist movement in the, 1960's, many theatre groups began moving to explore women's experience and oppression in drama. Eventually more than 40 feminist theatre groups were born in the 1970's. These groups endeavored to establish new images of women through various productions. The topics which they dealt with are such as the problems of birth control, abortion, and sexism. As a result, the feminist theatre forced a re-evaluation in the relationship between men and women as welll as the relationship between women and art and literature. Although the feminist theatre activities succeeded in conscious raising among the women, it was ignored by the main-stream critics due to its amateurism and the radical aspects of its production. The perspectives on the feminist theatre movement, therefore, can be summarized as follows: To move away from amateurism and extreme radicalism; to try to create affirmative images of women, and also attempt to mirror and give resonance to women's experience. Out of such efforts, positive social change may bring about new roles and new myths.